Commercial Excellence

B2B manufacturing has entered a critical era characterized by significant instability. Growth is being hindered, among other things, by a combination of unfavorable commercial factors: stagnant commercial performance, rising silos between departments, lack of sales leadership and interdisciplinary intrapreneurship. The market has shifted from a seller's to a buyer's model, where traditional loyalty is disappearing, exposing companies to the risk of replaceability and margin erosion. These realities are not just operational obstacles, but systemic risks. To counter this, organizations must transform their commercial organization into a rigorous instrument focused on value creation and commercial excellence enablement.

Growth leaders don’t treat sales as a series of disconnected tactics. They build a customer-centric growth system where sales enablement underpins how their teams sell every day. They excel at anticipating shifts in customer needs and market dynamics, moving early where others react late. Instead of waiting for demand, they actively evaluate markets, spotting early signals and turning them into strategic opportunities. Their sales leaders behave like intrapreneurs, orchestrating cross-functional teams and aligning product, marketing, and customer success around key deals. Above all, they link strategy to frontline behavior and relentlessly measure, coach, and experiment to ensure execution translates into real outcomes.

Business Process Management (BPM) mapping varies from one company to another. It depends on the standards applicable to the business and market segments on the one hand, the history, the culture and the structure of the company on the other. A key aspect of commercial processes is the distribution of responsibilities. In this area, it is necessary to ensure that the results delivered are consistent with the organisation's objectives and obligations, whether it concerns, for example, the qualification of new customers, the preparation of offers or the negotiation of contractual conditions. The identification and definition of relevant key performance indicators is of course also crucial.

Business acquisition performance is measured in at least two categories. The first category relates to the pipeline of open opportunities. Measuring its total value over several time periods relative to the expected closing dates (e.g. up to the end of the operational reporting period and over successive periods thereafter) provides an assessment of the level of anticipation. Furthermore, the definition of relevant opportunity types and the consequent evaluation of the portfolio ensures that every sales team is maximising its business development drivers. The second category concerns the volume of business won during the operational reporting period and associated key performance indicators.

Effective B2B business development does not only depend on the definition and execution of strategies. It requires every single sales team to optimally perform in the field of business acquisition anticipation. This means identifying strategic business opportunities at the earliest possible stage, launching true cross-disciplinary acquisition projects, defining and executing winning action plans, and proactively engaging with the customers. The aim is, for every significant opportunity, to convince all stakeholders and decision-makers of the concerned customers before they launch their own bidding processes, irrespective of the competition.

Reducing total cost of ownership (TCO) drives commercial success and fosters strong, lasting customer relationships. By positioning itself as an expert supplier and, ideally, by actively involving itself in the development of its customers' products, a supplier becomes a true strategic partner. This proactive involvement enables it to identify and implement solutions that reduce TCO, thereby offering measurable added value and long-term competitive advantages to its customers. As a result, commercial negotiations will no longer focus solely on price but will be part of a broader value proposition. This approach not only allows the supplier to differentiate itself, but also increases its win rate, profitability, and customer loyalty.