REL - Field Marketing & Sales Consulting

Peter Brook highlights the importance of outsourcing and how it can help fmcg businesses during these uncertain times.

Sir, you are right to highlight the growing importance of interim managers in fmcg. But another option is to outsource the sales function altogether. While working at Diagio, I learnt the fundamental importance of looking at marketing and sales as two sides of the same coin.

Diagio CEO Paul Walsh believed the two are co-dependent and if you get the strategies and execution of both to be brilliant, then your business will grow.

As we face economic uncertainties – and sporadic consumer confidence – having a business model that provides flexibility while delivering outstanding activity at the point of purchase is critical.

While there are still a number of big fmcg businesses operating in the UK that employ their own sales teams, the trend continues to shift to outsourcing. It’s a common belief that passing over the recruitment and management of sales to outsourcing means a loss of control. In fact, the opposite is usually true.

At REL, we manage the outsourcing of teams for Red Bull, Camelot and Ferrero. This gives their businesses a chance to focus on what they are good at – making the product and getting it out there – whiles we focus on what we are good at – making sure the product is in the shop, visible, marketed and getting the incremental ROI.

Another commonly held belief is that the sales function in organisations is not strategic and is easy, and that the prospect of outsourcing means accepting a lower –quality performance. Not any more.

The world of outsourced sales teams has changed dramatically, and the best organisations support their teams through different parts of the company working in specialist areas.

Coaching and development is crucial, for example. A team with an insatiable appetite will be much more effective in using data to pinpoint what will work for each brand in order to get a measurable and attractive ROI.