Project examples: Marketing & Sales

The following examples have been selected from the partners’ portfolios. They illustrate the range of services provided by the European Partner Group in the area of Marketing & Sales.

Product Strategy and Product Development

We developed the first standardised product strategy for a major European freight-railway operator, based on standardised product modules that forced the company to reduce the variety of its processes. A product hierarchy was developed and introduced into the market that allows a wide and cost-effective range of services by combining a limited set of standardised modules.

Market Segmentation

We carried out market segmentation for a European Hardware Manufacturer. We segmented the German market for corporate customers and small and medium enterprises, identifying attractive market segments and evaluated the market potential for the client in each of these segments.

Pan-European market strategy

We worked for a European equipment provider to better understand its market and competitors, and develop a new competitive positioning and value proposition. The work included customer interviews across Europe, detailed analysis of competitors' positioning and economics, and assessment of internal delivery capabilities.

Segmented selling approaches

With many clients we have successfully used the insights from detailed market mapping and quantitative customer research to drive much more effective and economical allocations of our clients’ sales resources. As an example one should distinguish between truly small customers who are best sold to and served through telesales and internal support teams and customers with whom we have a small share-of wallet but who represent significant upside potential. The latter might receive increased attention from direct sales executives, if the economics warrant the additional selling cost.

A global salesforce compensation architecture

For a global freight transportation company which was operating a great variety of sales compensation schemes, sometimes even several ones within one country, we developed a global ‘architecture’ for sales compensation that took into account the very different competitive situations in which the company found itself across the globe but also recognized that the company needed to be in a position to push much more strongly on central themes crucial to its bottom-line (e.g., a concerted push on new products or an initiative to focus more on the middle market or a program to reward better customer retention). We developed the structure, ran beta tests in Asia and Europe, supported the roll-out in all geographies by working with local sales management to calibrate the plans for their market and by running workshops in key regions.