QUALTRICS: SCALING AN INSIDE-

SALES ORGANIZATION Case Solution
Question 1
Why inside sales have worked so well up to now and why revisit the structure now?
The inside sales model has worked successfully for Qualtricsuntil now and there are a
number of the reasons for this. First, at the time of the evolution of the organization, this
sales model was not planned at all and it was thought out of necessity. The inside sales
model had been built based on three key elements.
First, the phone based customer acquisition process to save money and call potential clients
through phone with a single sales person, Ryan Smith. Second, the compensation culture of
the company was variable which enabled the model to manage the cash flow for the
company. Third, the nail it then scale it strategy worked well through which Ryan first target
the academic clients and in this way Ryan built a beachhead among the top business
schools.
The inside sales model of the company was quite flexible and it gave its employees a
considerable amount of autonomy. As long as the managers generated results, they were
given free rein to develop their own sales teams. In addition to this, a trial and error
approach had been adopted by Ryan under whom Ryan allocated the resources to Watkins,
who treated the resources as his own. Under the trial and error approach, there were six
core attributes, which had emerged by the unique sales team organization.
These core attributes included uncapped commission, which motivated the employees, a
multi-level sales model that included four levels of the sales team, a focus on hiring the top
performing local graduates and bringing in diverse range of the reps to reach out to the
customers.  The use of the war rooms to diagnose the issues where everybody was given
equal voice regardless of their tenure and finally a reliance on radical transparency. A
transparent culture evolved at Qualtrics where the progress of each of the employee was
monitored through an odometer and the objectives set by Ryan cascaded throughout the
organization.
Another important factor for the success of the inside sales model of Qualtrics is the Trojan
Horse customer acquisition strategy. Under this strategy, Ryan’s team was able to close
small deals with small units within the larger organizations. The Ryan’s philosophy behind
this strategy was that multiple small deals would help the company to close out and convert
into one large enterprise scale model. These all reasons show that why the inside sales
model has worked so well up to now. However, now the company was looking to scale its
operations on a global platform through diversification in the offerings, extended market,
extended customer base and targeting the larger clients. Therefore, it was important to
revisit the structure and to decide that whether the same inside model could be adopted or
a new model should be developed.
Question 2
Which of the approved options would you propose to Agostina and Smith? Why? Work out
detailed operational implications of your preferred option?
There are two approved options, which are available to Agostina and Smith, and these are
described briefly below:
Option 1: Scale the Existing Sales Model
Under this option, Qualtrics would continue with its current inside sales model as the
entrepreneurial culture was critical to the success of the company. There was internal
support for this model because under this model a large team of inside sales reps would be
fortified and expanded and additional experienced reps can be recruited to fuel the phone
based sales model of Qualtrics.
Option 2: Introduce a large scale sales team
Under this option, an experienced, field sales team would be introduced as this model has
proven to be effective for large transactions and for customers with complex needs. In
addition, under this model he field sales team would be distributed around the world and
business would be conducted through in-person and virtual meetings. All the sales team
members under this model would have large deal experience. A higher salary would also be
paid to all the existing reps to motivate them.
Recommended Option & Operational Implications
After analyzing both the models, it would be more appropriate to go ahead with option 2
model as Agostina had extensive experience with managing large field sales teams and this
would help to reduce the risk of the path. This model would be more effective if we look at
its operational implications. For instance, under this model the company would be able to
serve large deal clients around the international markets of the world such as Ireland,
Dublin and other parts of Europe. In addition, with the expanded product suite and
increasing credibility in the marketplace, therefore, the addressable marketplace had to be
extended and the new model reps would have the experience to achieve this. Lastly, the
new model would help the reps to sell one off products as well as comprehensive platform
solutions to large clients, which make a large field sales team model more
appropriate......................................