Interim sales management: Clear structures sustainably increase sales in a short time
It is a truism that even small changes can often have major consequences. Despite years of experience, we are still amazed at how quickly the implementation of clear structures can significantly increase a company’s success. An example from our practice.
Our client, an internationally active owner-managed family business in the metalworking industry, contacted us with a request for a short-term interim solution. One of its country managers had resigned and there was no successor in sight at short notice. The manager who had resigned was responsible for both sales and operations. In future, these two areas of activity were to be separated.
Original customer request: Maintain the status quo
WB was therefore commissioned to embed an Interim Head of Sales in the company with the following objectives:
- Maintaining existing relationships with customers and dealers
- Maintaining sales success through close management and support of the sales force
- Maintaining the customer base during the transition phase
At the beginning of the assignment, it was therefore primarily about maintaining the status quo during the personnel change.
Practical catalog of measures to optimize sales management
As soon as our WB Interim Sales Manager took up his role, he carried out the following additional decisive measures after an initial stocktaking and in coordination with the German company headquarters:
- Preparation of the sales budget for the current year.
- Identification of several risk areas in the company. They were related to the existing staff, ongoing agreements with dealers and the lack of systematic sales processes.
1. above all, our WB interim manager optimized the sales processes as follows:
- Updating the pricing of offers
- Creation of clear pricing, shipping and purchasing approval processes
- Implementation of standardized, comprehensible negotiation guidelines for offers
- Development of the Dealer Sales Policy including the creation of transparency on discounts, incentives and payment terms and obtaining approval from the German head office
- Close-knit receivables management to significantly reduce overdue receivables
2 By also taking over key account management for major customers, our interim manager managed to retain customers who might otherwise have been lost.
3. with regard to personnel, it made sense to create structure with the help of clear guidelines in order to fully exploit potential:
- Development of a team sales incentive guideline and obtaining Group approval
- Development and implementation of an unambiguous anti-corruption guideline
- Development of guidelines for testing consumables
Our hands-on approach also included supporting the planning team with raw material and production planning. This alone led to a 30% increase in productivity in production.
Newly created structures quickly lead to maximum success
Just two months after our interim manager started work on this project, our client was able to achieve a 5-50% increase in sales across the product range compared to the previous month. The original goal of maintaining the status quo was exceeded by far.
Thanks to the structures and processes developed and implemented by our interim manager, our client’s employees are also able to achieve higher targets in the long term.
Do you also need short-term interim solutions for your company? Would you also like to optimize your company structures in a practical way? Please feel free to contact us. We look forward to exchanging ideas.
