After introducing account specialists to service retailers.

In an exclusive interview conducted by Appliance Retailer with Miele Australia head of field sales, Peter Clare, he said the need to change the company’s field sales strategy was identified during the course of 2016, based on the company’s motto of Immer Besser or Forever Better.

“Towards the end of 2016, in the spirit of Immer Besser, Miele began a review of our field sales strategy. Working directly with key MCA partners, this process identified a number of opportunities to improve the way we engage with our MCA partners in the field,” Clare said.

“In March, this year we implemented the first step in realising the opportunities of this review. Our existing field structure, consisting of Account Managers and Product Specialists evolved, with both roles transitioning to Miele Account Specialists. Combining the attributes of our Account Managers and Product Specialists allows us to realise a number of opportunities. Critically, it significantly increases the frequency of time our field team can spend with our MCA partners, and grows our reach, particularly in regional areas. In just a couple of months, we have had extremely positive feedback and we look forward to relationships continuing to grow.

Miele Australia head of field sales, Peter Clare

“With new additions to our team in NSW and SA, and the alignment of our field team across the country, our focus now moves to providing the right structure and resource for more effective, outcome-focused conversations with our partners. Providing category insight, developing specific account plans and targeting training where it is required, Miele is well positioned to be the business partner of choice.

“We will continue to review effectiveness and evolve if we see fit. This shift has created a number of benefits including increased frequency of visits and increased levels of training, focused on specific customer needs. We are also evolving the way we engage with our MCA partners, looking to apply more discipline through things like customer specific business plans and data collection to make better decisions in the field. While the changes are still fresh we have received fantastic acknowledgement from our MCA partners. The key drive of this shift has been stronger customer engagement on the ground, we will continue to listen to our MCA partners and evolve the way we support growing their business.”