Michael Behling
Interim Manager: Head of Category, Commerce Platform & Data Management, Member of the Executive Board
Experience
Feb 2021 - Dec 2023
2 years 11 monthsInterim Manager: Head of Category, Commerce Platform & Data Management, Member of the Executive Board
VIKING Raja Group
- Winning customers in e-commerce and major accounts by expanding and optimizing core and long-tail assortments (+€25M revenue, +100k SKUs)
- Re-launching the VIKING brand and introducing customer-specific assortments (€160M revenue, +2% gross margin)
- Restructuring category and data management by reducing headcount from 236 FTE to 160 FTE and successful purchasing negotiations in 2022 (+€3.8M additional operating result)
- End-to-end responsibility for product availability and backorders, improving delivery rate from about 96% in 2021 to 99.3% in 2023
May 2020 - Jan 2021
9 monthsInterim Manager: Sparring Partner to Shareholders
Interim Management with two clients: Office Depot, later VIKING and a tool retailer
- Designing the new VIKING organization and restructuring plan
- Developing an innovative sales concept for a medium-sized tool retailer
- Digitizing and optimizing sales by linking ERP systems (SAP and Oracle) with Simple System, Onventis, and CRM
Feb 2016 - Apr 2020
4 years 3 monthsWuppertal, Germany
Division Manager (Authorized Signatory) and Member of the Executive Board
E/D/E
- P&L responsibility for the Tools and Industrial Services/C Parts Management division with €600M revenue and >€20M profit
- Leading the Premium and Union sales groups with external revenue of >€1B, expanding (sales programs) and optimizing assortments (increasing inventory turnover by 8% to over €200M in tools alone)
- Designing and successfully introducing a new sales organization (key account management by customer segmentation) based on a broad stakeholder analysis with customers and suppliers
- Reorganizing product management and purchasing with professionalizing buying negotiations (+€2.5M additional profit)
- Successfully implementing e-business-driven business models as supply systems for industry and trade (>€100M revenue)
Jul 2012 - Jan 2016
3 years 7 monthsManaging Director responsible for Sales, Marketing, Finance, Procurement, Logistics, and IT
PROJAHN Präzisionswerkzeuge GmbH
- Managing international sales with own subsidiaries and importers and handling the two most important customers
- Customer-focused restructuring of sales by introducing international KAM and qualifying customer support (strategy workshops, concrete development plans, training and qualification measures, plus digitizing order processing and invoicing for 40% of business)
- Planning and acquiring (with equity) a new warehouse and production site to secure long-term growth
- Enhancing reporting (KPI dashboard) and holding supervisory board meetings
May 2010 - Jun 2012
2 years 2 monthsGlobal Sales Director and Head of Strategy Development Project
PROJAHN Präzisionswerkzeuge GmbH
- Global sales, revenue, and profit responsibility, increasing sales by about 10% per year (2009/2012) and operating margin by nearly 2%
- Ensuring product availability and customer delivery with an average delivery rate of 99.5%
- Leading inside and direct sales, marketing, product management, application engineering, and complaint handling
- Redefining the brand presence and enforcing it consistently in the product range
- Introducing a digital order and invoicing process (via ERP with Nexmart or EDI)
Aug 2007 - Apr 2012
4 years 9 monthsManaging Director
Rich. Herbig Bayerischer Metallhandel, a company of the Niemet Group Bremen
- P&L responsibility, improving operating margin from 0.2% in 2007 to nearly 2% in 2008
- Refocusing sales: increasing key accounts per salesperson from 33 in 2007 to 45 in 2009
- Purchasing responsibility for domestic and cross-border transactions
Apr 2003 - Jul 2007
4 years 4 monthsSales Director DACH and Eastern Europe and Deputy Division Manager
MICHELIN Reifenwerke AG & Co. KGaA
- Responsible for sales, revenue, and profit, and leading 7 account managers
- Analyzing and revising the European two-wheel strategy and its implementation
- Designing and running the customer partnership program, gaining ~1% market share and increasing gross margin by nearly 3%
- Sustainable improvement of delivery reliability through joint forecasts with major customers and process improvements
Jan 1999 - Mar 2003
4 years 3 monthsKey Account Manager Tire Trade
MICHELIN Reifenwerke AG & Co. KGaA
- Sales responsibility for 4 purchasing and marketing cooperatives in DACH with €120M revenue
- Leading 8 regional and 51 area sales managers
- Successfully implementing customer programs, gaining 2.5% share of audience / +€10M over 2 years
- Building and implementing the company-wide bonus system
Feb 1995 - Dec 1998
3 years 11 monthsArea Sales Manager / Product Manager for Roof Racks and Roof Boxes
Thule GmbH
- Sales responsibility for DACH and Central/Eastern Europe and building a solid and successful distribution structure (from €0.5M to over €8M in 3 years)
- Establishing and building a sales branch in Poland and leading the team
- Budget responsibility for marketing and costs
- Adapting the assortments and sales materials for Central and Eastern Europe
Summary
- Strong negotiation skills with various stakeholders combined with execution strength gained in medium-sized companies, corporations, as well as industry and trade
- Change management (culture + strategy) of organizations and processes related to dynamically changing markets (digitalization through e-commerce, e-procurement, C parts management) to achieve growth and cost savings
- Leading and developing staff to sustainably secure company success
- Designing and successfully executing market entry, sales, and marketing concepts with significant and measurable results for each company
- Profitable expansion and adjustment of the product and service portfolio based on sustainability
- Key account management and successful crisis management to secure sales success
- Organizing and running efficient data management to provide market-relevant and compliance-ready customer data
Languages
German
NativeEnglish
Advanced Education
Ruhr University Bochum
Diploma in Economics · Economics · Bochum, Germany
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