Client Details

Our client, a French telecommunications company, provides secure wireless and messaging solutions for critical infrastructure.

Industry: Telecommunications
Employees: 30-50
Revenue: approx. €5-15 million

Background

  • Loss year 2023, tight liquidity and high fixed costs
  • Sales without a reliable pipeline, processes and forecast
  • Fragmented, partly legacy-like portfolio with an unclear value proposition
  • Organization without a performance culture, unclear roles and reporting
  • IT/infrastructure in need of modernization
  • Outstanding, unresolved receivables complicate financial management
  • Strategic dependence on the extension of network frequencies

Job Description

  • Restructure sales and initiate a cultural shift towards results-oriented thinking
  • Develop and implement a growth plan to increase revenue
  • Establish a sustainable performance culture and continuously expand it
  • Initiate change management in all areas of the company, especially in sales
  • Further develop the product portfolio to strengthen customer relationships
  • Develop and implement measures to acquire new major customers

Selection by interim-x

Required Experience:

  • Several years of leadership experience as CRO, CEO or CSO in the software industry
  • Significant experience in selling highly complex and sophisticated software solutions
  • Relevant restructuring experience
  • Experience in establishing a new performance/sales culture
  • Several years of experience in planning, leading and executing sales/marketing initiatives

Managers Profile

Interim manager Achim von Schwartzen has over 15 years of leadership experience in sales and business development in the telecommunications and IT sectors.

His strengths lie in developing and implementing sales strategies across direct sales, partner sales, telesales, and key account management.

Mr. von Schwartzen also brings in-depth expertise in building and reorganizing structures, as well as in restructuring.

 

Key Experience

  • Change management, team development, process standardization, and the implementation of new CRM systems.
  • Expert in revenue growth, transformation, and sustainable business development

 

Key Achievements

  • As Senior Director of Sales & Business Development in the IT and internet sector, Mr. von Schwartzen spearheaded the transformation of traditional business models to SaaS offerings, was responsible for go-to-market strategies at the executive level, and increased revenue from €106 million to €140 million. He assumed budget and revenue responsibility in the hundreds of millions.
  • Mr. von Schwartzen, as Director of B2B Sales with significant P&L responsibility, led the B2B division of a telecommunications company and increased revenue by 155%. As a Change Ambassador, he also successfully guided the company through its acquisition by Vodafone.
  • Mr. von Schwartzen recruited over 100 account managers, built management teams, and oversaw international integration and M&A projects.

Implementation

  • Market-oriented organizational structure with clear responsibilities in Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, Product, Network/IT, and Finance
  • Introduction of OKRs, KPI deck, and monthly reviews with Performance Manager
  • Development of a sales engine, implementation of systematic acquisition methods, tender processes, stage definitions, forecast rules, and CRM hygiene
  • Renewal and upsell playbooks including price adjustments
  • Portfolio shift to a modular SaaS offering and a convergent offering; subscription and tiered pricing implemented
  • Cost program: Renegotiation of suppliers and systematic clarification of outstanding receivables
  • Renewal of frequency/network licenses
  • Preparation and implementation of NIS-2 guidelines

Result

  • Sales Order Intake +174 % YoY
  • Qualified Leads 2,5× YoY
  • EBITDA improved from -€238k (2023) to +€1.114M (2024)
  • Annual result turned around from -€504k to +€60k
  • Top customer renewals secured
  • Pricing and subscription logic established
  • Operational cost reductions achieved
  • Planning and forecast accuracy significantly improved
  • Frequency/network license renewal prepared and implemented

Case Study (PDF)

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