| Course | MT455 Strategic Management of Sales |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 2 |
| Paper type | Strategy alignment memo |
| Length | About 750 words, 5 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MT455 Unit 2
Paid for Hardware, Asked for Subscriptions: An MT455 Unit 2 Strategy Alignment Memo
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
MT455: Strategic Management of Sales
Unit 2 Strategy Alignment Memo
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Keystrand Access, its board, its records and every figure are composite; the sources cited are real.
Memo Header
To: Executive Team, Keystrand Access. From: Vice President of Sales. Date: January 12, 2026. Subject: Whether our sales organization is built to deliver the strategy the board approved.
Summary
It is not. The strategy asks for recurring subscription revenue from two segments we barely serve. Our sales organization is paid and deployed to sell door hardware to everyone. This memo traces each strategic goal to the selling behavior it requires, shows where our current pay, coverage and calendar work against that behavior and recommends three changes in order.
The Strategy, as Approved
The board approved three goals in November. First, raise subscription revenue from 22 percent of total revenue to 40 percent by the end of 2028. Second, become a leading supplier of cloud access control to health systems and university campuses. Third, win portfolio-wide contracts with large apartment operators managing more than 5,000 units.
From Goals to Behavior
For each goal the memo asks four questions: what customers must be won, what sellers must do, what currently rewards or blocks that behavior and what evidence shows it.
Subscription growth requires sellers to price the software deliberately, sell multiyear renewals and explain software value to facilities and IT buyers, not just to the security manager who buys readers. Today our commission plan pays the same 5 percent on a dollar of hardware as on a dollar of first-year subscription, and nothing on renewals. A seller who discounts hardware heavily to close a large reader order is paid more than one who sells a smaller order with a three-year subscription.
Health systems require long sales cycles across security, facilities, IT, compliance and clinical leaders, with security reviews and integrator partners. Our field sellers are measured monthly, and the sales calendar runs on monthly forecast calls that reward short deals. Of the 41 large new customers we won last year, only 6 were health systems.
Large apartment operators negotiate portfolio-wide contracts at their headquarters and then roll out property by property. Our territories are drawn by geography, so a national operator is split among as many as nine sellers, none of whom owns the headquarters relationship.
The strategy asks for subscription revenue from two segments, and the pay plan treats a discounted reader the same as a renewal.
The Evidence From Our Own Records
Three figures from our records make the case. Commission is paid equally on hardware and subscription. Field sellers logged 58 percent of their selling hours last year on deals under $15,000, almost all single-site businesses that could be served more cheaply. And six of 41 large new customers came from healthcare. Zoltners et al. (2004) argue that sales organizations drift toward the business they already know unless pay and deployment are deliberately changed, and these figures describe that drift.
Three Priorities, Ranked
First, change the pay plan so that subscription dollars and renewals earn more than hardware dollars and heavy discounts reduce commission. Pay comes first because sellers will resist every other change while the plan rewards the old behavior. Management research has long described this trap (Kerr, 1975), and our commission plan is a plain case of it: the board asks for subscriptions while the plan pays for readers.
Second, redraw coverage: dedicated field sellers for health systems and large apartment operators, inside sellers for the mid-market and a digital and partner channel for single-site businesses.
Third, move health system and apartment operator deals to a quarterly forecast cadence with stage definitions that reflect long cycles.
What We Stop Doing
We stop paying commission on hardware discounted more than 20 percent without written approval from a regional manager, stop assigning field sellers to single-site accounts and stop judging enterprise sellers on monthly bookings.
Five Measures
Subscription share of new bookings, quarterly. Renewal rate on subscriptions, quarterly. New health system logos, quarterly. Portfolio agreements with large apartment operators, twice a year. Average hardware discount, monthly. These will show within two quarters whether the organization has started to move with the strategy. Steenburgh and Ahearne (2012) note that sellers respond quickly to what a company measures and pays for, so early movement in these figures is a fair test of whether the changes are working.
References
Kerr, S. (1975). On the folly of rewarding A, while hoping for B. Academy of Management Journal, 18(4), 769-783. https://doi.org/10.2307/255378
Steenburgh, T., & Ahearne, M. (2012). Motivating salespeople: What really works. Harvard Business Review, 90(7/8), 70-75.
Zoltners, A. A., Sinha, P., & Lorimer, S. E. (2004). Sales force design for strategic advantage. Palgrave Macmillan.
What the MT455 Unit 2 assignment asks for
Unit 2 of MT455 asks for a memo testing whether a company's sales organization is built to deliver its stated strategy. Quote the strategy as the company states it, from an annual report, board document or public statement. Translate each strategic goal into the selling behavior it requires before discussing structure, so the reader sees why change is needed before what should change. Then examine pay, coverage, territories and the sales calendar for anything that rewards or blocks that behavior, using evidence from the company's own records where possible. Rank your recommendations and explain the order. A stop list, naming what the sales organization should stop doing, is often welcome. Close with a small set of measures that would show movement within a few quarters. Three to five pages in memo format, with one alignment table, suits most prompts.
How this MT455 Unit 2 example is built
Keystrand's vice president answers the memo's own question in two words, it is not, and then summarizes the mismatch. The strategy is quoted as approved in November. Each goal is then translated into behavior and checked against what currently rewards or blocks it: equal commission for subscription, monthly measurement for long health system cycles and geographic territories that split national apartment operators among nine sellers, under a highlighted line on paying for discounted readers. Three figures from the company's records follow, with Zoltners and colleagues on drift. Priorities are ranked with pay first, citing Kerr, then coverage, then quarterly forecasting. A stop list removes commission on unapproved deep discounts and field coverage of single-site accounts. Five measures close the memo, with Steenburgh and Ahearne on how quickly sellers respond to pay.
MT455 Unit 2 rubric: what earns full points
Alignment memos earn their marks by moving from strategy to behavior to structure in that order. Instructors credit memos that quote the strategy exactly and translate each goal into what sellers must do differently. Evidence from the company's own records, such as commission rules or time logs, is weighted heavily, because it turns an opinion into a finding. Ranked recommendations with a reason for the order show judgment; a list of ten changes with equal weight does not. A stop list demonstrates that the writer understands capacity is limited. Measures that would show movement within a few quarters make the memo testable. Executive memo format, with the conclusion in the opening paragraph and a single clear table, carries the communication marks. Sources should explain why misaligned pay and coverage persist, not merely define alignment.
MT455 Unit 2 help from the desk
The commonest Unit 2 weakness is a memo that summarizes the company's strategy and then lists generic sales best practices. Another frequent problem jumps to reorganization before showing which behaviors must change. Students often assert misalignment without evidence from the company's records. Recommendations tend to be unranked, leaving the reader unsure what to do first. Stop lists are rarely included. Measures are frequently long-term, such as market share in five years, which cannot show whether the changes are working. Before submitting, check that each strategic goal has a sentence describing what a seller would do differently on a Monday. If any goal lacks one, the memo is still describing strategy rather than testing alignment. Then make sure your first recommendation is the one that unblocks the others.
Get an MT455 Unit 2 example written to your instructions
Your section may assign a real company's strategy or a case; either way, send the Unit 2 prompt, the strategy materials and the rubric. Tracing each goal to selling behavior and structure for that company, the custom alignment memo can be with you in 24-48h, and the first is written at no cost. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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MT455 Unit 2 questions, answered
Where do I find what a company says its strategy is?
Annual reports, investor presentations, shareholder letters and earnings call transcripts usually state strategic goals for public companies. For private companies or cases, the case text or company website may supply them. Quote the strategy as the company states it, then translate; readers should see exactly what you are aligning the sales organization with.
What does alignment actually mean here?
That the people, pay, coverage and measures in the sales organization all encourage the behavior the strategy needs. A company pursuing recurring revenue while paying sellers only on one-time sales is misaligned, however talented its team. The memo's job is to find those contradictions and rank what to fix first, not to redesign everything at once.
How long should the memo be?
Follow the prompt, but alignment memos commonly run three to five pages plus a table. Executive readers value a conclusion stated early and evidence they can check. A table that runs each strategic goal through selling tasks, current obstacles and proposed changes often does more work than several pages of prose.
Where can I find a free MT455 Unit 2 sample paper?
This page holds the full MT455 Unit 2 memo testing a composite access control company's sales organization against its three strategic goals.
Why does the MT455 Unit 2 sample change pay first?
Sellers will resist coverage and calendar changes while the plan still pays the same for discounted hardware as for subscription, so pay has to stop rewarding the old behavior first.