Imperial Tobacco Improved Efficiencies in Field Sales Operations and Achieved 100% Coverage

Imperial Brands plc is a multi-national tobacco company headquartered in the United Kingdom. They are the world’s fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share, and the world’s largest producer of cigars, fine-cut tobacco, and tobacco papers. They produce over 320 billion cigarettes per year, have 51 factories worldwide, and their products are sold in over 160 countries. Their brands include Davidoff, West, Gauloises Blondes, Montecristo, Golden Virginia, Drum and Rizla.

The Challenge

The UK tobacco category, in which Imperial Tobacco (ITL) is a leading manufacturer, is frequently affected by shifting legislation. Looking to the future, ITL realised it needed its salesforce to be even more flexible, agile and able to adapt quickly to this constantly evolving market.

A comprehensive review and analysis of existing coverage strategy suggested the potential to further improve efficiencies and field sales operations.

Moreover, through adjusting their approach to coverage, ITL would be able to reach out to more retailers, more often, more efficiently and with greater cost-effectiveness.

The Solution

CACI’s consulting capability formed an integral part of the planning processes, helping ITL to provide exceptional clarity and direction to both their salesforce and customers throughout what was a demanding and time-critical project.

In terms of software, Imperial Brands relied heavily on CACI’s InSite FieldForce and CallSmart solutions throughout the process. InSite FieldForce’s sophisticated headcount analysis and territory optimisation functionality, coupled to CallSmart’s efficient routing technology enabled ITL to implement best-practice coverage and routing principles without significantly impacting upon their existing sales resource.

ITL performed the review in-house, following software training by CACI, and ongoing telephone support during the process.

CACI’s invaluable input resulted in optimum call cycle patterns and the ‘right’ amount of time spent in-call with our retail partners, as well as improving drive time efficiencies.

This was an ambitious, high-profile and time-critical project that we simply had to get right, which is why we turned to CACI. Their expertise, flexibility, collaboration and industry-leading software helped nail the brief and smash our metrics. Thank you!

Andy Wilcox – Cluster Trade Planning Manager, Imperial Tobacco

The Results

Working with CACI has allowed Imperial Tobacco to deliver a step-change in both their service proposition and key performance indicators, as well as setting a benchmark across the wider business.

The shape of Imperial’s salesforce evolved significantly in 2016-17, resulting in huge business benefits. More calls were made in the right outlets; in fact for the first time they achieved 100% volume coverage to independent retail partners.

Imperial Brands now also have the ability to ensure sales objectives are achievable, they can measure performance with greater accuracy and – perhaps most crucially – can adapt in a far more agile manner if and when future changes are needed.

The success of this review has now encouraged Imperial Tobacco to adopt the CACI solutions in a number of additional countries.

Further Information

If you want to hear more about how CACI’s field force expertise can help you and your team, get in contact now.