Situation: A large, multinational organization that had been tremendously successful in the branded tea business was in the process of transforming itself into a global beverage and food organization. This change in business strategy created significant human capital challenges for the sales team on both the technical and cultural fronts. The sales team was used to selling tea (leaves), a planned household purchase, but would soon be confronted with selling beverages and convenience foods, an impulse buy that requires much more of a “push” strategy. Moreover, having worked only with the retail grocery channel in the past, the sales team did not have the skill set or confidence to target and acquire institutional and large business clients, the sources of new growth. Finally, success in the branded tea business had lulled the organization into complacency. There was significant, albeit passive, resistance to changing what had worked so well in the past.
Approach: We realized early on that unless culture and change challenges were addressed head-on, no amount of skills acquisition or process improvements would succeed in transforming the sales organization. We worked with the VP of Sales and his leadership team to develop a change management approach that addressed all stakeholders and covered both the hard and soft aspects of change. We evaluated, clarified and extensively communicated the structure, roles, responsibilities, and staffing levels required; ensured there was a good mix of expertise and experience in the new organization; and advocated for leadership and HR policy and program changes to promote a new culture. To create the burning platform for change, we developed stories that conveyed the realities of the new tea business (rising commodity prices, increased local competition, etc.) and the implications of maintaining the status quo. Finally, we developed training programs and tools to instill confidence in the sales team that they were not being cast adrift to swim or sink!
Results: We adopted the “PDCA” (Plan, Do, Check, Act) philosophy to manage the sales transformation in manageable chunks, learn and modify our approach, and achieve early successes. Strategy implementation requires instilling confidence that change is possible in an organization in which large-scale change had been attempted and failed in the past. By repositioning this as a sales transformation project rather than a training or HR project – we were able to help the organization address both the tangible and intangible aspects of change in a holistic manner. As a result, the sales organization succeeded in launching a new beverage regionally and is preparing for a nationwide rollout with more products to follow.
