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Case Study : Interim Project Manager: Coffee Nation
Scott Martin, Operations Director, Coffee Nation:
There are still many innovations in business, as well as constant advancements in technology. Keeping pace with this level of change is difficult for many permanent members of staff and it is where an interim can provide a whole different level of expertise. Bringing a business in line with competition and taking it forward to greater heights is absolutely in keeping with the purpose of interim management.
Provider: Martin Wood, Managing Director, BIE:
“Coffee Nation’s use of senior level interim management exemplified how it can be applied to fast growth young businesses. At this relatively critical phase of company development the injection of over-qualified resource as the first stage of establishing new functional heads can prove invaluable.
Key to success was the need for us to ensure the interim chosen matched the dynamic culture of Coffee Nation. In addition, the interim needed to be able to ‘step down’ in ‘hands on’ mode to a business, which had not yet developed the infrastructure of a corporate. Speed of delivery was also critically important with the interim in action within 10 days of briefing. This allowed the benefits to accrue more rapidly and maintain the momentum of this highly successful business.”
Interim: Sarah Kelly:
“Initially I began on a three-month contract, but I stayed for 18 months, working with their key business partners to initiate marketing relationships. Previously they hadn’t had any marketing personnel or resource within the business and so my remit was to introduce marketing activities, to help grow the sales and to grow the brand. I’ve developed strong relationships with the two key partners, Tesco but specifically Welcome Break, who voted Coffee Nation supplier of the year. As a result of a sales promotion and staff incentive there this summer, the company has increased sales 24 per cent year on year. In addition, since I’ve been there we’ve now got 12 new partners that we’ve been trialling with, and we’ve put together an intro kit, so there is now consumer facing merchandise that helps to sell the brand when we go into companies.
Right from the very beginning I knew they were looking for a permanent solution for this role, however as it’s a young business, which is moving very quickly, they needed to have the flexibility interims provide. Having me in the business and knowing what my skills base was has helped them to benchmark somebody against me.”
Client: Scott Martin, Operations Director, Coffee Nation:
“If you take brands like Innocent Smoothies or Ben & Jerry’s these are brands that have got a real soul, and at Coffee Nation we hadn’t put any time into building a brand like that; we needed someone who could help us achieve that. However when we interviewed people through headhunters we were getting people from Coke or P&G, who were not going to work in a company like this.
At this time we’d just started working with Tesco and we were resource sparse so we went to BIE to help fill the role. This is my first experience of using interim and we’ve seen two significant benefits. We’ve been able to take our time over permanent placements, which is particularly difficult in recruitment. This is key for a company like us which doubles its size each year as there’s always a temptation to recruit for the sake of the role, rather than recruit because there is that magic moment when you meet someone and you know that they’re right. The second benefit was that the company was able to move on to the next stage under her guidance.
If you’re working with a provider who understands your needs, as Martin did, they know that cultural fit is as important to use as the talents and skills that this person was going to bring in. We will certainly use interim in the future, there’s no doubt about it.
Conclusion:
Coffee Nation took on a total of two interims from BIE, who have both helped to move the company onto the next developmental stage. Permanent replacements have now filled both roles, but by using interim the company was able to take its time in sourcing these, whilst having the resources in place to begin taking the firm to the next level.
Interim Management in Europe 2006
To discuss your interim management requirements with BIE call +44(0)20 7222 1010