2020 was a different year from all the others, and gave us the opportunity to evaluate how we can further improve our service to customers and potential customers.
This reflection led to the new organization of the sales area, based on the concept of Cluster.
The Cluster is a team of people dedicated to commercially following a specific geographical area, managing and processing all customer requests and projects relating to the FOOD and BEVERAGE businesses, including all the CFT Group technological platforms.
Each Cluster is chaired by a Regional Sales Manager, who coordinates the work of the cluster components: two Project Engineers (Packaging and Processing), two Sales Assistants (Packaging and Processing), the Sales Area Managers related to the Cluster areas, and the CSM (Customer Service Manager).
The definition of the Cluster presupposes a matrix organization in which the Processing Project Engineers, Packaging Project Engineers and CSM maintain a hierarchical dependence on the related Engineering and Post-Sales Directors in relation to professional development plans, time, cost and technical solutions of projects on offer.
The engineering process of a sale is organized as follows:
- The Regional Sales Manager defines the priorities of the activities on the basis of market needs, is responsible for the results achieved and responds to the Sales Managers.
- The Project Engineer defines the technical solutions, the times and the estimated costs of the project, and is responsible for respecting the procedures of the budgeting processes.
- The commercial figures within the branches have a hierarchical dependence on the relative branch managers as regards their role and position, while from a functional point of view they depend on the Regional Sales Manager of the geographical area of reference.
We believe it is important that the people part of each Cluster can be subject to periodic rotation, not only on the basis of the company’s technical-organizational needs but also to favor their personal and professional development.
We think that this way of operating will lead to numerous advantages in a short time for each of the following factors:
- Speed of response: the team of people part of the Cluster is autonomous and can respond more quickly to customer requests based on the priorities that will be defined by the Regional Sales Manager
- Coordination: all team members are informed about requests for offers and ongoing projects;
- Quality of offer: people in each cluster take on and share knowledge about the market, customers and competition in order to improve the quality of the offer from a technical and commercial point of view.
Last but not least, the relationship with each customer will be managed by a multidisciplinary team with well-defined roles:
- Regional Sales Manager: manages the relationship with the customer from a commercial point of view and coordinates the activities of the Sales Area Managers of the countries that fall within his area of responsibility.
- Sales Area Manager: from a commercial point of view, he manages the relationship with customers in his geographical area, reporting his results to the reference Regional Sales Manager.
- Sales Assistant: supports the Regional Sales Manager in preparing all the necessary commercial documentation;
- Project Engineer: defines technical solutions, project times and project costs; is responsible for project management.
- CSM: they follow the customer for all after-sales aspects, through a continuous exchange of information with the commercial part for new machines.
The Regional Sales Manager is responsible for the all the aspects of the projects; the Project Engineer is jointly responsible for the success of the project in terms of time and customer satisfaction.