Situation
The winery had a history of years of declining sales. They had relied on contract bottling and had become very small-scale in the process. The company had not built up its own brand. Although it had recently undergone an expensive design relaunch, it was not positioned independently as a result. There had been no relevant new products for years. Only an expensive design relaunch for the equipment of its own brand, which did not position it independently. The retail agencies lacked arguments for listings. In addition, the winery had moved to new premises and urgently needed a higher capacity utilization. The company’s only real strength was in production.
Challenges/scheduling
Within 6 months, the interim manager had to create new sales opportunities without the company’s own brand being able to provide any support. In addition, the Sales Director was dismissed during the period of the mandate. The interim manager immediately drew up a sales strategy for 6 different channels, prioritizing those with the greatest sales potential and identifying the necessary success factors for each channel. For the “food retail” channel, the success factors were “concepts” and “resources”. The interim manager developed his own new product concepts and established contact with a new retail agency with high-level contacts to well-known food retail chains. The new products were extremely well received there. As with the existing agencies. The interim manager also established contact with a key account manager with long-standing personal contacts in the food retail sector, as the brand’s lack of appeal meant that a reliable network was needed. For the “Gastro” channel, the interim manager established contact with a large party network, which resulted in a joint venture product and, for the first time in years, PR in the trade press for the winery. The interim manager developed a test idea for a major German city for the “Premium Hotel Industry” channel. The test was successfully implemented.
Sustainable result
The key account manager brought new listings in regional food retail chains. The joint venture party sparkling wine brought immediate additional sales and its differentiating design enhanced the company’s image. Various contacts made by the interim manager resulted in leads for the next year, namely in areas where the customers could not, with the best will in the world, implement the project in the same year. The test with the premium hotel industry provided a template for the roll-out in other German cities. The contact with the high-level trading agency brought new opportunities for sales on an unprecedented scale. At the request of the shareholders, the interim manager also provided them with a number of suggestions for improving the corporate culture.
Conclusion
Even under difficult conditions, sales potential was quickly identified and addressed as far as possible in the short term. It was possible to show how more potential could be uncovered in just a few months than in the previous 5 years.
