Boosting sales team

Design manager at Actilum, 2018. Team project that focused in creating an intuitive sales management system to align with the changing product landscape, the company’s expansion, and the growing demand.

The project

The company was rapidly growing, new employees needed training, and clients’ demands were evolving, creating a challenging environment that required careful attention to ensure internal processes remained streamlined and efficient.

Challenges

I encountered a unique challenge while working on a new project with no prior information or guidelines, leaving me to navigate uncharted territory. To overcome this, I conducted in-depth interviews with employees and founders to gain a better understanding of the expectations and needs of all parties involved.

Discoveries

Through these interviews, I discovered that the sales team was frustrated with the waiting times for directors to approve offers or consult with the manufacturing team to confirm the viability of the product, leading to pending tasks. Additionally, they were spending time on tasks that did not fall under their area of responsibility, further exacerbating the issue. Conversely, directors wanted to know the results without being involved in the day-to-day actions of the sales team.

To address this, I focused on creating a solution that trained the sales team while also providing founders with real-time information on their preferred channels.

The solution would allow the sales team to make offers more quickly and get faster approvals, while also keeping directors up-to-date on the team’s activities without needing to be directly involved.

Progress

With these insights, I proposed a new company structure to the directors that would help identify the limits of each team and employee, while also serving as a baseline for measuring progress and identifying areas in need of improvement.

Through this approach, I provided a clear direction for the project and ensured that all efforts were focused on the most critical areas, ultimately leading to a successful outcome.

Value

As the designer manager, my goal was to ensure that each part had access to the right tools tailored to their specific needs.

I leveraged my knowledge in lean methodologies to provide a seamless and intuitive experience for all employees. Also, as one of the first employees, I had the ease of proposing the limits of each team, being that I had participated in each one of them.

Results

The project resulted in the development of a comprehensive digital solution, combining MS Office and the internal ERP, to provide training and support to the sales team.

The tool was designed to streamline budget processes, connect sales, administrative, and production departments, and tailor information to individual profiles.

Additionally, the implementation of Lean manufacturing methodology helped to foster collaboration and encourage employees to identify and solve problems.

The introduction of the digital tool resulted in significant improvements in raw material management and manufacturing accuracy within a short period, as it was regularly updated based on real-time feedback and issue detection.

The solution provided the sales team with the right tools to make offers quickly, and founders with real-time information on the team’s activities without needing to be directly involved, as they were visible in the ERP.

The result was a streamlined process that was intuitive, easy to use, and tailored to the specific needs of each role.

Learnings

Throughout this experience, I learned the importance of understanding different perspectives for successful outcomes. To improve, it is crucial to understand the deeper needs of all the different levels involved, and effective communication and collaboration are essential in achieving successful outcomes in any project.