flïïfffllïrmïï
Name: Andrey Katchin
Job Title: Sales Manager,
Wholesale, Off- and On-trade
Location: Heineken Russia
(North West Region) iL-U
I lu-l II I A _rr.
IJU'IJU Arrive at the Office
innp L,
lU'UU Going the Extra Mile
ililiiiÏÏL'iiïfiiW'rïi
World of Hemeken 43 winter 2010
Arrival at the office in St. Petersburg begins with a concentrated
effort to clear urgent or quick-to-resolve emails. Around 30% of
my time is used for customer visits, client contact, inspections
and audits.
Today's visit is to a fashionable new bistro located in the historic
centre of St. Petersburg - a UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site.
I'm reviewing on-site audit data from a member of my sales team.
They see each business through fresh eyes, just as a customer
would, looking at things like equipment standards, merchandising,
and stock levels. Out-of-stock though, is rarely an issue these days,
since the introduction of Heineken's automated stocking system,
Lighthouse, a couple of years ago. This enables us to track the
availability of products at individual retail outlets and prepare new
consignments in advance. It provides a fast and reliable service, in
line with the expectation of our business.
I've also read with interest a report from Nielsen, about the rapidly
growing premium market for beer in Russia, particularly in St.
Petersburg. Consumption of imported beers is growing rapidly to
meet this demand; and consumers from other beverage categories
- those who previously didn't drink beer - are also switching. This is
great news for us, with our extensive imported beers portfolio.
There's also additional research out, confirming the new trend
for fine food restaurants to recommend a suitable beer that
complements the food - useful information for my afternoon
customer visit as this fits their customer profile perfectly.
Last but not least, I've taken a look at pricing data to see if there
have been any significant price changes or promotions from
competitors which might impact sales volumes. Much of this
preparation follows our standard approach, based on our ExtraMile
programme. This includes comparing a number of Key Performance
Indicators for a particular sales outlet to average and upper
quartile performance, and jotting down a number of points which
could help increase sales penetration.
Our ExtraMile process has enabled us to raise our co-operation with
customers to a completely new level, helping achieve commercial
success with a step-by-step approach.
