Apparel Manufacturer Case Study

Aligning the sales force with revised customer segments and improving sales force management and effectiveness is restoring sales growth.

Situation and Challenge

• The company had experienced double-digit annual sales gains, but growth slowed significantly in the prior two years
• Blue Ridge was asked to define a customer engagement strategy, which included analyzing the market, developing a customer segmentation, identifying opportunities for improved sales effectiveness, and developing an implementation plan

Approach

• Blue Ridge Partners conducted over 100 employee and customer interviews, performed a quantitative survey of the customer base, and analyzed the company’s historical performance
• An actionable segmentation of customers was developed by integrating the historic company data with the market sizing data from the quantitative survey and feedback from interviews
• Our analysis led to four key recommendations:
• Refocus the outside sales organization on the largest customers and those with the highest potential for growth
• Create an inside sales organization to manage smaller accounts at a lower overall cost per customer
• Develop a standardized method for sales planning and selling
• Enhance management of the salesforce with a more directed approach to sales and utilize improved tools to aid the salesforce

Impact

• Implementing the new customer engagement strategy is expected to double their annual growth rate