The management of a film manufacturer with more than 6,000 employees worldwide and German headquarters wanted to return to significant sales growth after several years of stagnation. To this end, a growth strategy was to be developed for two of the four business units.
Growth strategy from analysis to implementation plan
After a comprehensive market, customer and product analysis, the interim manager designed several workshops and carried them out with the regional sales teams. Together, the participants analyzed several growth areas that offer potential in the double-digit percentage range. Based on this, the teams developed a concrete implementation plan under the leadership of the interim manager.
Transparent sales remuneration creates incentives
In order to provide appropriate sales incentives, the interim manager worked with the client's HR department to revise the sales employees' remuneration regulations. This regulation and a modified key performance indicator system for sales now provide an effective incentive system and ensure that sales employees are paid in line with the market.
Better utilization of resources in the sales field service ensured
When analysing the sales processes, it became clear that the employees in the sales field service were spending too little capacity as sales-active time with the customer. The available time resources were blocked because the field sales staff had to fulfill many marketing and internal sales tasks. The interim manager initiated and coordinated an adjustment of responsibilities, a redistribution of tasks and clean process interfaces. The sales force now has almost 30 percent more time available for customer contact.
Optimizing the entire sales process
Building on the sales optimization, the interim manager worked with the internal teams to revise the entire sales process (sales funnel) from initial customer contact to contract conclusion. Among other things, this included end-to-end process documentation that is linked to the new key figures. The focus here was on transparency and a common understanding, but not on overly detailed, bureaucratic documentation. The principle was: the depth of the documentation is sufficient if the process is understood by everyone involved and the agreed key performance indicators are in the green zone.
The job descriptions for field and office staff were also adapted and now serve as the basis for personnel development and results-oriented qualification of the entire sales team.
80% of the identified potential to increase growth realized
When the new, optimized processes were introduced, it became clear that the collaboration between the internal and external sales teams was much smoother and quicker than before. The sales force feels noticeably relieved of administrative tasks and at the same time more effectively supported, both by the internal sales team and by product management, pricing and marketing communication.
All in all, a good 80 percent of the potential identified in the growth strategy at the start of the project was actually achieved in the following year. As a result, the interim manager was awarded the contract for a follow-up project in customer service (aftersales).
