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Product cover image for TeleSense: Selecting the Right Sales Channel

TeleSense: Selecting the Right Sales Channel

Naeem Zafar, Aleks Gollu

Product #:W44185
Supplier:Northeastern University
Discipline:Entrepreneurship, Finance
Setting:United States, 2020
Details:Case (PDF) • 8 pages • 2025-09-03

Subjects:

Customer lifetime valueStart-upsEntrepreneurshipFinance and investing

Industries:

Agriculture sector

Geography:

United StatesNorth America
Your Price:$10.54

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TeleSense Inc., a Silicon Valley start-up, offers an innovative solution for farmers and grain storage companies by leveraging wireless sensors and AI-driven software to predict the quality and longevity of stored grain, offering significant financial implications for stakeholders. However, starting the sales engine has proven more challenging than expected. With the option of a direct sales or online sales (or hybrid) approach, the company must focus on just one sales channel to gain market traction. But which path is the right one? This case explores the key considerations in strategic sales channel selection, weighing factors such as market adoption, scalability, and cost efficiency. How should TeleSense navigate this critical decision to accelerate growth?

Learning Objectives

This case is designed for undergraduate students to help them understand the critical decision of selecting the right sales channel for a start-up. The case highlights the factors that go into this decision, emphasizing the importance of market size computation, unit economics, and customer acquisition cost (CAC) calculation. This case can be taught to undergraduate students or MBA students as a part of a go-to-market strategy. This case can also be taught as a part of an entrepreneurship class. Additionally, this case can be used in an entrepreneurial finance class. By working through the case and assignment questions, students will have the opportunity to do the following:
  • Understand how to estimate the potential market size using industry data and assumptions.
  • Calculate the customer acquisition cost for different sales channels and understand its implications for profitability and scalability.
  • Analyze the unit economics of each sale, considering the revenue, costs, and lifetime value of customers.
  • Determine the optimal sales channel for reaching the market.
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Case Study: TeleSense: Selecting the Right Sales Channel (English version) | Ivey Publishing