Background and Challenge

A leading worldwide supplier of roofing solutions wanted to improve the performance of its clay tile division sales force and decided to launch a project dedicated to achieving this objective.

This client provided a variety of roofing products and services including concrete, clay and metal products; chimneys; and ventilation systems.
Approach and Recommendations

During the first phase of its engagement, L.E.K. developed and implemented a sales and marketing effectiveness program for the clay business that addressed the following key issues for the client:

• Potential for clay tile product sales growth through improving sales and marketing efforts
• Optimal design of a new sales and marketing paradigm for this market
• Structure of the sales force incentive system in order to achieve optimal results

During the rollout phase, we continued to work closely with the client to consolidate the pilot results and roll out the program by:

• Sharing a new commercial paradigm and related processes and procedures with the other area managers and sales representatives, through one-to-one meetings
• Developing and implementing a monthly reporting process for both performance and commercial activities of the sales representatives and area managers
• Supporting the change in management processes and enhancing the client’s momentum

Results

• Through an intense interaction with the client’s sales organization, we designed and launched a new sales and marketing paradigm through the implementation of a pilot project involving seven sales representatives
• Given that the first sales results were encouraging, the client decided to implement the rollout phase in a new project
• The client received deep analysis of key clients and competitors (which included a definition of the market potential of the area), which supported the design of a standard account plan to be implemented by each sales representative
• We identified KPIs and created an incentive system to encourage, monitor and reward sales force performance
• We helped define a shelf of marketing initiatives (gadgets, visits to plants, trip awards, outbound marketing, promoters)
• During the rollout phase, all the sales representatives adopted the new approach to the planning activity, and the reporting process has become a company best practice

Background and Challenge

L.E.K. Consulting's client, a leading office furniture manufacturer with revenues in excess of $1B, was facing stagnating sales and profits.

The client’s sales were distributed across various channels, including office furniture retail stores, office furniture dealers, office supply dealers, catalogs and online.

This manufacturer engaged us to design solutions that would enable our client’s sales force and channel partners to better sell its products.

Approach and Recommendations

• Performed a market and channel assessment to understand the market landscape and the channel profitability, which included identifying the core client’s market segments, end consumers’ unmet needs, and how the client could best support its channel partners
• Performed detailed analysis and evaluated recent sales force performance, using best practice benchmarks to determine what the sales force needed to be more productive
• Recommended key changes in sales force processes and structure, and quantified the financial benefits of implementation
• Developed a clear blueprint detailing the path to enable these recommendations and drive sales

Results

• The client received detailed information on key channels, buying and channel support requirements, and consumer unmet needs, and a detailed plan on how to meet those needs
• The client was able to take share in the independent dealer channel, and that supply chain efficiency in turn improve the client’s pricing leverage in other channels
• The client designed an innovative “concierge” model for top customers, and improved productivity by shifting nondirect selling activities to customer service
• The client also gained a clear understanding of the revenue potential of implementing the sales force process and structure recommendations, as well as a detailed transition plan for achieving management’s three-to-five-year goals

The client subsequently replicated the business model in their other business units

Background and Challenge

The client, a major Italian generics manufacturer, sought L.E.K.’s help in developing and activating its five-year business plan, in order to improve its competitive ability and drive revenue and market share growth.

Approach and Recommendations

• Developed an independent, fact-based assessment of the client’s core business, and investigated potential adjacencies to support the client in developing its five-year business plan, including strategies to reallocate spend and grow sales
• Undertook a rigorous analysis of primary and secondary research investigating the perspectives of generic market experts, physicians and pharmacists in Italy

Results

We provided full strategic support to the client, including:

• A robust, independent fact-based evaluation of its core business
• Strategic support to develop and activate its business plan, including preparation of all business plan materials
• Professional support to the client during discussions with potential buyers for a leveraged buy-out
• The design and activation of pilot projects to test opportunities in business adjacencies

Background and Challenge

The client, a leading Asian animal feed company, had established a dedicated sales team to market its products, and in 2013 invested heavily in expanding its sales force from about 20 to 100 sales representatives.

The business is focused on South China, with some coverage in Central China, and sales reps do some direct selling, but a large proportion of sales is through distribution partners. Although the expanded sales force added approximately $1 million in costs, the investment had not translated into commensurate revenue growth.

Approach and Recommendations

• Provided a systematic review of its sales practices, formulate an action plan with improvements, and help embed these into the organization
• Communicated with management, sales reps, distributors and customers to understand our client’s current sales strategy, sales enablers and sales process
• Analyzed our client’s sales data, sales reps’ income and other relevant data to diagnose potential problems in the sales process, and benchmarked with three case studies

Results

• We helped the client identify six key issues that limited the client’s sales force effectiveness and were difficult to solve with their internal resources, and several key issues that the client could tackle with internal resources to achieve quick wins
• We also developed a prioritized, high-level action plan that included key activities, risks, resources required, proposed timeline, a etc., to address those quick-fix issues internally
• We also submitted a proposal as requested to help the client address key issues that are difficult to solve with their internal resources only

Background and Challenge

The European headquarters of a global technology conglomerate engaged L.E.K. to explore the effectiveness of its EMEA sales force, by creating a cost-to-serve tool.

Approach and Recommendations

Our overall objective was to provide an understanding of the EMEA headcount costs incurred to support sales generation, on a geographic and a go-to-market motion basis, through the development of a cost-to-serve tool

Results

We provided the client with an analysis tool that can update with more recent data as it becomes available; the tool allows the client to track key metrics of the EMEA cost to serve and ensure that their sales and marketing strategy is focusing on the most profitable markets and GTM motions.

We also provided a user manual which describes the structure of the input builder and cost allocation models and explains in detail how to update input raw data and user-defined allocation assumptions.

Background and Challenge

L.E.K. Consulting's client, a significant manufacturer of sophisticated medical equipment and systems, with sales worldwide, is competing in highly competitive markets against well-entrenched competitors and under increasing pricing pressure. Furthermore, the business’s customers are sophisticated, with multiple roles involved in the buying process (surgeons, purchasing departments, etc.), often with divergent agendas.

This manufacturer engaged us to support the development of detailed plans for 10 priority global markets and to strengthen the capability of the commercial organization to deliver results.

A clear requirement of the work was the direct engagement of the sales teams in the process to co-create a new commercial plan in order to build sales team capability through the process and ensure ownership of the new plan by the organization and confidence in its achievability.

Approach and Recommendations

We adopted a highly collaborative approach to directly engage and empower the client’s management and sales teams in the development of the new commercial plan.

We segmented our client’s existing and prospective customer base in each market to identify customers that represented the highest-value opportunities. This involved collaborating with sales teams to catalog hospitals and build a comprehensive database of key data by hospital in each market. This allowed us to identify a small number of hospitals that represent a high share of the relevant activity volume in each market (typically, segments A+, A and B).

With inputs from the client’s sales teams, we reviewed the position of competing suppliers in each market to identify opportunities to target our client’s sales efforts and gain market share, and established a new framework to drive deeper relationships with the customers of the business and to increase penetration in priority segments.

The work included an assessment of both the current effectiveness of the sales team and the central capabilities and enablers of the sales activity, including optimization of KPIs, recommendations for adjustments to sales force time allocation across activities and customer accounts, and improvements to sales support and market access resources and processes.

Our joint work with the market teams ultimately resulted in a new, detailed commercial plan, as well as the requirements to deliver against it, including:

• Definition of priority customers for sales force to target
• Development of plans for selected key accounts
• Forecast of future sales volume and market share
• Sales territories and resource requirements by role

Results

The work delivered a sales model to drive growth in line with the business’s Full Potential Plan, while enhancing the capability and commitment of the sales teams. The new commercial plan is expected to result in:

• Improved performance
• Systematic, reliable insights on the market
• An empowered local sales team
• Enhanced central capabilities and enablers

Background and Challenge

The client, an approximately $2 billion global business process outsourcing company, sought to transform its sales force in order to realize near-term profitable growth and long-term structural improvement in the effectiveness of its sales force.

Approach and Recommendations

• Worked closely with the client to design and implement necessary, dramatic changes in its sales approach and organization that are better aligned with its strategy
• Identified new opportunities to increase selling capacity without adding resources
• Renewed focus on growing the pipeline and improving win rates on new business/renewals
• Set up a sales transformation office that defined work streams, mobilized teams and pushed out across the organization the right sales priorities for the business

Results

Within three months of implementing L.E.K.’s recommendations, the client experienced significant, measurable sales improvements:

• Achieved quarterly financial goal after several missed quarters
• Grew the risk-adjusted sales pipeline by 50% year-over-year
• Grew the sales win rate by 74% year-over-year
• Won a major customer renewal opportunity, which leveraged the new process for critical opportunities

Background and Challenge

Although the client, a manufacturer of commercial kitchen equipment, had a market-leading position, it used a simplistic “one size fits all” approach for aligning sales resources to its customers, which did not take into account size, value or need.

The client engaged L.E.K. to optimize how it invested its resources to sell products to specific customers.

Approach and Recommendations

• Analyzed historical sales data, worked with the sales team, and conducted independent research to redefine customer segments and clearly identify the client’s needs.
• Articulated value propositions for each recently defined customer segment.
• Analyzed the value each customer group represented (both near-term and long-term) and the relative cost to deliver each value proposition, and prioritized the groups accordingly for resource allocation, to maximize long-term growth potential.

Results

• The client was able to quickly adjust its existing sales organization to use the new customer segmentation approach. Accounts were reassigned based on salesperson capabilities, and costly engineering resources were reallocated to focus only on the highest-value accounts.
• This new customer segmentation also created a career progression pathway that allowed a new generation of junior sales reps to build and grow a set of customers.
• Almost immediately, the company realized productivity gains from its sales team and experienced positive feedback from the market regarding the clarity of the new approach.

Background and Challenge

A leading U.S.-based manufacturer of body armor and protective equipment for emergency services had recently acquired a key competitor in Europe to strengthen its market position and gain access to new products.

There were several overlaps to be rationalized and synergies to be captured in the new combined organization. These ranged from capturing new sales opportunities created by a wider product portfolio to implementing sales processes that enabled a joint and coordinated sales effort.

The client needed a clear, practical and integrated commercial strategy to capture the opportunity created by the acquisition.

Approach and Recommendations

• Teamed up with senior management to define the critical strategic choices that would lead to higher commercial effectiveness for the combined business
• Prioritized sales opportunities by geographical area, and developed detailed and targeted commercial plans
• Reviewed key sales process and enablers to recommend an integrated sales approach
• Developed a new, combined organizational structure for the commercial function
• Developed pragmatic implementation plans, and established the rhythm for a fast and sustained pace of change

Results

As a result of our work, the client:

• Set a clear vision of the size and shape of the future opportunity of the new combined business
• Had frank, open discussions about the future commercial strategy as an integrated team
• Defined how best to organize in order to capture this future opportunity
• Agreed on a plan to implement the most critical initiatives
• Developed the internal capability, tools and governance to successfully deliver on the implementation plan

Identified a combined sales pipeline of  approximately $670 million, or almost three times the size of the combined original pipeline

Background and Challenge

L.E.K. Consulting's client, a leading U.S. packaging company owned by a private equity fund, experienced a significant decline in its business during the recent recession in 2008-2009.

Significant reductions were made in the sales force as well as in other support areas to cope with the loss of business.

As the markets began to recover, our client found its sales growth lagging behind that of competitors.

Approach and Recommendations

• Conducted a detailed, objective evaluation of client’s sales function, leveraging our experience, knowledge of best practices and industry benchmarks
• Worked with the management team to identify strengths and gaps in the performance of its sales force, sales processes and management, and related support areas
• Performed a series of deep dives on a prioritized set of opportunities to validate their potential impact, while working closely with the company to build consensus
• Developed a detailed implementation plan to support execution and realization of the benefits

Results

• Our client received a customized plan to help increase sales rep selling time, improve win rates and ultimately drive sustainable sales force improvements
• Improvement opportunities included redesigned sales processes; improved coordination between the sales function and key support functions such as operations, finance and IT; tighter management of the sales force; a clearer understanding of sales performance; and a more aligned set of systems and tools to support sales
• Due to the updated sales processes, we estimated an additional 5% in revenue upon completion of the implementation
• Working closely with our client, we developed a detailed implementation plan to support execution, change management and sustainable sales performance improvement