The crisis won’t wait. But your sales team will
A supplier to the mechanical engineering sector with a turnover of EUR 60 million was faced with inefficient sales structures: 40 per cent of operating expenditure was allocated to sales – without any noticeable impact on turnover or margins. At the same time, the company was losing customers, its sales visit strategy was flawed, and there was a lack of transparency regarding existing potential.
Sales costs spiralling out of control
Hidden costs in the sales department had become a risk to profitability. 40% of OPEX was channelled into this area, yet the cost structure lacked a clear link to profitability: 70% of sales staff’s time was spent on customers who contributed only around 10% to turnover. 15% of customers had been inactive for over 18 months – with no systematic follow-up. The diagnosis was clear: sales performance itself was not the problem, but rather the management of it. Gaps became apparent, such as a lack of transparency regarding inactive or declining customers, the equal treatment of small customers and growth customers, and a high volume of visits with no impact on results. Customers with the highest margins received too little attention, and customer care was based on historical performance – not on future value.
Sales Excellence: People and Machines
AI was intended to increase transparency in sales right from the start, whilst an experienced Sales Excellence Lead would oversee its implementation. The plan did not envisage a simple tool roll-out, but rather the introduction of a new sales system: based on data, segmentation, prioritisation and change management. AI was intended to be a tool in this process – not a ready-made solution. The Sales Excellence Lead was to combine traditional sales with strategy, change management and leadership. Data-driven processes, a clear KPI framework, along with segmentation and prioritisation, would create the necessary transparency. AI was to help recognise patterns, identify potential and accelerate campaigns. However, the strategy remained in human hands – AI would simply make it faster, more precise and more scalable.
AI as a tool
The implementation took place in three stages:
Stage 1: Creating transparency by cleaning up the CRM, integrating SAP data and logically segmenting customers.
Stage 2: Redistributing attention – not every customer deserves personalised support, but every customer deserves a clear rationale. Sales capacity was treated as a scarce resource, not as a historical entitlement.
Step 3: Enforcing implementation: communication focused on growth customers, whilst incentives were based on revenue per customer, new customers and margin – not on the number of visits. Sales staff learnt to use AI signals to guide customer conversations.
