The better the question
To what extent can digital ‘transform’ an organization’s vision?
A leading manufacturing company was looking to achieve customer and market excellence through digital.
Aleading wires and cables manufacturer required assistance in route-to-market transformation with a vision of doubling its market share. To drive the next wave of growth in a better-connected, digitally-enabled world, the organization felt the need to replace its traditional practices driven mostly by industry norms. As the company operated in a low consumer involvement industry, brand recall and brand loyalty were generally low.
The overarching roadblocks to achieving the organization’s vision included:
- Fragmented channel partner base below threshold profitability; limited market orientation
- Large variability in number of outlets covered per beat of frontline sales force due to legacy planning approach
- “One-Size-Fits-All” distribution model unable to reach cumulative high-potential towns and low last-mile control of distribution
- “Run of the mill” influencer engagement programmes leading to limited loyalty and offtakes in an industry already beleaguered with low end-consumer involvement
- No standardized method of territory-wise, level-wise manpower deployment and capability assessment
- Lack of standardized review mechanism and schedules
The better the answer
The company underwent a digital-led route-to-market transformation.
EY created a digitally enabled route-to-market strategy to enhance all round effectiveness.
EY helped create an end-to-end route-to-market capability encompassing sales, organizational structure, digital and tech, product and supply chain functions. The execution was simultaneously supported with change management across all managerial and employee levels.
Critical aspects of the route-to-market transformation included:
- All-India market and client presence mapping at a town level to determine optimal white spaces for direct reach expansion.
- Secondary sales transformation and sales force effectiveness enhancement via Digital Salesman initiative.
- Channel partner network capability assessment and new partner addition basis design of threshold turnover and take-home and RoI to ensure network sustainability.
- Launch of a best-in-class digitally enabled engagement programme for influencers to drive offtakes and long-term loyalty.
- Talent and capability enhancement via Learning Academy and launch of a new sales excellence vertical.
- Supply side interventions in the form of network optimization, including feasibility assessment for depot aggregation.
The better the world works
The manufacturer increased market coverage, built customer loyalty and boosted sales.
The company witnessed better performance across all aspects of their envisioned growth targets.
The initiative resulted in significant quantitative and qualitative value, including:
- Route to market capability customized by town to maximize coverage – 2x+ increase in towns and outlets directly covered delivering higher last-mile control over distribution
- Double digit sales growth (neutralising COVID-19 impact), with pilot markets growing at 3.5x of control markets
- Consolidated channel partners with greater skin in the game, making threshold RoI and take-home
- Digitally enabled sales force covering optimal number of outlets, with analytics-oriented decision-making support, aided by dashboards and review mechanisms to aid in root cause analysis
- Best-in-industry Influencer Engagement Programme launched to generate long-term loyalty; 2.3x increase in electricians enrolled and active on Loyalty Programme with a 4x increase in PDO
- Forecast-led loss of sale reduced by two-thirds under pull-based replenishment
In general, focusing change management initiatives across all echelons of employee and management hierarchy meant that there was a buy-in of not just the initiatives but also the overarching vision of the promoter family.
