Initial Situation

One of the largest German manufacturers of baby foods and owner of one of the three brands with the strongest sales in this segment also offers in its portfolio, besides classical baby formulas, innovative nutritional supplements which, for example, support the mothers during breastfeeding or have a positive effect on babies during the typical unrest during the first months of life. Up to now, these products have not yet been universally known to the consumer and are thus supposed to be placed via referrers such as paediatricians and midwives.

Solution

In order to contact these referrer target groups, the Sales Unit develops a long-term telephone-based dialogue channel by means of which the manufacturer can intensify its market canvassing and can increase the market penetration. The Sales Unit’s Healthcare Team contacts the midwives and paediatricians and, in a target group-specific manner, places both nutritional supplements, their ingredients such as chamomile blossoms or Lactobacillus acidophilus as well as their advantages for the mother and the child. The contact partner thus receives motivation to actively recommend the products. Via the manufacturer’s web shop, the project team can directly request sample packages and more extensive informational materials for the referrers.

The referrer dialogue thus created is continuously maintained in coordination with the Field Staff visits conducted upon a parallel basis in order to, on the one hand, keep the referrers updated regarding the aforementioned nutritional supplements and, on the other hand, utilise the active support in order to increase the brand loyalty. All more extensive requests from the contact persons and additional relevant information regarding the referrer potential are then entered by the team from the Sales Unit directly into the manufacturer’s CRM system and can thus be directly used by its Sales Unit as well as in order to optimise the market canvassing.

By so doing, the sales development of the nutritional supplements is sustainably increased and product awareness and the brand image of the manufacturer among the referrers are positively influenced over the long term.