Clear Link Technologies, LLC: Driving Sales with Peer Effects

By: Olivia Hull and Christopher Stanton and Richard Saouma

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Synopsis: The importance of a good peer or coworker is widely discussed, but understanding the glue that makes coworkers valuable is less understood. This case sheds light on the importance of peers and the practices and environments that make a group greater than the sum of its parts. Facing threats to its growth, digital marketing and sales company Clear Link Technologies, LLC (Clearlink) decided to run an experiment to test strategies for improving sales productivity. The experiment compares the efficacy of two interventions: group incentives and management-directed peer learning. The case surfaces some of the mechanisms driving peer effects in the workplace and the managerial levers to tap into peer effects for improving operations. The case also provides an introduction to experiments in organizations and how these experiments may differ from traditional randomized controlled trials in marketing or pharmaceutical development.