Context: A leading multibillion-dollar global aerospace company required a VP, Head of Brand Experience, to oversee a team of over 80 multicultural communications professionals across various countries. The role was pivotal in shaping the company’s brand strategy, managing promotional activities, and leading major events. The position reported directly to an Executive Committee Member and was part of the executive leadership team in Communications.

Key Responsibilities:

• Define and implement strategies for brand experience.
• Manage brand evaluation and performance metrics.
• Lead and activate significant advertising campaigns.
• Oversee planning and execution of major company events and exhibitions.
• Cultivate creativity within the communications teams to innovate for business needs.

Candidate Qualifications:

• Extensive leadership experience (10-15+ years) in communications, marketing, or as an artistic director, preferably with international exposure.
• Deep expertise in brand management, with a plus for international event and exhibition management.
• Proven leadership in managing diverse teams in a matrixed, dynamic environment.
• Fluency in English, with proficiency in an additional language being advantageous.

CEO Worldwide’s Recruitment Process:

1. Candidate Sourcing and Screening:
   • Initial Pool: From an extensive pool, CEO Worldwide identified over 120 potential candidates.
   • Interest Confirmation: Conducted preliminary interviews with 40 interested candidates, narrowing down to 10 for the shortlist.
2. Company Interviews:
   • First Round: Six candidates from the shortlist underwent:
     • An operational video interview focusing on job-specific skills and experience.
     • An HR & Leadership video assessment to evaluate leadership qualities and cultural fit.
   • Final Round: Two top candidates were selected for final 4 interviews at the company’s headquarters.
3. Outcome:
   • Recruitment: The aerospace company successfully appointed their new VP, Head of Brand Experience within 6 months from initiating the search with CEO Worldwide.
   • Timeline: CEO Worldwide managed to provide a shortlist in 10 days to 3 months, whereas the internal selection process by the company took an additional 3 months.

Analysis and Feedback:

• Efficiency: CEO Worldwide demonstrated agility and efficiency in candidate selection, significantly reducing the time from search mandate signature to shortlisting.
• Quality of Candidates: The quality of candidates presented was noted as exceptional, particularly in matching the complex skill set and cultural fit needed for the role.
• Service Delivery: The support from CEO Worldwide was comprehensive, offering not just candidates but also strategic advice and logistical support throughout the hiring process.
• Client Satisfaction: The aerospace group expressed high satisfaction with CEO Worldwide’s services, appreciating the swift response, candidate quality, and the ongoing support which facilitated a successful recruitment in a 6-month complex administrative and operational process that involved several high level cross-functional stakeholders.

This case study illustrates how CEO Worldwide effectively navigated the challenges of finding a senior executive with a nuanced skill set for a multinational corporation. By providing a tailored, high-caliber candidate pool and maintaining engagement throughout the recruitment process, CEO Worldwide not only met but exceeded the expectations of their client, ensuring a strategic and cultural match for a critical leadership position.

A challenging recruitment mandate completed in the healthcare aseptic production sector within few weeks only

Novo Nordisk, a Danish stock market listed company is the world leader in Diabetes Treatment with 27.000 employees covering 179 countries.

The Managing Director of the French production facility in Chartres (700 staff) urgently looks for an Aseptic Production Director. Besides of being operational as quickly as possible, the candidate also needs to respond to the following criteria:

• Experience in the aseptic production in the pharmaceutical sector
• Medical or pharmacist education
• Management of more than 300 staff and executive committee experience
• International coordination of several production sites
• Bilingual English/French

The recruiting process and the associated timing

The reactivity of CEO Worldwide’s executive recruitment service in facts:

• 8 working days from Mandate validation by the client to the short list of 4 candidates submitted by CEO Worldwide
• 27 working days from the short list submitted by CEO Worldwide to the operational starting date of the selected candidate
• 35 working days between the search for this very specific profile and the operational star in the client company

A challenging COO recruitment in India (600 staff) in the industrial scale and weighing system sector. Only 6 working days from the client briefing to the submission of a selection of 5 candidates…

Avery Weigh-Tronix, headquartered in the UK, is one of the leading industrial scale and weighing system manufacturers in the world, a subsidiary of ITW, a $15bn revenue US conglomerate.

Peter Branston, Managing Director Europe, Middle East & Africa of Avery Weigh-Tronix contacted CEO Worldwide, to find urgently the new MD for his India operation (600 staff and 2 manufacturing plants), the former MD having taken retirement.

The recruitment criteria were:

• Managing director with significant experience in India and abroad, in the industrial equipments sector serving the manufacturing, construction or transportation sectors with more than 600 employees and multiple plants to manage
• University degree, possibly MBA
• Strong turnaround experience (kick-starting sales growth, implementation of modern manufacturing methodologies and increasing collaboration with the rest of the group)
• Bilingual Hindi-English

The key challenges: Urgent recruitment in India, in a very specific sector, for a senior international executive, with 5 time zones (UK, INDIA, USA, OMAN, FRANCE)

• Mandate briefing on the phone with client based in the UK
• Online CEO Worldwide mandate validation by the client
• 5 candidates short list submission to client (CV+pitch+references) in 6 working days
• Candidates telephone interviews set up with client (UK, US, India, Oman, France)
• 2 candidates face to face interviews set up with client in India (candidates traveling from Oman&India and client from the UK)
• Additional telephone interviews and online assessments with the candidate selected by the client based in Oman (mainly telephone and online communication due to problem issuing a visa to travel from Oman to the UK)
• Negotiation package support by CEO Worldwide taken into account both parties (client and candidate) interests
• Final selection & contract of employment submission by the client
• Signature of the employment contract and operational start

CEO Worldwide reactivity and right candidate match:

⦁ Only 6 working days from client briefing to the selection of 5 candidates
⦁ Final recruited candidate amongst the 5 candidates first selection

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A business turnaround case study is a detailed analysis of a business that has faced significant challenges and has been able to successfully recover.

The case study provides insights into the reasons behind the business’s struggles and its eventual turnaround. It also highlights the key strategies and tactics that were used to achieve business success like increased productivity or profitability, better reviews or feedback from customers, etc.

The case study can be an invaluable resource for business owners and managers who are seeking to improve their own business performance. By understanding the reasons behind a successful business turnaround, they can learn from the mistakes of others and apply those lessons to their own businesses.

Here’s one example of a business turnaround case study for a manufacturing company.

Manufacturing Company Turnaround

The Challenge:

• The business was unprofitable, cash negative, and losing customers. Management in conflict & demoralized.
• Customers were very unhappy and were reducing orders and changing suppliers.
• The manufacturing process consisted of extrusion and thermoforming, i.e. a linked batch operation.
• A disorganized and dirty factory that had been put on notice by BRC to improve in 6 months. Poor delivery lead time, weak safety, and bad maintenance.
• Order lead time was very long and OTIF very Management had therefore decided to make trays to a forecast and this had exacerbated the problem further and driven up WIP and FG. WIP and FG stocks were in excess of 6 months.
• Stock counts were uncontrolled and not carried out regularly at month-end.
• Although cash was very tight there was no effective cash forecast regime in place.
• There was an inadequate sales plan in place which was subsumed by the need to constantly deal with customer crises related to late delivery and quality problems. There was excessive dependence on two customers.
• Customers in the UK, Ireland, and Benelux.

The Solution:

• Reduced headcount from 138 to 65, dismissed all directors and two managers, and in the process eliminated two layers of management.
• Developed management team & strategic plan & implemented Lean. Reviewed sales & production through value stream analysis & drove the integration of these functions.
• Changed ‘make to forecast’ to ‘make to order. Reduced FG stock to 10 days & WIP to 5 days, eliminating a 3000 sqm store. Cut order delivery time to 24hrs on identified lines.
• Set up shop floor data collection and installed IT that provided real-time performance measurement on 2 extruders & 8 thermo-formers. Measured Availability, Speed, Quality & OEE reviewed by shift. Implemented asset care system. Improved availability & developed planned maintenance.
• Integrated the order entry and production planning processes, drastically improving service speed, flexibility, and order turnaround. OTIF 99%.
• This process together with Kaizens energized the shop floor and forged strong (e.g. T/F tool change cut from 4 hrs to 2 hrs then 15-30 mins).
• Reorganized management & segregation of rework and reduced bad waste to <0.1%.
• Implemented a safety improvement plan with monthly meetings. Guarding, ASIs, Risk assessments, changed material flow, implemented safe WIP roll handling. Removed FLTs from production areas.
• Reduced NPD lead times from months to 4 weeks through a key alliance with a toolmaker.
• Worked closely with sales team & key customers. Weekly reviews of existing customers and new business development.
• Established detailed monthly financial reporting & 12-month rolling cash flow updated daily.

Results:

• Reduced breakeven from £13m to £7m, brought the company to profit in 12 months and reduced stock by 80% in 8 months. Improved OEE by 73% in 18 months.
• Cash positive in 18 months.
• Direct labor reduced from £2.4m to £1m pa, and material cost decreased by 22% in 12 months.
• Reduced low margin business, grew sales profitably to £9m in 2 years.

In business, there are always ups and downs. Companies that can weather the storm and come out stronger on the other side are the ones that are leaders in their industry.

When a company is in trouble, it can be tempting to give up and liquidate assets. However, sometimes the best course of action is to go through a business turnaround.

This involves making changes to the way the business is run in order to get it back on track. Sometimes this means making cutbacks and reducing expenses. Other times, it might mean investing in new technology or expanding into new markets.

Whatever the case may be, a business turnaround can be a difficult but necessary process. If done correctly, it can help a company to come out of a difficult situation even stronger than before.

Written by Mike Stewart, BSc Chem Eng, MBA: Strong practical experience at MD level. International experience includes being ‘parachuted in’ on a number of occasions to turn around troubled companies, as well as entering new markets and growing businesses.

Led 3 turnarounds in 7 years at £40 -£60 m pa businesses (330-500 people). All were complex multi-site manufacturing businesses with very demanding JIT customer service requirements.

I worked as an ICT Coordinator of the GEP: Support to the Solution of Economic and Social Integration Problems in Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara and Bursa as Major In-Migrant Destinations (EuropeAid/125542/D/SER/TR) project.

The purpose of the IGEP project is to provide support to Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Bursa municipalities to increase institutional capacity to mitigate socio economic integration and environmental related problems derived from migration, and to rehabilitate and reintegrate street children in the targeted districts.

Through the activities, the project’s target is the capacity building necessary to enable the Metropolitan Municipalities to perform their duties ­ administratively and technically ­ in the long term planning of facilities and support to the migrating communities in the four cities covered by the project.

I was directly responsible for conducting Information and Communication Technologies activities in collaboration with the beneficiaries and interactively with project’s IT team in accordance with the Terms of Reference. In addition, to being responsible for the overall capture process of the Senior Technical Staff, and I provided management and system engineering support to a variety of programs within the project.

I was also responsible for ensuring that all contractual ICT works are executed in accordance with approved schedules, as well as for system and software re-engineering, development, integration and implementation of the collaboration portal as a project management tool, and web sites design include IT trainings.

As part of the pre-deployment activity for the CIS application, I headed up the deployment team that defined all activities associated with the maintenance and change management of the system to include training, automated help desk support, and operational support.

Development of Web Sites and Collaboration Portals (MS SharePoint)

The project team developed and launched a well-designed web site for each center with specific and relevant information about the center’s activities; and one main web site acting as a doorway for each center’s individual site while providing shared and collective information about the overall project, beneficiaries and relevant information etc.

IGEP Web Site and Collaboration Portals

These sites acted as a platform for communicating the latest updates of the activities of the project, disseminating information, allowing access to key references, procedural documents, lists of project stakeholders, news of current and forthcoming events, general project documentation, shared outputs, and links to other related governmental bodies, NGOs, etc. These websites updated regularly with information provided by the project team and the project beneficiaries and stakeholders.

In addition to the web site accessible by everyone, one of its important features was that contained an internal team site which was used by local teams and TAT as a platform for communication and information sharing. There, tools for effective project management, reports, etc. shared and updated.

Aside from these web sites accessible by public, the project team taken the necessary steps to implement Collaboration Portals (Internal Team Sites powered by MS SharePoint) which were used by local teams and TAT as a platform for internal communication and information sharing.

Collaboration Portal was designed for the overall project and one sub-portal designed for each separate centre. So while the web sites would act as the public face of the project, the Collaboration Portals, available only through a secured login, would be designed to serve the beneficiaries and project stakeholders as well as ECD and CFCU and by providing common team and project management tools such as various calendars, action lists, small databases, and centralized storage for project outputs, reports, training materials, timesheets, expert CV’s and other project related files.

The needs for a PC network infrastructure have been assessed right from the start of the project and the central office was already equipped with the necessary equipment.

We have already taken the necessary steps to introduce the following in terms of basic databases:

• A human resources database on the basis of a CV template close to the EC CV template.
• A monthly travel and logistics database in support of the different missions.
• Complete development of the system in-house.
• Partly incorporation of existing software into an in-house development scheme.
• Integration with an IT solution in support of the main process should shorten the overall length of a typical CFCU decision cycle (MIS).
• The IT solution should support ambitions expressed under the chapter on quality assurance. Especially consistency in terms of reporting is hereby targeted, especially when considering the working with PCU offices, installed in quite distinct parts Turkey.

Design and implementation of a Client Information System (CIS)

We developed a CIS for each center based on the results of a common needs analysis. The basic purposes of the CIS were:

1. Contain all relevant information and data on target groups (demographic profile, migration related data, employment related data, housing, education, health etc.);
2. Accommodate the common needs of user groups in terms of data, information and reports.

Main features include:

Web based design

• Strict login system for security reasons
• Tier-based user access with predefined user roles
• Intuitive user interface
• Automated reporting and ad-hoc reporting capabilities

on relevant data

• Automated and manual updates to the system
• Integration with Collaboration Portals and web sites
• Data export capabilities to Excel, PDF, CSV, etc.

CIS ­ Need Assessment Phase

It is known that user requirements analysis is not about asking users what system they want. User requirements analysis is about understanding users’ current practices and the problems they encounter. They often don’t know the possibilities and constraints of interactive systems.

The interviews were conducted mainly in face-to-face mode using a questionnaire, and a vision document in order to give the respondents an idea of the proposed system functionality.

A large number of potential requirements were identified and analysed. The final result was a subset of those requirements which seemed to represent the major needs of the user groups studied and which also matched the project vision. The output of this analysis was used to generate the functional specifications for the CIS system.

The user requirements study has been performed examining data from a number of sources. We thus supported the interviews with a set of imaginary together with a vision document representing the functionality and user interface that should be included in the proposed system in order to give our users a larger picture. Figure depicts the draft user interface of the CIS Application.

Although this study has mainly focused on user’s experience for professional purposes, we have also studied some data from the World Health Organization and Istanbul Municipality in order to understand the structure of Street Children Project formulated by the general user.

CIS ­ Design & Development Phase

After need analysis phase, CIS application data model has been expanded with the findings obtained from the need assessment studies. Therefore,it was implemented the fifth normal form (5NF) of database normalization level for CIS application database.

The design and development of CIS application have begun through the data model determined by the needs analysis studies for each centre. Then systems design functions and operations of the CIS application have been described in detail.

Modular and subsystem programming were accomplished during this phase. A system design has been prepared containing various modules and database components, which needs to be deployed to deliver the final product.

Individual modules have been created and modified, incorporating a wide variety of languages, tools, and platforms. The modules of the CIS application have been tested against realistic countermeasures in two stages which were unit test and system test.

CIS ­ Deployment and Training Phase

Upon completion of the Development and Testing, CIS Application was deployed to install the software system on local servers. We have also provided the management hosting during the deployment phase while local technical infrastructure was secured and commissioned. Security subjects have been discussed with system administrators so application data can be transferred securely on intranet network. Application data backup and server backup issues have been discussed and resolved that CIS server to be included in their backup policy.

Dynamic report module has been told and sample child reports have been created. Each report was verified if it reflects true information about children in the youth and child center. Search module has been told and applied on current children records. Detailed and complex queries were grilled and verified if results were conformed to expected ones.

User feedbacks were collected from current application design and working structure. Non-suitable parts were determined and new requirements were recorded. Staff members were informed about application security and network problems. User’s guides, administrator’s guides, installation manuals and accompanying detailed documentation were included with CIS application.

In accordance with the comprehensive training programme, the different training sessions and events have been launched in each new version and a variety of activities several times: on-the-job training, training workshops. During the on-the-job session new modules have been discussed. Each module has been told individually in detail. They have been tested on real child records. Sample reports have been created and verified by stakeholders.

The key aims of the ICT Training were:

• Maximum use of ICT with closely integrated systems allowing data and resource sharing.
• To increase the effective use of TeamSite in order to improve the quality of project services provided.
• To increase the level of skills relating to the management of ICT resources and the support of those resources.

Participants were trained in the use of the IGEP Sub- TeamSites and features of the corporate web sites with the following items:

Web Site:

• Corporate Internet Sites,
• Planning, Analyzing and Requirements,
• Design and Configuration,
• Evaluation, Implementation, regularly updating,
• Technical Evaluation of Sub-Web Site.

TeamSite (MS SharePoint):

• TeamSite as a project management tool,
• TeamSite ­ Basic Items (Hints),
• TeamSite ­ Document Management,
• TeamSite ­ Workflows,
• TeamSite ­ Sharing Excel Data
• Review IGEP Sub-Teamsite.

The objective of this training was to provide the necessary information to enable a good understanding of the expected task(s) and was to outline the benefits and challenges of TeamSite implementations so that PCU members were better prepared to use with colleagues in the project. In this training following item provided;

• Give users the ability to create and control their own collaborative workspaces.
• Make it easy for teams to adapt workspaces to the needs of the project.
• Manage projects more efficiently with the project task list.
• Coordinate teamwork with shared calendars, alerts and notifications.
• Connect team calendars to the desktop with Microsoft Office Outlook
• Communicate with team members in context using presence and instant messaging.
• Make it easy to include and work with team members from outside the organization.

CIS ­ Exit Strategy Phase

After the final application was installed, configured, and launched at the deployment site, follow-up activity for close monitoring of the system performance was included to provide immediate response to the issues and ensure complete customer’s satisfaction.

During this phase, ICT team transferred appropriate knowledge, conduct comprehensive training to the child and youth center’s stuff and provide final technical/user documentation on the delivered CIS application.

The exit strategy proposed for the CIS application comprises of three components, (1) supporting uptake of CIS application in all of the Child Centers, (2) promoting application in other target centers, and (3) dissemination and technical support for outputs from the project.

The activities covered the on-going maintenance and development of the CIS installations at the site. We performed these activities; Operate, maintain, and enhance the CIS application, conduct periodic CIS application assessments to ensure the functional requirements are being satisfied, performance measures identified in the system boundary are achieved.

The follow-up activities performed during this phase were:

• Operate the CIS application.
• Conduct a post installation review when requested.
• Control all changes and maintain the CIS application, as required, during its remaining life.
• Ensure continued enforcement of installed system security safeguards.
• Review and revalidate the functional utility of the CIS application and the adequacy of the technical design.
• Collect reports of problems and ensure appropriate corrective action and bug-fix were taken.
• Collect and respond to requests for new or changed CIS application functionality.
• Periodically test the effectiveness of disaster recovery procedures and test to ensure the recoverability of CIS application.
• Perform data quality monitoring to ensure data integrity.
• The outputs of all phases of the process and the source code of the final software and reports belong to the Beneficiary.
• Complete CIS application support documentation, including training.

GEP was financed by the European Union and implemented by Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara and Bursa Metropolitan Municipalities with the technical assistance from the Human Dynamics, ICMPD, TEPAV, TESEV, WYG International consortium led by DeLeeuw International.

Management on Demand allows to immediately start an interim management assignment with the option to turn the interim management mission into permanent recruitment.

A successful mission

7 months after the arrival of the CEO Worldwide’s vetted Interim Manager Eric Caen, who became President of the board and CEO of Glowria after two months:

• The turnover increased by 20% to reach 7 Millions
• All employees of the company could stay with the company
• The company stopped its loss bringing activity in Germany (DVD Germany) and intensified its commercial efforts in France (DVD France and VoD as White Label product)
• The shareholders of Glowria secured their investment and are now shareholders of Netgem based on a valorisation of 18 Millions.

Glowria, the French number one online video rental and video on demand (VoD) provider used CEO Worldwide’s Management on Demand service in January 2007. The company was looking for a manager capable to bring it back on track to profitability. The company suffered from a growing gap between the business plan and its realisation and a loss of confidence between the management in place and the investors.

Glowria’s shareholders and the board decided to get external help and to entrust the company to an interim manager with the clear mission to turn the company around or to close it. The company got out of the crisis within seven months, thanks to the knowledge of the interim could stay with the company manager and without the need to lay off staff. On 6th December 2007 the company has been valued at 18 Millions and plans to create new jobs in 2008.

Let’s take a look at the seven months in 2007 that changed the perspective of the development of the company.

To find the “right man” for the job within 6 weeks: CEO Worldwide’s mission

In the beginning of 2007, Glowria was facing a major crisis jeopardizing its survival. The financial situation was serious and the company did not get encouraging results for a long time. The shareholders got worried and decided to act as quickly as possible. Thus it was necessary to put a manager in place that was capable to turn the situation around. Confronted with the problem to find an experienced manager who perfectly knows this type of situation in a very short time frame, the shareholders contacted CEO Worldwide as only their solution Management on Demand matched this request.

CEO Worldwide, international executive recruitment specialist, offers a solution for this type of problem and allows company directors, shareholders or investors to choose top manager profiles from a manager pool with over 28100 experienced candidates available for temporary or permanent recruitments.

In January 2007 CEO Worldwide has been asked to search a manager who is familiar with the sector of Glowria’s activity and able to manage a delicate interim assignment. Within five days CEO Worldwide presented Glowria a selection of available candidates that responded to the searched profile of which three got selected. Interviews started on February 5 . After the final decision has been taken by the directors and shareholders, Eric Caen started his mission on March 15.

Eric Caen, who was chosen to take up this mission to assist the management in place, had the ideal profile to respond to Glowria’s problem: programmer, autodidact and brilliant entrepreneur, he founded the video games company Titus Interactive at the age of 19 in 1985. In 2000, he reached rank 3 in Europe and rank 7 worldwide with over 700 staff and a turnover of more than 175M compared to 6M in 1996. He was nominated entrepreneur of the year in France in 1998.

The challenge: a situation of “shut down or double” and a very short timeframe for manoeuvre

Upon his arrival, the situation at Glowria was as follows:

• Turnover stagnating at 5,8 M
• High losses and significant need of cash flow
• De-motivated staff
• Worried partners

Eric Caen was totally aware of the challenge he was facing and particularly conscious of the timing attached to the turnaround mission. There were only two possibilities for Glowria: recover or close.

In this advanced crisis situation, any error regarding the choice of finance or prioritisation could have been fatal to the company.

Eric Caen started the job on 15 March 2007. He had very little time to propose a turnaround plan. He had to submit his strategy to rescue the company taking into account the four sites in France and Germany before May 2007. Thus he needed to get acquainted with the company settings surrounded by staff who were de-motivated by the situation and either defiant or even hostile towards his arrival and the mission he was confided with. He equally had to undertake a valuation of the qualifications and the potential of the employees.

The way of change: a user manual

In seven months, Glowria realised a real commercial and financial turnaround. To achieve this change, Eric Caen had to manage in parallel several major projects, such as to raise funds, to immediately develop sales and to restructure the company.

Within the framework of the rescue plan, an interim manager is often seen as someone who comes to downsize staff. Eric Caen though saw the value of his internal resources, efficient staff but not working as a team. The team needed a leader to unite and channel these energies. From April onwards Glowria shows again the dynamics of constructive work. The shareholders took notice of Eric Caen’s action plan at the end of April.

His strategy to turn the company around:

• Structure, Convince, Motivate
• To get back into a positive mode of growth
• Take the best possible start: show yourself organised, firm and decided
• Install a relationship of trust with the staff, inform them, reassure them to find a consensus for the company
• Re-motivate all the company resources to get back a dynamic of immediate commercial results

Success Story: A company value of 18 millions Euros

Once the turnaround plan has been accepted, it was up to Eric Caen to get the company out of its difficult financial situation. Nominated CEO in May 2007 with the share holders’ support to implement his recommendations, Eric Caen renews the cooperation with many partners and in particular with the company Netgem, a supplier of innovative technological solutions complementary to Glowria’s offer.

In June, Eric Caen closes a strategic partnership with Netgem to create business leads. Uniting their competences permitted both companies to expand their commercial perimeter. Glowria succeeded to sign agreements with four new major partners over the summer, amongst them SFR and Allocine.

Towards the end of summer, Netgem proposed the shareholders of Glowria an exchange of shares. Eric Caen, reinforced by his experience and the first positive results of his strategy sees this buy out opportunity as a chance for Glowria to regain a stable source of finance and commercial development.

He had to convince Glowria’s shareholders of the benefits to join a solid company that is quoted on the stock exchange, such as Netgem.

In December 2007, both parties finalised the transaction. Glowria has been valued at 18 millions. A success officially confirmed by the announcement of the takeover of Glowria by Netgem on 6th December 2007.

Rakesh Shah, founder of RVR management which focuses on providing Interim solutions for engineering/manufacturing sectors, explains how he managed to turnaround a manufacturing business that was experiencing a decline in its sales revenue.

Brief

The client was an engineering based company, who supplied instrumentation to a number of B2B based market sectors. The biggest issue for the client was that they were losing market share, and sales revenue was declining – down ten per cent from the previous year and approximately 15% the year before. Therefore, as a result a number of sales & marketing managers had come and gone.

The main brief was to recover the sales revenue for the business and to install some form of sales management process into the business. I was recruited for an initial period of three months, this then ended up being extended to 8 months

Execution

The initial few weeks were spent examining the sales/marketing process. There was no clear strategy or measurement as to how the product would be marketed to the client target segment and no marketing communication plan was in place in order to generate new business.

Closer examination of the past sales history had showed up a very worrying trend. For the past five years approx 85% of business was coming from existing accounts and in this business, once equipment is purchased it is likely to last approximately 15-20 years.

Priority 1 – Develop a detailed strategic growth plan for the business; which segment should the client be targeting, what types of accounts, how should the message be delivered, etc. Plus, a clear direction for the business, in terms of where are they now, where do they want to be and how are they going to get there.

Priority 2 – Develop a detailed marketing plan; how should the product be marketed and what new features should be developed into the product that differentiates the clients and adds value to the end customer.

Priority 3 – Focus on sales process, team building and improving product knowledge. Also introduced visual management board based on six sigma principles, which track /measured all the key data. The team where then given ownership to check/review the data and where appropriate carry out root cause counter measure in order to continuously improve/further develop the process.

Priority 4 – Coach/train the team on benefits of six sigma process (e.g. carried out current state /future state map, Kiazen, QDIP boards, 5s etc…)

Priority 5 – Coach/train the team on benefits of focusing on solution selling and taking more of a consultative approach to key accounts.

Priority 6 – Develop a key account management strategy, with key focus on building relationships at all key levels within the business (i.e. key decision makers, and influencers etc.)

Legacy

The sales/marketing transformation programme generated improvements in the company’s performance. The business achieved 21% growth versus the previous year and 26% growth versus the year before. Therefore, in the second half (32% growth v Q3 PY and 45% growth v Q4 PY) of the year the team recovered the decline from the first half of the year and exceeded the target for H2. Furthermore, the number of new leads/accounts introduced into the business increased by 30% and first quarter forecasts and pipelines are in line to achieve the top level stretch sales goal of 25% growth.

Client feedback:

“Rakesh was recruited as Head of Sales to review our sales structure/process within the UK. He introduced a number of initiatives/strategies which lead to developing/implementing a focused approach to sales process/pipeline management. The results delivered were beyond expectations driving strong growth in our equipment sales in the UK in the second half of the year.”
M.Copper – FD

The client was an engineering based company, who supplied engineering solutions into B2B industrial sectors. Sales revenue from the international market was declining, and the company had an ambitious growth plan, however no clear vision/idea as to where this growth was going to be achieved from.

Rakesh Shah (RVR Management) was recruited to develop a detailed plan, and to identify how the company could achieve its growth objectives. This then needed to be approved by the Board of Directors.

1) TASK

A strategic sales/marketing plan was developed, which was presented to and approved by the Board. This focused on a number of initiatives, which were identified when developing the plan.

The process used:

• Key market drivers
• Key changes taking place in the market
• Which segment/countries are driving the growth
• Competitive analysis
• Market attractiveness model – this clearly identified where the client should focus his resources in order to achieve growth
• Resource allocation
• Areas of functional areas to improve
• VOC – voice of the customer survey
• etc.

Based on a detailed plan analysis, it was identified that the company needed to focus on the following:

2) INITIATIVES

• Digital marketing and communication
• Vertical market segment growth
• Geographical market expansion – by each region top 7 countries identified
• Channel development
• Key account strategy – by each segment – Top 20 accounts identified
• NPD – New product development

3) EXECUTION

Marketing – Re branding exercise undertaken – This was developed in form of a workshop – involving all the internal staff of the company. An external company was then given a brief to develop new logo/branding.

VOC – (voice of the customer) was carried out. This identified how the external customers viewed the business and areas of improvement/ product gap analysis.

Digital Marketing Communication – A detailed communication plan was developed/implemented (web site, SEO, social media, newsletter, blog, technical article, journal, news banner, trade association etc.)

New brochure based on total engineering capabilities, as well as ensuring it was vertical segment focused

CRM – building of a data base – using external agencies as well setting up of an internal telemarketing team was undertaken – to drive lead generation.

Channel development process introduced – This was to ensure the company identified the right types of agent/distributors for the target countries/segment.

Online spares – This was identified an area of growth and to generate incremental revenue

Sales – Sales team re-organised based on region, ensuring resources where re allocated based on market growth/opportunities by country/segments. New sales process introduced – e.g. effective call planning, product training, needs analysis questioning, key account management strategy, daily management process introduced (i.e. number of leads/quote/orders closed /pipeline stage) etc.

4) RESULTS/LEGACY

• Introduced new visual management board to drive continuous improvement. Win rate improved by 10%
• New lead generation/building data base – Pipeline value increased by 30%
• New channel development process introduced/implemented, to add 20 new international distributors
• Focus approach by sales/marketing team – showed a 15% improvement on order intake
• Online spares revenue increased by 50%
• New R/D department set up, and process introduced to define customer un-meet needs, 5 new potential ideas identified
• The company now on track to achieve its 3-year growth objectives, based on the current win rate/opportunity identified the company is likely to achieve its growth objectives within next 18 months

Client feedback

“Rakesh was a very professional and committed member of the senior management team, whose contribution to the business was much valued and results there to be seen”
Group CEO – C. Droogan

The Client

A SME company based in Northamptonshire

The Challenge

A couple of long standing, regular clients ceased trading which left the owner in need of finding new business. The MD felt his team were very reactive and no proactive activities were taking place. He was also not 100% clear in his mind in terms of the direction the business should be taking; as a result, the company had not seen growth in sales revenue, profit or customer retention.

The Solution

Increase sales revenue and profitability of the business with a view to clearly identifying the target market, and then focusing specifically on growth strategies, plan and process, where by the company is taking a proactive approach.

Task

1. Train, coach and facilitate the team in developing a detailed strategic market expansion plan
2. Train, coach and facilitate the team in developing a detailed marketing plan (including specific tactics to generate leads from the target market)
3. Sales training – Provided in depth training to the team, covering number of technique and tools, e.g.- call planning, needs analysis, linking needs to feature of the product that will benefits the clients, handling objections etc…

Client Benefits/Feedback

“Rakesh helped us in number of key areas of our business. This included developing a strategic plan that provided us with a clear sales and marketing plan and strategy. This then enabled us to develop a business plan based on key market segments. Rakesh also undertook training/coaching of the sales team and put in place tools to assist with future sales development and customer retention. Rakesh also helped us to develop the concept of “value selling and total cost of ownership model” this has now enabled the team to articulate the key benefits of using some of our solutions. We are now starting to see signs of improvements in our business performance and sales conversion rate and we have continuously used the Rakesh approach/methods in order to develop our business further. I would have no hesitation in recommending Rakesh and will look to use his service again in the future.”
T. Mariani – Managing Director