Expand your skills, transform your culture

This article is part of a series exploring the recommendations shared in our 2023 Global Revenue Management Study. You can explore the full report, or find the other articles in this series here, here and here.

Emerging technologies like AI and advanced analytics platforms are transforming Revenue Growth Management (RGM) as we know it. But, as my colleague Piet Surmont introduced in the previous article in this series, digital change alone isn’t enough to drive RGM evolution in FMCGs.

All digital evolutions must be accompanied by the appropriate organisational and process changes. You’re creating new ways of working, so in addition to powerful technology, your people will also need the skills and capabilities required to embrace those new ways of working.

That’s why the fourth headline recommendation in our 2023 global RGM study was for organisations to expand their skills to nurture and retain top RGM talent. In this article, I’ll explore some practical ways that you can do that.

When you’re enabling RGM, accountability and empowerment must come first

Whether you’re embracing RGM for the first time or maturing your existing efforts with new practices and technology, your first consideration should always be accountability. Who will be responsible for delivering your RGM goals? What new roles will you need to create to ensure they’re met? And what new skills will you need to develop or acquire to ensure everyone involved can continuously deliver what’s expected of them?

RGM is, by nature, a cross-disciplinary responsibility. Sales, marketing, finance, and commercial teams are all able to influence it in different ways. As such, stakeholders across all those teams need to fully understand their role in driving RGM and be empowered to deliver on that role.

As Piet highlighted in his previous article, this is where role-based insights and KPI visibility become extremely valuable. When everyone understands exactly how they can drive revenue growth and is empowered with timely insights that help them achieve that, FMCG companies can make RGM a continuous, embedded part of their daily business decisions.

Balance global leadership with local responsibility and training

Embedding RGM as a cross-disciplinary function requires clear leadership. And because revenue growth is such a core part of FMCGs’ success, in most cases, the leadership and ownership should sit at the C-level.

When the C-level, both at central and local levels, owns RGM, all required and related change is led from the top down. The central team maintains a global view of how RGM should be driven and managed across the business and sets local leaders in the right direction to make that happen.

Then, local leaders can tweak approaches to best suit their local goals, landscape, and needs. Everyone has a globally defined vision of success to follow but is given the flexibility needed to implement this strategy in the most suitable way for them.

An orchestrated approach to RGM implementation also helps everyone understand which skills they need to drive revenue growth, and proactively spot any gaps they may have locally. For example, if it’s the first time a team is assigned to work using AI tools, to support forecasting for example, they can be consulted directly and given dedicated training opportunities.

Dedicated workshop sessions provide a great opportunity to understand the specific needs of local teams and upskill stakeholders, so they are rightly equipped to deploy new RGM tools and platforms. By enabling two-way conversations, FMCGs can tailor the tech around people, and provide them with the specific support they need to make the most of this investment.

Digital skills are just the beginning. Enabling RGM requires culture, process, and mindset change too.

Building the skills your people need to make the most of leading RGM technology is one thing. But enabling and managing sustainable revenue growth at scale requires more than just changing your technology.

Tech enables new ways of working. New ways of working demand new ways of thinking. And new ways of thinking can only thrive in a culture where people are empowered to experiment, ask bold questions, seek their own answers through data, and collaborate freely.

The cultural shift does not happen by accident. FMCG executives must make intentional efforts to build and nurture them. As part of that effort, they’ll need to reimagine business processes and make decisions to ensure that those responsible for driving revenue growth are truly enabled to do so.

FMCGs trying to work towards a culture of long-term strategic thinking must strike the right balance between the art and science of revenue growth. A balance that gives everyone the insight and tools necessary to make informed, proactive decisions, and empowers them to make those decisions at speed.

When skilled people are empowered to achieve their goals, they stick with you

Embracing RGM and embedding it into teams’ daily workflows often represents a huge change for FMCG companies. How that change is managed, and how people are supported, will have a major impact on the outcoming value and the overall success of the business.

By giving your people access to intuitive RGM technology, clearly defining what you want them to achieve with it and making it easy for them to drive revenue growth in their own way, you can create an environment that naturally attracts and retains top talent.

Whether you’re working with sales, marketing, or finance, the key to success is as simple as showing everyone how they can drive revenue growth and empowering them to do it every day.

To see the full scope of what it takes to enable RGM success in your business, you can view all the recommendations from our recent global RGM study here. Or, if you’d like to learn more about how XTEL supports change management and helps teams make the most of leading digital RGM capabilities, visit our product page.

3 steps to strengthen your talent and enable long-term RGM success

1. Clearly define how every team can drive revenue growth and make them accountable for doing that.
2. Deploy RGM technologies that address both the specificities of the FMCG industry and each of your team’s needs, to make it as easy as possible for them to uphold their new RGM responsibilities.
3. Lead cultural change from central to local and create an environment where RGM is an engrained part of every relevant stakeholder’s daily decisions, and everyone is empowered to do their jobs as efficiently and effectively as possible.