Unleash your true potential!

BE BOLD TOGETHER.

Our mindset BE BOLD TOGETHER sets us apart.

Are you wondering which initiatives are going to really help you build lasting value?

conpepper ensures that executives, employees, and, if necessary, consultants discuss this question in an open and constructive manner. For each initiative agreed upon, a single person in the company takes responsibility and breaks it down into understandable, measurable, and binding actions. Implementation is monitored using pragmatic routines, so deviations are detected and corrected early. Open and transparent internal communication begins even before the project start. This communication is ongoing, ensuring clarity on both successes and critical issues.

This is a logical necessity. So why use conpepper?

Because not everything that happens in companies is logical. We know the different perspectives from years of experience, have learned from our own mistakes, and enthusiastically pass on what matters most: BOLDNESS for clarity and transparency, as well as the will to take responsibility TOGETHER and drive forward the right topics.

Proven Services for Sales and Management

Development & Supervision of Change Projects

Our goal: to achieve a better result together – not on paper, but measurable and real.
We work with you to create a clear understanding of where you are and where you want to go. Is your organization tired of change or consultants? Where does communication need to start to engage your people? No one knows the issues and opportunities better.
External consultants provide additional impetus and speed. The better they are managed and the more open the debate, the better their recommendations will be. conpepper is on board, ensuring transparency and creating a culture to BE BOLD TOGETHER, regardless of hierarchies.

Establishing straightforward PMOs for tangible Results

The key to success: it simply has to be simple.
Your budget includes the impact of initiatives under implementation. But not every initiative goes according to plan. Monitoring via a Project Management Office (PMO) detects critical deviations at an early stage and takes corrective action. conpepper helps to set up pragmatic status reporting so that everyone up to the executive level automatically sees the information they need to make decisions. Regular joint reviews of key successes and the resolution of critical issues generate positive momentum and thus further ideas. The transition of responsibility to your company is automatic.

Interim Management and Commercial Excellence

You are looking for new impetus or need to fill a short-term vacancy in Sales? conpepper has the experience and individual solutions you need. We implement tried-and-tested, modular, and quickly effective concepts in line with our BE BOLD TOGETHER principle. Possible starting points are:

Are your pricing tools being used sensibly? A transparent margin culture with dashboards often uncovers new potentials.
Do your customers’ needs match the go-to-market model? More is not always better. Big is not necessarily profitable.
How is the market segmented? What are the implications? Where do you want to grow? Specifically per customer.
Does part of the value creation need to be shifted to core markets? How?
Can AI provide (technical) knowledge efficiently?

Some real-life examples of how to turn change into positive momentum
_{(Interested? Click on the triangle for details – or simply contact us)}

Pricing is a fine art: how a margin culture emerged and increased earnings by 4 percentage points

Initial situation:
The switch from a cost-plus method to an automated pricing tool caused margins to fall for a specialty chemicals company. The sales team did not feel involved, missed the previously perceived transparency, and argued less about the added value for the customer. The discussion also showed that the margins reported by the ERP varied depending on the user.

As an immediate measure, the criteria used in the pricing tool were made transparent. Additionally, a team from Commercial Excellence, Sales, Product Management, and Sales Controlling developed a series of measures to establish a value-based margin culture in the long term:

Establish the consolidated margin as the main global KPI for earnings
Implement a pragmatic ABC-XYZ matrix (share of sales | margin) in Excel as the basis for decision-making and control for pricing decisions
Set up weekly review routines across all levels
Transition to weekly margin reporting per customer in SharePoint
Develop Excel-based dashboards (generated from the Business Warehouse)
Launch online-based dashboards with real-time information

Profitability with existing customers increased by four percentage points in 18 months. The participation of company’s leadership team in the relevant routines, regular training, and ad hoc support from colleagues were key success factors.

Customer value, efficiency, growth: a new go-to-market-model doubled earnings within three years

Initial situation:
A sales organization for complicated products was mostly made up of “farmers”: they had been arguing with quality for decades, treating their existing customers like gold and fulfilling all their wishes. New customers were not actively acquired. When Chinese competitors created additional capacity, prices came under pressure globally, and customers churned.

Interviews with selected customers confirmed that the company had failed to understand the changes in customer needs and market dynamics. Consequently, a change process was initiated:

Develop a global market overview including competitive analysis
Classify customers into ultimately five segments using just three criteria: earnings potential, customer journey (customer needs) and purchasing behavior
Identify the main drivers of complexity costs across all relevant functions
Define efficient but differentiated service levels for each segment
Derive the required organizational strength in the commercial sector
Define a customer-centric target organization, including an enhancement of customer service to support and control sales
Use a target/actual comparison as the basis for an action plan to realize efficiency gains
Launch a series of sales trainings
Provide support with Commercial Excellence initiatives

In addition to the immediate efficiency gains of around 20% in sales, complexity costs were reduced in the long term. The company’s new customer understanding and go-to-market model enabled the targeted development of profitable markets, doubling earnings in just three years.

From Chaos to clarity: a PMO as a driver of successful transformation

Initial situation:

A mid-sized company in private equity ownership was at the beginning of a transformation. Global functions and regions had begun planning and implementing a wide range of measures. The creation of a status report required a week of work because the information had to be recorded and aggregated manually. The lack of reliable information also hindered transparent communication of the transformation by the management.

An interdisciplinary Project Management Office (PMO) team was set up. In addition to providing reliable reporting to the owners, its primary goal was to activate the employees and provide them with transparent information:

Record and cluster all existing measures
Develop the control and reporting cascade
Select a suitable software tool
Train users with a key-user concept
Transfer all measures to the PMO tool, including detailed specification and degree of severity logic
Start status reporting (important: single point of truth and no individualized reports)
Provide regular, clear communication about the transformation

The PMO team quickly established clarity on the expected effects and their timing, and initiated improvements such as a more even distribution of responsibilities across the entire organization. The time to update a measure dropped to less than 10 minutes. The rest was automated. After some practice, the steering meetings were shortened to 30 minutes – the focus was on deciding on countermeasures in case of deviations.

The active involvement of many employees led to a noticeable increase in commitment. New projects were identified across the company and integrated into the transformation. The targets set for the first 12 months in the low double-digit millions were exceeded by almost 10%.

Resistance became growth: successful integration and expansion of a local business

Initial situation:
A chemical company had acquired an adjacent business with different target markets to reduce its high dependency on a single market and optimize its capacity utilization. The globalization initiative had not yet achieved success due to the presence of internal resistance. To make matters worse, the profitability in the acquired core markets declined.

A global Business Line Manager was tasked with the turnaround and change management. The potential of the previously neglected business (“no core business”; “not invented here syndrome”) was evident during the initial workshops. Following measures were implemented to address this:

Establish a dedicated core team (matrix of functions and regions)
Set priorities: fill free capacities (regardless of location), then increase profitability, then invest
Launch a Project Management Office with a weekly routine
Realize quick wins: products with USP, customers with multiple locations, volume deals based on incremental costs
Harmonize and streamline the existing product portfolio
Develop innovative applications
Achieve team spirit through global communication and best practice sharing
Launch a global brand
Adjust sales incentives
Selectively add external agents

The team succeeded in gaining volume and diluting fixed costs in the short term through aggressive pricing. After a period of nine to twelve months, significant sales were achieved in all relevant countries and/or markets that had not previously been served. The team also succeeded in compensating for margin losses in existing markets. Initial sales in the prioritized innovative applications took just over two years.

Who says we can’t do small clients: an Efficiency Program boosted profitability and increased customer satisfaction

Initial situation:
80% of a material manufacturer’s customers contributed less than 10% to earnings. The standard solution, i.e., handing over these small customers to distributors, was not viable because remnants and cut-offs from production were used for them. Waste became revenue.

A team from technical sales, product management, customer service, SCM, and production worked together to develop a solution:

Establish binding criteria for the small customer segment
Streamline and standardize the service for the segment significantly
Introduce minimum order quantities
Simplify the pricing logic to euros per kilogram (based on maximum costs and a demanding minimum margin)
Transfer such customers to a dedicated internal sales team; stop all customer visits

The result is above-average profitability in the segment. Following initial criticism, the feedback from customers concerned was much more positive, as the perceived quality of service was improved. Contrary to the sales team’s fears, 80% of small customers were retained. The resources freed up in field sales and technical sales were used to develop strategic target customers.

The people behind conpepper

No one embodies conpepper’s motto BE BOLD TOGETHER more than our team. The founders, Christoph and Dirk, have fought many battles together. While we are fundamentally different, we share similar values and achieve a better result when working together. Uncompromising transparency, openness, and enjoyment in our work makes us reliable partners, also for our customers.
conpepper will expand the team as soon as we’re successful. If you don’t want to wait, contact us. We look forward to hearing from you.

Christoph Henseler

Experienced executive who combines an entrepreneurial spirit with a strategic vision.
BE BOLD TOGETHER is his guiding principle to develop actionable solutions for an improved financial performance. Across hierarchies and uncompromisingly transparent.

Strategic expertise combined with pragmatism and common sense.
Founder of conpepper
16 years as an executive for commercial topics for hidden champions in the chemical industry
12 years in top management consulting
20 years of international experience
MBA in Marketing and International Business

Dirk Schneider

An empathetic transformer and Commercial Excellence expert.
He uses his experience to provide impulses and promote and challenge in discussions. This creates credible initiatives that are supported and implemented by the organization.

Commercial Excellence leadership positions at medium-sized companies
Sales Director Europe for technically complex products
Business Development Manager, including in the field of stationary energy storage
Solid knowledge of Business Warehouse and SharePoint
Hands-on experience with transformation and portfolio management tools
Studied Business Chemistry

We have a strong network of partners.

Falcon helps you easily manage your project portfolio. No spreadsheets, no hassle. Perfect for PPM and PMO.

Once your project count reaches a certain number, Excel is no longer the right tool for a PMO. We’ve had great experiences with Falcon—as it is in line with our vision of simply simple. However, there are a few things to consider when establishing the framework to ensure its effective operation.
We’re happy to assist with the initial setup of Falcon, but we’re also open to exploring other solutions that fit your needs.

Curious? We look forward to the exchange.

Kronberger Str. 26
61440 Oberursel (Taunus)

info@conpepper.com

Christoph Henseler:
+49 (156) 7959 7941

Dirk Schneider:
+49 (156) 7959 5525