Sales Force Optimization for a Leading, Independent B2B Media Company

Analysis of a B2B sales structure identified major improvement areas across the group, including moving some field sales inside.

Client and project overview

We assisted Penton to optimize its sales spend by reallocating resource and establishing best practices.

Key questions

• What is the cost of sales by brand; how is the money spent and what is the return on that spend?
• What are the opportunities for improvements to efficiency and effectiveness via the reallocation of field resource, the use of self serve and other changes?
• Can incentives be better aligned to the brands’ goals?
• What business-wide initiatives or structures would be effective?

Our methodology

• Our extensive analysis established key metrics, such as comparing average revenue per customer (ARPC) and number of customers for each brand
• We conducted extensive discussion with group publishers to analyze the structure of the sales force, identify best practice and optimization opportunities
• The team conducted comprehensive surveys of the company’s customers and sales force

Results

• Publishers were given specific guidance and a road-map for improved sales efficiency and effectiveness, this included the reallocation of personnel, changes to incentives and a range of other measures
• Corporate established key centralized functions and group wide processes e.g., for selected telesales, spreading best practice and cross selling

"AMR provided us with both insightful and highly practical support as we restructured our $25m sales force spend. The recommendations and actions we then implemented were a major contributor to our subsequent growth."