The interim manager's client is a shoe manufacturer that has recently launched direct-to-consumer sales with its own online presence. Previously, the company had sold its products exclusively through traditional brick-and-mortar stores. The interim manager was given the mandate to work as a consultant and project manager together with a team from the shoe manufacturer to completely rebuild the online end customer sales through an independent digital unit including team members and technical infrastructure. A key project objective was to achieve maximum efficiency in internationalization in the shortest possible time.
Focus on new customer acquisition and consistent existing customer support
In addition to new customer acquisition through classic performance marketing, the right course was to be set for consistent existing customer support (CRM) right from the start. A small team of experts was to manage existing customers globally from a central location in Germany.
As a solution, the interim manager worked closely with the client to select and introduce a suitable campaign management tool. Such a CRM tool would make it possible to map the customer journey across the entire customer lifecycle.
"Proof of concept use cases" for various CRM providers
In a first step, use cases were developed with the help of several requirements workshops. In addition to current challenges, the application models also included future objectives. In this way, the planned scaling was placed on a stable technological foundation. The detailed elaboration of all requirements was followed by a pitch phase in which potential providers of campaign management solutions were evaluated on the basis of selected proof of concept use cases.
Successful implementation of the campaign management tool
After deciding on a suitable solution, the interim manager took over the project management for the implementation of the campaign management tool. The core task here was to manage all relevant stakeholders. These were primarily in-house managers on the customer side as well as IT and the solution provider's implementation team.
The implementation, including the implementation of the prioritized use cases, was completed on time within just under 3 months of signing the contract - just in time for the start of the new season.
Automation in the area of customer journey and campaign localization
In addition, the efficient scaling and internationalization in the area of CRM was realized through the successful implementation of automation in the area of customer journey and campaign localization in more than 10 countries. The objective of global existing customer processing by a small team centrally based in Germany was therefore also achieved.
Providing key CRM resources and ensuring knowledge transfer
The role of the interim manager within the project covered the entire process chain from requirements definition, evaluation and pitch phase through to project management during implementation. Following the go-live, further use cases were implemented in an agile manner in 2-week sprints over the following months.
At the same time, the consultant supported the recruitment of key resources in the area of CRM and took on the transfer of knowledge to the responsible team members. In this way, the interim manager ensured that the client could continue to expand and optimize its global CRM activities in a targeted manner using in-house resources after a transition phase.
