---
title: "The Sales Learning Curve"
url: https://stacklist.com/card/3939481a-667d-4f5c-a889-80a0982ccf04
source_url: "https://hbr.org/2006/07/the-sales-learning-curve"
stack: https://stacklist.com/stack/a58f970a-f511-44d2-97e5-0b136f73b9b3
summary: "The Sales Learning Curve explains why companies should avoid rapidly scaling their sales force when launching new products into new markets. Instead, organizations must first understand how customers will acquire and use the product through a deliberate learning process before achieving efficient sales execution."
tags: "sales-learning-curve, product-launch, sales-force, startup-strategy, revenue-growth, organizational-learning"
key_entities: "Mark Leslie (person), Charles A. Holloway (person), Harvard Business Review (organization), sales learning curve (concept), product launch (concept), sales force capacity (concept)"
classification: "analysis"
content_hash: "sha256:12bb347257d753671f6a88c2a807f600bc2c066562376d39dbc08dec4a6e921a"
acp_version: "0.2"
token_counts_approximate: 336
visibility: public
agent_accessible: true
status: "final"
---

# The Sales Learning Curve

Harvard Business Review Logo Operations and supply chain management The Sales Learning Curve by Mark Leslie and Charles A. Holloway From the Magazine (July–August 2006) Post Post Share Save Get PDF Buy Copies Print Summary . Reprint: R0607J When a company launches a new product into a new market, the temptation is to immediately ramp up sales force capacity to gain customers as ... more Leer en español Ler em português Post Post Share Save Get PDF Buy Copies Print When a company launches a new product, the temptation is to immediately ramp up sales force capacity to acquire customers as quickly as possible. Yet in our 25 years of experience with start-ups and new-product introductions, we’ve found that hiring a full sales force too fast just leads the company to burn through cash and fail to meet revenue expectations. Before it can sell the product efficiently, the entire organization needs to learn how customers will acquire and use it, a process we call the sales learning curve. A version of this article appeared in the July–August 2006 issue of Harvard Business Review. Post Post Share Save Get PDF Buy Copies Print Read more on Operations and supply chain management or related topics Customer experience , Product development , Marketing , Sales and marketing , Design thinking and Information technology and telecom sector