Case Study - Marketing & Sales Restructure
If you don't make changes to your marketing approaches and customer response time,
we will find a supplier who will. 
Context
An international packaged goods company was fighting the head winds of shifting market dynamics triggered by their competitors’ agility and innovative business model. Their primary client demanded that the company’s marketing staff be located “on the ground” to directly connect marketing and sales for faster product development. The challenge was simple: make changes to your marketing approaches and product development time or we will find a supplier who will.
Instead of separate sales and marketing functions, our client needed to relocate their marketing intellectual property — products in the pipeline and new patents — from their head office to their customers' locations. This drastic move would satisfy their customers' need for the creation of new products at a much faster pace and increase market testing and experimentation.
This new approach required people with combined sales and marketing experience rather than the specialized skill sets of either sales or marketing. Due to the hybrid skill model and the new business model, the initial estimate was that 20% fewer employees would be required. After finalizing the strategy, Whitesell & Company was asked to profile the current sales and marketing staff using two psychological profiles and to conduct team-based, skills training with simulated workflows.
Outcomes
This type of change requires both sensitivity and speed. Our client's leadership and culture provided a supportive environment and the negative impact of the dramatic change was mitigated. The client discovered that the new sales and marketing continuum allowed the organization to create improved lines of communication with their manufacturing and finance departments as the interface with their customers became almost seamless.
This change resulted in a reduction of personnel that exceeded the original estimate by 15% and this was accomplished painlessly through natural attrition. The new structure resulted in increased capacity, 32% growth in sales, 20% reduction in staffing costs and a 12% increase in profit margin. The culture that emerged added speed, quality and uncompromising customer focus to their core competencies.