---
id: "quote-sales-debt-definition"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["¶5"]
tags: ["definition", "sales-debt"]
related: ["concept-sales-debt"]
speaker: "Eric Janssen, Brian Denenberg and Benson P. Shapiro"
speakers: ["Eric Janssen", "Brian Denenberg", "Benson P. Shapiro"]
quote: "Similarly, sales debt is what emerges when a company sells to customers that are not a perfect fit, boosting short-term revenue at a cost to its long-term growth, customer relationships, and reputation."
sources: ["commercial"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-commercial"
originDay: 5
articleStem: "hbr-tier1-03-sales-debt-grow"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/01/the-risks-of-prioritizing-short-term-revenue-over-customer-fit"
sourceTitle: "The Risks of Prioritizing Short-Term Revenue Over Customer Fit"
---
# Definition of Sales Debt (Authors' Formulation)

> "Similarly, sales debt is what emerges when a company sells to customers that are not a perfect fit, boosting short-term revenue at a cost to its long-term growth, customer relationships, and reputation."
> — [[entity-eric-janssen|Eric Janssen]], [[entity-brian-denenberg|Brian Denenberg]] and [[entity-benson-p-shapiro|Benson P. Shapiro]]

The authors' **formal definition** of the article's core concept, drawing the explicit parallel to [[prereq-technical-debt-d5|technical debt]]. This is the canonical source text behind [[concept-sales-debt]].