A member of the management team at a large online publishing house was on long-term sick leave. The interim manager initially stepped in as operations manager. He managed the operational business as well as marketing, direct marketing, portal management and customer care, including the call center with a total of 80 employees. His remit also included reorganizing sales and marketing. He was later assigned the management of the business division and the provisional management of key account management. The mandate ended after 2 years with the recovery and return of the management board member.
Customer focus and streamlining of marketing and sales
When assessing the current situation in individual interviews, the interim manager quickly learned that individual areas of the department were not working together and in a customer-focused manner, but rather side by side or even against each other and were therefore leading a destructive life of their own. The interim manager began the realignment with workshops in which he worked with the teams to precisely define customer-oriented sales and marketing processes, including the back office, and adapted them in detail to the respective heterogeneous customer structure. At the same time, he streamlined and accelerated the information and decision-making channels.
Head of marketing and key account management replaced
After defining parallel, customer-specific processes, he redefined the positions and responsibilities. A comparison with the job holders revealed skills gaps that could generally be filled through further training measures. In individual cases, managers and specialists had to be downgraded, transferred or made redundant through outplacement. The head of marketing and key account management was completely replaced and temporarily taken on by the interim manager.
Episodic marketing replaced by a clear brand presence
The previous brand presentation as a service belly store had to be revised, as the core messages were vague, erratic and unconvincing. In qualitative market research, hidden expectations and needs of different target groups were uncovered - and provided with relevant brand and product messages. Everything was united under a common service umbrella brand, which was given a simple but highly emotional claim.
Sales funnel and KAM training ensure plan achievement within 6 months
The head of key account management was more of a buddy than a superior. As a result, distribution gaps were concealed and customer potential was not identified. The CRM system was also used inadequately. The annual key account planning deviated so far from the actual figures after the first forecast that defined countermeasures had hardly any positive influence on target achievement.
The use of a sales funnel made it possible to compensate for planning uncertainties and adjust them promptly. In addition, the KAMs were trained and disciplined to maintain the CRM seamlessly. As a result, the company achieved 100% plan fulfillment after just 6 months. The plan was fulfilled twice in a row for the first time in the company's history.
