It almost sells itself
Heineken number two beer brand in Manhattan -
26
How do you sell Heineken Beer in the United
States? '"Ttiey are busier bere more with PR than
with real selling, because the product almost sells
itself", says Eric Morham about the Manhattan
market. However, in other parts of the U.S., the
picture looks slightly different.
Eric Morham has only been Vice-
President Sales at Van
Munching for a short time, but
he is an experienced hand in the
Heineken business. He worked for
Heineken in his native Canada,
moved to Amsterdam to assume the
role of Regional Export Manager,
departed for the United States several
years ago to familiarise himself with
the American market and is now in
charge of the Van Munching sales
force.
Eric Morham realises that changes
in the beer market are taking place at
an increasingly rapid tempo. For the
company which thinks in terms of the
future, this means that responding
more flexibly to those changes and
also working very close to the custo
mer are an absolute must. To meet
these requirements a reorganisation
of the sales department was needed.
The United States has now been divi
ded into four regions: western region
with an office in Los Angeles, south
east region with a new office in
Atlanta, central region with an office
in Chicago and northeast region with
its own office, separate from that of
the Van Munching head office, on
Sixth Avenue in New York.
Sales
Each region is headed by a
Regional Director. These four people
report to Eric Morham, as do a
National Account Manager and the
Head of Planning and Administration.
The northeast region is currently
by far the most important for Van
Munching, since 45% of the sales are
destined for this region. "Heineken is
least strongly represented in the cen
tral region, so there are big opportu
nities for us there", says Eric
Morham. He is convinced that
Heineken can also achieve substantial
growth in the southeast region. "In
states like Virginia and North
Carolina the population is growing
strongly because of the trek from
cities like New York. The cost of living
is lower and we are seeing industry
relocating to those states. That in turn
means new opportunities for us."
Opportunities which are being
seized to stimulate sales of Heineken
Beer in bottles. Though Heineken is
indeed available on draught in the
U.S., Eric Morham prefers to see the
green Heineken bottle standing on
the bar. "It gives much more visibility
than a glass of draught beer. In some
markets, however, we are again
seeing a growing interest for draught
beer. That is probably due to the
increasing popularity of the micro-
brews."
However, splitting up the U.S. into
four regions is not the answer to
everything. Decentralisation, feels
Eric Morham, is the keyword. That's
the reason why Regional Revenue
Centers have been set up in which the
Regional Directors and their division
managers are given great responsibi
lity and accountability.
Within the present structure
twelve division managers have an
active role to play. They coordinate
the work of 87 district managers. The
division and district managers in par
ticular are the people who maintain
the contacts with the wholesalers and
also go out into the marketplace
THE WORLD OF HEINEKEN
