The 360° Dr. Hänle Sales Audit®. Unique for china.

Interview with Fabian Hänle on new challenges and opportunities for European companies in China

What is the mission of Dr. Hänle & Partners?
Dr. Hänle & Partners stands for growth in China. We help our customers to sustainably increase their sales and profits on the Chinese market.

How do you do that?
In our projects, we focus on three growth levers for the Chinese market: market entry, company development and expansion, and optimizing sales processes and organizations through the 360° Dr. Hänle Sales Audit®.

Why are these levers so important today?
Because there are new challenges. At the beginning of their engagement in China, many of our customers have to concentrate on the technical side, for example, because production abroad first needs to be set up. Sales often ran on the side and were able to grow with the market. Those days are over.

Why is that?
Chinese competition is here now and will only get stronger in the future. The market and industrial purchasing behavior have also changed with a new, more critical generation of Chinese buyers. And because in the last 2-3 years almost no intercontinental travel has been possible, the important personal exchange on site is often missing. As a result, many companies face severe coordination and information gaps between the European headquarters and the subsidiary in China.

You are supporting many European firms in China. What does this new situation mean for them?
Company owners and senior executives tell me China continues to offer great potential. But it is also clear to them that new impulses are needed to successfully deal with the new challenges. Many therefore have the question of how things are currently with their sales in China, where exactly there is potential for optimization, and what can be done precisely.

Can you share an example?
The sales argument of being a high-quality Western company is no longer enough. It is critically questioned: Why should we pay so much more when a local manufacturer offers the same product features and guarantees? Then it gets interesting.

In what way?
Such buyer questions require excellent value selling, for example. Everyone knows this is important, but the main question here is: How is it lived in practice by the sales team through all levels and regions? How can it be made measurable and sustainably improved?

And how do you that?
Value selling is one of the totally 12 key areas we examine and optimize in our Sales Audit. The aim is to stimulate growth and increase sales and margins in China in the long term. In a first step, we identify optimization potential and earnings levers. Based on the analysis results, our customers receive concrete recommendations for action, including a short- and long-term implementation plan with prioritization.

How do you execute the Dr. Hänle Sales Audit in detail?
By analyzing data and internal expert interviews, we look at 12 areas in 6 central fields for successful China sales: sales strategy, sales organization, sales processes, sales management, the fit with the important cultural component, and cooperation with the headquarters (HQ) in Europe.

Your clients include numerous world market leaders and hidden champions. Why is that?
(Laughs.) You have to ask the respective clients yourself. But I guess it's simply because I speak the language and my decade of sales management experience in China allows us to go deeper in our consulting.

Do you only work with medium-sized companies?
Our customers include medium-sized companies as well as multinational corporations with several locations in China. They all have different challenges but a common goal: they want to continue to be successful in China in the future. What differs, of course, is our approach which we always determine based on the individual situation.

Focus on results

The Dr. Hänle Sales Audit® provides a 360° analysis of all aspects of China sales at your company. The audit aims to identify optimization potential and sales and profit levers in sales. Based on the analysis results, you will receive concrete recommendations for action, including a short- and medium-term implementation plan with prioritization.

A clear process

1. Status quo analysis
We analyze data and documents and conduct internal expert interviews to gain a clear and objective picture of your current status quo. In our expert interviews, we talk to those who know your sales and company in China best - your employees in China and Europe! From the most important findings of the interviews, we derive challenges, opportunities, and recommendations for action and combine a wide variety of perspectives. The interviews supplement and round off the data and document analysis. This creates a clear and structured picture of your China sales.

In doing so, we focus on optimization potential for rapid profit increases and long-term measures for sustainable growth. We examine six central fields in detail:

Sales strategy
Sales organization
Sales processes
Sales controlling
Cultural fit with China
Cooperation and fit with the HQ

2. Evaluation and prioritization
After identifying the optimization potential, we evaluate it in terms of effort and benefit: How much effort does the optimization involve? How high is the EBIT potential of the identified sales levers? In a nutshell - which optimization is most worthwhile?

In addition, and if desired, benchmarking is carried out with regard to best practices in China sales to optimally assess the quality of the entire sales process and the resulting need for optimization.

3. Recommendations for action
For each field of action, we formulate an outline for the respective implementation concept. All fields of action are summarized in a roadmap and linked to a short and long-term implementation plan.