Suggested Preparation Questions for Class Discussion:

1. What kinds of channel services or outputs do purchasers of eMeeting and eLearning software require of Centra Software?2. Are both direct sales force and telesales equally suitable channels for Centra Software? What are the criteria that one should employ to make this judgment?3. What type of sales productivity is required for both sales forces in order to be profitable? Are they now? If not, how long might it take to breakeven?4. Will the operations of the salesforce and telesales force truly compete with each other or are there, or can there be, sufficient means to separate the interests of the two?5. Even if there is minimum competition between the two sales forces, can Centra Software derive synergy from their operation or will conflict be continuous?6. Should sales or the telesales force make their own choices of customers upon whom they will call?7. What decision would you make with respect to the ways that Centra Software should distribute its products?

COMPANYFounded in 1995 by Leon Navickas.

Centra was a pioneer in eLearning and eMeetings. Revenue have doubled each year since the founding

of the company 4 years earlier

COMPETITORCentra was undisputed leader in eLearning space but

a new competitor was emerging in eMeetings market.

Also a large number of startups and some large companies had begun to market training specific

softwareAnalysts distinguished among firms selling Content,

Delivery platforms and learning management systems

COLLABORATORAlliance Partners, the ‘ecosystem’ of Centra

consisted companies which helped Centra to achieve wider market coverage. There were three kinds of

partners:

Infrastructure PartnersSystem Integrator Partners

LMS vendor partners

CUSTOMERCentra has concentrated on serving the larger end

of the spectrum.Typical target customers were divisional line

managers and HR managers

CONTEXTSales revenue is forcasted at $50Mn by 2001

Friction b/w telesales and field sales reps.Confusion abt expansion plans!

Should we just concentrate on Global 2000 customers

5C ANALYSIS

WHY CUSTOMERS BUY THE PRODUCT?

Cost Advant

age

•Synchronous learning- Corporate learning and teaching accounted for 70% of corporate training expenditures.

•Besides expense on premises, training materials, instructors and the staff , there were travel, accomodation costs or salary costs of employees

Other advant

ages

•Virtual Auditorium – offering some advantages of face to face learning without the need to relocate participants.

•Team members sitting at multiple locations could share ideas and talk to each other with networked computers.

Features

offered by

Centra

•User can see leader and other participants

•Full duplex audio feature- 4 participants can speak at a time

•Live application sharing and Whiteboard Feature

•Streaming slide presentation

•Optional Recording and Playback feature

Telemarketing Group (4)

Cathy, Manager Telesales,

TelemarketingField

Sales (40)Telesales

(8)

Alliance Partners:1) Infrastructure

Partners2) System

Integrator Partners

3) LMS Vendors

1) Tradeshows, 2) Direct mailing, 3) Web seminar, 4) Ad campaigns

Sales Inquiry

Qualify Sales

Sale Potential: $95,000Sale

Potentia

l:

$10,000

Check for evidence of field sales contact

Enterprise Sales

Close Sale

Prepare Quote

Sale Potential:

$1,500,000

Client develops

RFPs

Only 30% of quotes get acted

upon

CENTRA – SALES AND DISTRIBUTION

FUTURE OF THE MARKET

• E learning – Estimated growth of 11bn in 5 years• Geoffrey Moore’s view on enterprise-wide software markets

• Tele sales – 12% of 50mn forecast of 2001

1st Stage• Many start ups• Visionary customers

2nd Stage• Mainstream market• Less indulgent customers join visionaries• Only 2 or 3 of the 1st stage survive

SALES APPROACH• Future Vision

– Integrate into the dominant survivor as suggested by Moore– Targeting Global 2000 companies is a better strategy– Differentiate itself to cater to large enterprise segment

• Strategy - Penetrate and then disseminate!• Phased Approach

Tele SalesPrimary penetration tool

Field SalesCompany penetration

Department Dissemination

STRUCTURED APPROACH• Who to target?

– Line Managers – Educating benefits, ROI, competitive edge

• High Degree of coordination required among Sales Teams– Ford issue– Proper coordination according to scale of company– Pivotal database

• Field Sales – Moulded as domain expert• Tele Sales – Target to become the dominant player in a

specialised vertical providing specialised solutions and diversifying later