Q&A: Crossmark CEO discusses new business model

PLANO, Texas — Sales and marketing services company Crossmark has unveiled a new and innovative business model designed to drive faster sales growth and greater efficiencies for its clients and customers that will involve the hiring of roughly 100 new associates by year’s end. To learn more this model and what it means for suppliers and retailers in today’s changing marketplace, Drug Store News caught up with Crossmark’s CEO Steven Schuckenbrock.



DSN: Tell us more about this new business model?



Schuckenbrock: At a very macro level we are moving from generalists to specialists. We are [building] a new marketing and planning organization, which will complement dedicated client and dedicated channel teams. We are going to take the capabilities we have around consumer insights and consolidate those into one large team that really works on the key drivers/behaviors at the consumer level around health and wellness, green initiatives, multi-cultural and so on. [And we will] plan how those major themes interact with the categories and then the specific brands that we support within those categories in order to help build very precise plans. So, that level of planning and precision is very difficult to replicate in each region but when done once centrally leveraging insight and collaboration tools it can bring the best of local and national thinking. Leveraging this capability, our dedicated client and channel teams will be well armed to drive better growth outcomes.



DSN: Can you provide an example?



Schuckenbrock: I’m going to pick the baby category … and let’s assume that our consumer-oriented team has built a deep expertise on moms and a deep expertise on the buying implications of multi-cultural moms and that we then know how to apply that to the [baby] category overall. … In fact, we do find that there are real examples where an Asian mom has a very clear preference for the formulas that they buy that is very different than the formulas bought by Hispanics. We can clearly identify which SKUs resonate best and the demographics associated with each store. … Our client teams would then take that information and work directly with [a supplier] and come up with strategies to make sure that the right product is in the right place at the right time and make sure it is promoted effectively. Once we agree on what those strategies are we then work with the customer teams.  Our dedicated channel teams (Rite Aid for example) will be better equipped to help Rite Aid serve their shoppers more effectively enabling growth for the stores and for the manufacturer.



DSN: What is the catalyst for developing this new business model? Why now?



Schuckenbrock:  The consumer buying behaviors and preferences are changing. The retailers are working to leverage and integrate digital and in-store experiences, while the manufacturers are innovating to meet the significant shifts in product preferences. These trends and challenges require companies to leverage all of their “growth assets” in new ways. Marketing is becoming very local and sales needs to be very precise to meet the consumer in just the right places and right times. It is very difficult for service providers to meet these needs with a fragmented approach. That is why we are integrating our marketing and sales agency capabilities.  It will allow us to configure solutions with all of our assets for retailers and manufacturers in ways that speak directly to their unique needs.



DSN: What is the next phase?



Schuckenbrock: What lies ahead for us and our customers is a smarter way to achieve faster growth. These changes, along with state-of-the-art technologies, will enable us to see opportunities quickly. The dedicated nature of our teams will allow us to sustain partnerships that can spend time proactively driving the desired outcomes. Our business is all about execution and the better we equip our teams with information the better we will execute.