Friedhelm Best-Fractional CEO/CSO

Building and establishing sales and marketing processes, as well as candidate management for executive and transformation mandates between Europe and Asia

• Initial situation**

• Asia-Connect started as a partnership for placing interim executives. After the first sales activities, scalable structures for sales, marketing, and candidate management were missing. With growing demand and the involvement of additional partners, there was a need for clear processes, defined interfaces, and reliable reporting in order to manage growth in a planned way and deliver mandates efficiently.

• Responsibility & approach**

• Built clearly structured end-to-end processes for sales, marketing, and candidate management.

• Implemented standardized candidate management from first contact to talent pool.

• Introduced binding marketing guidelines, including agency management and SEO implementation.

• Established a KPI-based content and reporting process.

• Introduced weekly KPI reviews and forecasts to manage marketing and sales.

• Implemented a structured sales process from lead-to-opportunity to contract closing.

• Piloted and continuously improved all processes in day-to-day operations.

• Results & impact**

• Introduced uniform marketing standards, including stable agency management (content output +60%).

• Established a KPI-driven content and reporting process with regular performance reviews (engagement rate >45%).

• Implemented a structured sales process from lead to close, with clear phase and decision logic.

• Implemented an end-to-end candidate management process with clear quality criteria and a scalable data basis (time-to-shortlist –40%).

• Increased efficiency in mandate fulfillment through shorter lead times and better coordination between sales and candidate management.

• Created a scalable operational base to integrate additional partners and grow the network.

Building and restructuring the APAC regional organization with P&L responsibility across five countries (Australia, Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea). Global market leader for safety-related automation technology | 84 employees | EUR 22 million revenue | Responsibility for three subsidiaries and two branches

• Initial situation**

• The APAC organization was set up in a decentralized way across several subsidiaries and branches. Inconsistent sales, control, and reporting structures led to limited transparency, declining margins, and weak market development. At the same time, new growth areas were to be opened up and the organization scaled for further growth.

• Responsibility & approach**

• Took operational P&L responsibility for three subsidiaries and two branches in the APAC region.

• Restructured the regional organization and introduced consistent KPI, reporting, leadership, and decision-making structures.

• Built sales operations, forecast, pipeline, and key account management structures to professionalize sales control.

• Consolidated regional locations and built marketing, customer solutions, and market development structures.

• Opened up new business fields and reported directly to the group board and owners.

• Results & impact**

• Revenue growth of 12% p.a. on average and an increase in the book-to-bill ratio from 1.0 to 1.4.

• Increased key account business by 35% and raised quotation volume from EUR 25 million to EUR 65 million.

• Improved EBIT by more than 160% through the realignment of sales control and sales operations.

• Reduced administrative management effort by 28% while strengthening local P&L and leadership responsibility.

• Built a sustainable regional organization with a structured handover to the next management level.

Building global key account management and transforming OEM sales in 12 countries. Energy management and automation technology | 12,000 employees | EUR 1.3 billion revenue

• Initial situation**

• As part of Moeller's integration into the Eaton group, the OEM business had to be transferred into the new organizational structure. The existing sales approach was mainly product-oriented and was losing market share to application-oriented competitors. At the same time, new growth potential was to be unlocked through key account management, vertical markets, and cross-selling.

• Responsibility & approach**

• Took global responsibility for key account management and business development in the OEM environment.

• Integrated the existing OEM and key account structures into the Eaton organization as part of the post-merger integration.

• Developed and implemented an OEM program across twelve countries, including potential analyses, sales structures, and training concepts.

• Transformed the sales logic from product-oriented selling to application- and solution-oriented customer development.

• Built OEM teams and introduced cross-selling, value-added services, and vertical market approaches.

• Results & impact**

• Increased cross-selling business by 9.1% after introducing the customer-centric OEM and key account logic.

• Achieved average growth of 10.2% p.a. over three years in the OEM program across twelve countries.

• Won two major projects within the Volkswagen Group with new automation solutions for automotive production.

• Established the OEM strategy as the standard model for subsequent post-merger integration programs within the organization.

• Successfully integrated the OEM and key account structures into the new group organization while strengthening growth and market penetration.