"I have a high-level sales strategy but I'm not sure on how best to execute."
EMEA Sales Director, Power Rental

Our Brief

Our client, the world's largest supplier of rental power, had engaged Bain to help determine a new sales strategy. One of the recommendations was to use the internet as a sales channel. Because of our previous experience of building large B2B and B2C internet sites, we were asked to advise on how best to move forward. Work had started on an online sales pilot with selected customers.

Our Approach

We interviewed a representative sample of customers, sales engineers, call centre managers and other staff to understand their interactions. This revealed that customers generally had very strong relationships with their sales engineers, who were protecting them from the internal complexities of inventory control and order management - a recognised issue being addressed through an ongoing global ERP implementation. However, customers felt that post-sales support could be improved.

To address this, we recommended reversing the order of the planned implementation; the use of a customer extranet to improve service first and only, once the ERP system had bedded in, the creation of an online sales channel that would leverage it. Without joined-up inventory and order management, online sales at this stage would simply expose shortcomings in back-end processes to customers.

End Result

Although contrary to their stated direction, the board accepted our recommendations. The online sales prototype was stopped and worked refocused on the ERP implementation. Our pragmatic solution avoided mis-spending millions of dollars on the wrong tactical solution. Our client avoided delivering poor service and potentially losing customers.