The Challenge:
Auxis' client, a diversified marketer and distributor of small kitchen appliances and personal care products for use in and outside the home, merged with a major competitor late in 2007. The combination of the two firms created one of the largest U.S. public companies focused on the small household appliances and pet supply products, with the scale and customer relationships that would ultimately provide significant category leadership and efficiencies. This complex merger created the immediate need to combine two large scale sales organizations into one cohesive unit in order to maximize synergy savings, as well as aid in streamlining its operations. It was immediately clear that the consolidation and transition efforts would be both extensive and cumbersome.
All mergers typically create an incredibly high level of anxiety and stress, and require a specialized skill set to manage the end to end integration solution across organizations. Auxis was uniquely qualified to prepare and manage this undertaking, and brought the comprehensive skills, leadership and experience necessary to execute such an intricate project. Auxis was responsible for the complete global M&A integration strategy for the company that included a dozen work streams along with several hundred tasks and deliverables to achieve. This massive endeavor would require a high level of communication, coordination, collaboration and cooperation, as these would be the building blocks for this critical sales team transition effort.
The Approach:
One of the most important issues to address was to quickly unify the sales organization while simultaneously executing a 'one face to the customer' approach. Customer demands are growing and expectations remain high, regardless of a company's impending issues or status. This sales transition would require addressing multiple issues involving people, processes, data gathering, knowledge gathering, and most importantly, maintaining stability in the midst of this merger. Auxis was introduced into the merged organization 45 days before the merger was completed in order to establish key relationships with its sales management team and quickly learn the 'who, what, when, where, why and how' of their operation. Auxis' approach was to smoothly assimilate into the merged company by inserting a high level of professionalism, understanding that many of the employees could potentially become new/future leaders for the newly created organization, or if not, they would provide important 'social capital'.
Specific and strict timelines were set up and agreed upon, and it was up to Auxis to ensure delivery of all agreed upon transitions, consolidations and agreements. The client and Auxis teamed up to develop a thorough project plan to support the associated decision making processes. The key steps that helped guide this project to a successful conclusion are listed below.
Sales Team Transition Steps:
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- Meet and greet sales staff at merged company HQ
- Interview and gather notes on each team member along with contact information
- Develop rapport and provide guidance and stability pre-transition
- Provide interim leadership and act as companywide communication lead pre and post-merger
- Execute data and knowledge gathering from merged company team members
- Lead and manage the merged company interim sales forecasting efforts
- Manage business review process by Salesperson/Account including preparation of a thorough SWOT analysis
- Assist client management in new sales position assignments
- Manage the 'one face to the customer' approach and execution strategy
- Manage sales representative transition efforts including account coverage consolidation and newly created sales representative agreements
- Provide newly assigned Sales leads with both companies detailed business intelligence data
- Execute cross training of newly assigned sales leads
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The ultimate execution of this transition plan speaks to the importance of preparation, cooperation and leadership, especially since it involved managing dozens of individuals, all with different and unique personalities who were experiencing very high levels of tension and apprehension.
The Results:
Auxis successfully completed the Sales team transition project on time while meeting the company's strategic objectives.
The final results:
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- Newly assigned Sales leads were finalized and a unified Sales Organization was established
- A newly established sales representative team with account specific coverage was instituted, along with implementing new more favorable agreements
- 'One face to the customer' transitions were finalized and well received by all customers
- Synergy savings were realized and 'exceeded' corporate objectives
- Business execution was smooth and seamless during the implementation of these transitions
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About Auxis
Auxis is a management consulting and outsourcing firm dedicated to enabling growth for our customers. We offer a multi-disciplined approach to develop and implement practical, robust and scalable solutions that generate superior business performance, providing significant competitive advantages to our clients. Our core belief is that our success should be measured by tangible and sustainable financial results. Simply put, Auxis helps clients prosper. |
