Transformation of a global sales organisation

How do we transform a global or international sales organisation? What and how can we change to accelerate sales in a mature market without adding new resources and products? And how can we design the change to create a significant and lasting impact?

Join us for an engaging morning where we will explore these questions and get inspired by Grundfos at the next Commercial Excellence Forum event in Copenhagen.

The repeating circle of revenue growth initiatives

Almost all organisations that we meet have ambitious revenue growth targets. They also spend considerable amounts of resources in order to find ways to achieve them. We often experience that the commercial initiatives are linked to new tools, methods and processes. Frequently, this results in a number of initiatives focused on the frontline, i.e. the sales reps and account managers who are responsible for the day-to-day sales.

These initiatives may provide some increase in revenue, but it is often short-lasting. After a few months, the good intentions of the initiatives wear off, and the revenue growth is back to square one. Soon, new initiatives are introduced, and the cycle starts all over. Does this sound familiar?

Let’s discuss how we can avoid the pattern of common pitfalls

Let us start by looking at an interesting number. The average success rate for a change project is estimated to be only 33%. While several factors are influencing the success rate, we have identified a pattern of common pitfalls associated with commercial change projects:

• The solutions are often complex, and the organisations want to change too much at once
• The focus is on new tools, processes and methods rather than behavioural change
• The leaders are not able and equipped to support and sustain the change
• The perspective of the frontline is often neglected

On Thursday 4 April, we will focus on how we can avoid these common pitfalls associated with commercial projects, and how we can design future projects to create a significant and lasting impact.

We will start the event by sharing our perspective and provide some insights on the topic. Next, Commercial Excellence Senior Director in Grundfos Rasmus Christian Andersen will share the inspiring story of how they have transformed their global sales organisation of +3,000 employees, resulting in more customer face time, significantly increased pipeline and revenue growth. Further, we seek to present and reflect upon what other organisations can learn from Grundfos’ great journey.

Finally, we will have three “deep-dive” sessions where we will engage in discussions around central themes that each will provide you with specific methods and tools:

• Sales operating model: We need to deploy and fuel the sales engine with the right focus. Having a model that supports the key growth drivers and the right focus is needed to fuel the change initiatives and to create the link between the commercial strategy and the sales operation. Many organisations do not have a well-defined and systematic approach to the sales operation. In this session, we will therefore seek to define a simple operating model for sales.
• Sales coaching: The sales managers’ ability to make proper sales coaching is pivotal for a successful implementation of new sales concepts. Good sales coaches are able to motivate the sales force and empower them to change in a new direction. In this session, we will “deep-dive” into what it takes to become a good sales coach, and how the capabilities of existing sales managers can be improved significantly.
• HQ standardisation vs local autonomy: One of the main challenges in international sales organisations is how to balance the centralised tools and methods with the need and desire for local tailoring and adaption. In this session, we will share ideas and perspectives on how the best balance can be achieved, and how to get local management “on board”.