Project details

Project Salesforce integration generates M&A success in healthcare

Salesforce integration generates M&A success in healthcare
Healthcare

Project description

When two multibillion-dollar companies merge, continued success with customers depends on seamless salesforce integration. As part of a large merger in the healthcare industry, Consult Plus worked through complex hurdles with the combined entity to help two very different sales organizations become a unified force for growth. Two large healthcare companies stood to gain leading positions in their various markets by combining forces through a merger. To realize the potential benefits, however, it was crucial to integrate each firm's unique sales approach into a single sales model. The starting point: One firm used a salesforce composed of specialists, who sold only the products of a specific business unit. The other firm relied on a more centralized team of generalists, who sold a wide variety of products. Adding to the complexity of the task, management set an aggressive timeline to achieve synergies and hit financial targets, all while remaining highly focused on avoiding disruption to the combined customer base. Consult Plus worked with the company to design an end-state salesforce with a new reporting structure and an optimal mix of generalists and specialists, while capturing synergies and minimizing customer impact.

Project features

  • Identify the current state of the salesforce at each company, including headcount, organization structure, products sold, territories and customers covered, and compensation design.
  • Engage with business and commercial leadership to develop an integration thesis, while framing and analyzing various options for the future-state salesforce.
  • Design the future-state salesforce and analytically pressure-test the resulting changes to the customers, territories, and products covered to ensure a smooth transition.
  • Launch and manage an implementation program in the first year to deliver synergies on an ambitious timeline. This includes migrating to a new organizational structure and a new set of roles and responsibilities, communicating clearly to key stakeholders and identifying quick wins.

Within the first year after the merger, the two salesforces were fully integrated:

  • Customer orders remained steady during the sales transition, and financial performance in the impacted business units exceeded internal forecasts.
  • Sales representatives were shifted toward the future-state, guided by the new organization structure, territories, product coverage, and compensation design in both North America and Europe.
  • The combined company was also on track toward full integration of sales enablement tools, including revised training programs, rationalized sales IT systems and updated sales dashboards and performance metrics.

In addition, the broader merger integration program:

  • Realized net synergies in the first year of 1.6 times the initial target.
  • Identified net synergies for the third year expected to exceed expectations at 1.5 times the initial target.
  • Established trust and strong working relationships between Consult Plus and the client's management team.
Start your project with us

OtherProjects

Transformation sparks financial leader's turnaround
Banking & Financial

Transformation sparks financial leader's turnaround

Encumbered by high costs and an overextended business model, a well-established financial services company faced declining customer loyalty amid fierce competition. Consult Plus worked with company leadership on a multi-year transformation that cut more than $500 million in costs, re-defined strategy and helped the firm win the loyalty of its core customers—allowing it to regain its financial footing while its stock price skyrocketed. In an effort to expand into new markets, FinancialCo had lost sight of the customer segments that its business model could best serve. As a result, the company failed to innovate where it mattered most; losing business to market leaders with better service, or newcomers with better technology, or both. When the economy hit a downturn, this lack of focus translated into a decline of market cap of more than 75%. FinancialCo’s point of departure was a relatively strong one, thanks to its robust brand and solid capital structure, but aggressive competitors heightened urgency. Management needed to work on multiple fronts to right-size internal infrastructure while reaching out to the customers it needed to regain market share.
Project Details
Revitalizing a utility's market position with customer loyalty
Utilities & Alternative Energy

Revitalizing a utility's market position with customer loyalty

One of Europe’s largest utilities was steadily losing customers as consumers gained the right to select their energy supplier. To boost customer loyalty, Consult Plus helped UtilityCo transform itself into a customer-focused culture with an innovative loyalty strategy designed to better meet consumers’ needs while creating significant financial benefits for the future. UtilityCo faced erosion of its long-established leadership due to regulatory changes that redefined marketplace competition. With more suppliers pursuing them, customers raised their expectations and took advantage of attractive offers, including improved pricing and more flexible energy products. To curb the high customer churn rate in its retail business, Consult Plus worked with the utility’s CEO to improve customer loyalty through a comprehensive program, including cultural change.
Project Details
Increased sales productivity frees selling time and saves millions
Technology

Increased sales productivity frees selling time and saves millions

A multibillion dollar global technology giant was growing revenues fast, but sales and marketing expenses were growing faster. We looked at where those dollars were flowing, both to the salesforce and behind-the-scenes in seller preparation, and ultimately helped the company simplify organizational structures, save millions in costs, and create better-prepared sellers with more time for customers. Despite healthy revenue growth and product portfolio expansion, TechCo had a problem: sales and marketing expenses were rising faster than anything else. The salesforce had become bloated, and roles were murky due to new layers of product specialists and channel partners who often duplicated the efforts of the primary salesforce. Meanwhile, as the complexity of the product portfolio grew, some critical capabilities appeared to be missing. For one, sellers struggled to get the training and information they needed when new products came to market, crimping their ability to sell. For these and other reasons, Consult Plus analysis helped reveal that sellers spent less than 25% of their time in front of customers, dragging down sales productivity. High spending and poor results meant the company needed to make some immediate changes to the sales organization to improve its productivity. At the same time, it needed to take a step back and look at how the organization could better support sellers in a fast-paced and ever-evolving environment.
Project Details