Getting your Sales Force to More Sales Calls

The Challenge:

The challenge in this third project was to improve the process, system, and behavior in the Sales Department, in order to increase sales volumes. Administrative support was required from the Customer Care department to allow the Business Unit Directors to increase their “face time” in front of the customers. Furthermore, the initiative focused on the Distribution department, with the primary intent of reducing the freight expenditure.

The Results:

• Annualized savings representing a 3.1 :1 return on investment.
• 27% increase in sales in the first quarter of 2002 relative to the first quarter of 2001. This occurred through a combination of “Natural Growth” and “Earned Growth”. “Natural Growth” is achieved through category and customer growth. “Earned Growth” is achieved by securing additional volume by conducting Product, Pricing, Planogram, and Promotion activity at existing customers.
• 13% reduction in hours required to perform current “Customer Care” responsibilities. This allows the representatives to provide additional administrative support to Sales and to absorb incremental volume of accounts.
• 6.3% reduction in freight expenditure through implementation of a Carrier Optimization Process. This is a proactive approach to improving the cost, quality, and service of outside carriers.
• Completion of a Weekly Operating Report that allows management to monitor results from every department in the organization against requirements. This allows them to identify and address negative variances prior to the monthly financials.
• 3 fold improvement in active management for Product Development and Quality Assurance Manager.

The Client Experience:

“The process improvements that generated the return were great; however the management system tools that were designed and implemented were even more critical. These tools have allowed us to increase the accountability of our managers and to highlight further opportunities for improvement. The system tools allow our managers to work on our business, rather than in our business. I now have a one page report that allows me to gauge the operational performance of the entire Seaforth facility on a weekly basis.”

President, Seaforth Creamery Inc.