The challenge
Distributors are one of Kimberly-Clark’s biggest growth levers. But the tools and processes supporting them had grown up separately across Sales, Marketing, Technology and Supply Chain. Distributors found us hard to do business with, and we weren’t getting the engagement or retention we should have.
My role
I own the global distributor journey. I lead a multi-year transformation of the distributor growth proposition, and I’m accountable for Customer Effort Score.
The approach
I mapped the end-to-end distributor journey and ran qualitative research in five top-tier markets. It showed that the problem wasn’t any single tool but the gaps between them. We had created an administrative burden that stopped distributors from selling effectively on our behalf.
Mapping the end-to-end distributor journey
To simplify the strategy, we needed to move away from long lists of local problems towards one set of scalable global initiatives. I brought together representatives from five markets for a three-day workshop, which I facilitated. Together, we agreed a ten-point, multi-year transformation programme.
The first initiative simplified sales enablement into one scalable global model, with net sales value as the shared measure of success.
To get leadership aligned, I brought Sales, Marketing, Technology and Supply Chain around one view of the journey, grounded in what distributors were telling us. I also set up a cross-regional distributor research panel to give feedback on prototypes we built using AI, so customer-led decisions continued beyond the programme team.
Five markets. One shared programme.
The outcome
$26.4m
estimated value to the global business by 2030
9,000
productivity hours saved by 2029
10-point
prioritised global transformation programme
The first initiative is now in production. The business now has clear ownership of the journey, a shared metric and a prioritised ten-point transformation programme.
