A foodservice provider was moving to its parent organisation’s systems and processes. During that transition, it asked VIRIBUS to take over the leadership of Telesales within one week. What employees heard on the phone also affected the promises Sales made to customers and the way departments worked together. Over the following nine months, VIRIBUS connected daily operations with commercial strategy and organisational development.
Supporting customers and employees first
Employees had known their customers for years. In the new system, they had less visibility of what had been delivered and less freedom to resolve problems themselves.
VIRIBUS took over escalated complaints and agreed arrangements with Logistics for telephone availability when urgent deliveries were needed. Employees also had space to discuss what it felt like to hear a familiar customer’s problem and be unable to offer an answer.
The team became more settled, and colleagues started reaching out to one another again.
Revisiting the promises behind existing contracts
An urgent delivery could help the kitchen that day. But a different question remained for the key account manager: what could the organisation still promise when a product specified in a customer’s tender had been permanently removed from the range?
Following an initial extension to support the integration, VIRIBUS took on sales management for three months. Account managers worked with customers to agree new arrangements. In some cases, they concluded that continuing the relationship was no longer viable.
For the 2025 commercial plan, Sales and VIRIBUS identified where the team could best spend its time. Which customers were buying only part of the agreed range? Which relationships were under pressure? Where did the broader product range and sector knowledge provide a reason to reopen the conversation?
Teams develop the solutions themselves
To reconnect employees with the objectives for 2025, VIRIBUS established working groups around six themes. Colleagues from Sales, Telesales, Marketing and management consulted directly with Purchasing and Logistics.
VIRIBUS connected groups working on the same problem. Most solutions came from employees themselves. Where a decision exceeded their authority, they brought a concrete proposal to management.
A clear agreement emerged for missing products. If a shortage was temporary, Telesales kept the customer informed. If a product had been discontinued and no suitable alternative was available, the key account manager took over. That person had the authority to have the product stocked again.
This gave slow-selling products that institutional customers needed a place in the range again.
At the kick-off for 2025, working group members presented their own solutions. One speaker had initially been particularly critical. Following individual coaching, she had taken responsibility for action points. Now she stood alongside her colleagues to show what they had changed together.