Foundations of Sales, Group C

The course content is organized around five themes:

1) Negotiating and calculating prices

• Getting prices: bargaining techniques (includes case Porcelaine, WHU)
• Setting prices: price-volume-cost-terms calculations

2) Selling value

• Value-based pricing and economic value calculation (includes case Soren Chemicals, HBS)
• Fundamental techniques in personal selling (includes case Scheel & Partners, WHU)

3) Managing the sales process

• Reactive opportunity management (includes case Boise Automation, Ivey)
• Proactive opportunity development

4) Building relationships

• Building trustful relationships and networks (includes case Heidi Roizen, HBS)
• Corruption and compliance (includes case Medical Equipment Inc. in Saudi Arabia, Ivey)

5) Managing sales people

• Field sales management (includes case Clef Company, HBS)
• Inside sales management (includes case ZenRecruit, HBS)
• Pipeline management and forecasting (includes case PackMach, WHU)

1) In regard to factual knowledge, participants are enabled to

• apply salespeople jargon to discussing the status of a sale (such as the “buying center”, “red flags”, “pipeline”, “RFQ”, “gatekeepers”, and other idioms) and a price negotiation (such as “BATNA”, “ZOPA”, “walk-away price”, “non-offer offer”)
• understand the specific terminology of sales management in various industry sectors.

2) In regard to conceptual knowledge, participants are enabled to

• analyze the composition of a buying center,
• classify the dimensions of sales performance management,
• evaluate sales pipeline KPIs,
• calculate price-trade-offs against other profit drivers,
• to analyze economic value to customer, and
• explain the typical strategic and selling challenges in a variety of industry contexts.

3) In regard to selling-specific procedural knowledge, participants are enabled to

• apply a structured sales process and negotiation blueprint,
• evaluate approaches for getting access to decision-makers,
• evaluate the win probability of an opportunity and to identify potential roadblocks,
• evaluate the needs of a customer through questions,
• create and deliver a sales presentation,
• deal with customer objections,
• coach salespeople on a sales opportunity, and
• conduct pipeline reviews, develop sales forecasts.

4) In regard to general business-relevant procedural knowledge, participants are enabled to

• prepare for business meetings and internal committee sessions,
• make the best out of a limited preparation time budget,
• make concise contributions to meetings,
• constructively build and comment on contributions by other participants in the meeting, and
• derive a course of action from a careful analysis of the situation and a structured evaluation of alternatives.

5) In regard to metacognitive knowledge, participants are enabled to

• evaluate the ethical dimension of a sales leadership situation,
• evaluate their own selling behavior, and
• self-observe the power and the joy of deep, meditative reflection that is not diverted by smartphones.

• 50% interactive concept lectures,
• 40% case-based discussions, and
• 10% in-class role play between students.

A video shows the style of case-based sessions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbNNsq1fC0A. This way of learning requires a great amount of energy, both from the student and from the teacher.

• 53.33% (48 points): written case preparation notes (8 x 6 points),
• 6.67% (6 points): quantitative online quiz on price calculation,
• 6.67% (6 points): interview with a salesperson, and
• 33.33% (30 points): final exam.