EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP · INTERIM COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR
An Interim Commercial Director with authority over price and terms.
CE Interim appoints proven Interim Commercial Directors when volume is holding and margin is not, when a key account is at risk, or when the commercial organisation has lost the leadership that held its customer relationships together.
Confidentialité garantie dès le premier contact. Un cadre supérieur présélectionné et correspondant au profil recherché, prêt à prendre ses fonctions dans les 72 heures suivant la finalisation du cahier des charges.
La chaîne hiérarchique
CEO · MANAGING DIRECTOR · BOARD
INTERIM COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR
SALES · KEY ACCOUNTS · PRICING · MARKETING
1,500+
Nombre de mandats exécutés chaque année au sein de l'alliance
90+
Partenaires opérationnels à travers le monde
30+
Pays concernés
95%
Mandats transfrontaliers
72 heures
De la note d'information au lancement de la mission
Définition
What is an Interim Commercial Director?
An Interim Commercial Director is an experienced executive appointed for a defined period to take control of the commercial position: revenue, margin, pricing, key accounts and the commercial organisation. The mandate covers the decisions that determine profitability, not only the activity that produces volume.
The distinction from a Sales Director matters. Where the commercial model is complex, with several revenue streams, channel partners, or major accounts alongside transactional business, a Commercial Director is the appropriate appointment. Where the model is a single, execution-focused sales motion, a Sales Director may be sufficient and the wider mandate more than the situation needs.
Volume can be bought with discount. Margin cannot. This appointment exists because someone has to be accountable for both at once when commercial decisions are fragmented across the organisation.
Événements déclencheurs de rendez-vous
When businesses appoint an Interim Commercial Director
01
A key account is at risk and nobody senior owns the relationship
A major customer is reviewing, escalating or tendering. The relationship was held by one person, and that person has left or is no longer credible with the customer.
02
Input costs have risen and prices have not
Material, energy or freight costs have moved and the contracts have not. Volume looks healthy, margin is eroding quietly, and nobody has had the conversation with customers that would fix it.
03
Discounting has become the answer to everything
Deals are closing because the price came down. Discount authority has spread through the organisation, the waterfall from list price to realised price is not visible, and the business is buying its own volume.
04
The order book is falling and the forecast is not believed
Revenue is declining, the pipeline shows something different, and the board has stopped treating the commercial forecast as information it can plan against.
05
The commercial leader has gone and taken the relationships
Departure at director level. In CE Interim’s experience, a permanent appointment at this level can take two to three months, and the appointee may then have notice to serve before meeting a customer. Pipeline momentum, relationships and commercial discipline decay throughout.
06
Two sales organisations are calling the same customers
After an acquisition, overlapping coverage, inconsistent pricing to the same buyer, and no agreed account ownership. The customer notices before the business does.
07
A growth case was underwritten and nobody owns it
Commercial due diligence promised a revenue or pricing improvement. The deal closed, the plan exists, and no one in the business has been made accountable for delivering it.
08
Entering a market with no commercial leadership on the ground
A new country or segment is being opened with no senior commercial presence locally, and the customers being targeted expect to deal with someone who is actually there.
Est-ce le bon siège ?
Does the situation require an Interim Commercial Director?
The determining question is whether the commercial position itself is the problem, or whether the commercial numbers are reporting a problem that lives elsewhere.
Appoint an Interim Commercial Director when:
- Margin is deteriorating while volume holds.
- Pricing, discount authority and contract terms need to be brought under control.
- A major customer relationship has to be rebuilt at senior level.
- The commercial organisation needs restructuring rather than motivating.
- The forecast has to become something the board can plan against.
Règle de décision
When revenue and margin are both in question and the decisions that resolve them are commercial, this is the appropriate appointment.
Quand un autre poste est le bon choix
Where customers are leaving because of delivery performance or quality rather than price or relationship, a commercial appointment treats the symptom: an Interim Plant Manager or Interim Quality Director addresses what the customers are actually reacting to.
Where the whole business lacks direction, an Interim CEO is the appointment.
Where the model is a single sales motion and the requirement is to lead a team executing it, a Sales Director carries the mandate and this appointment is more than the situation needs.
CE Interim définit d'abord le mandat, puis recommande le profil recherché.
Comparaison des rôles
De quel poste l'entreprise a-t-elle besoin ?
Faites défiler le tableau latéralement →
| Directeur commercial par intérim | Interim Sales Director | Directeur général de transition | Commercial consultancy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Possède | Revenue, margin, pricing, key accounts | Sales execution and the team | Toute cette histoire | The analysis |
| Model it suits | Multiple streams, channels, major accounts | A single sales motion | Any, when direction is the issue | Any |
| Decides | Price, terms, account strategy, structure | Territory, targets, activity | What the business does | Recommends only |
| Nommé le | Margin and revenue are both in question | The team needs leading | Direction is unresolved | The position needs mapping |
| Customer-facing | At senior and board level | At buyer level | Where it matters most | Non |
| Il est temps de commencer | Dans les 72 heures suivant la réception de la note d'information | Dans les 72 heures suivant la réception de la note d'information | Dans les 72 heures suivant la réception de la note d'information | Depends on scope and engagement |
Directeur commercial par intérim
Interim Sales Director
Directeur général de transition
Commercial consultancy
Modes de défaillance
Pourquoi ces nominations échouent-elles ?
A sales problem is diagnosed and a margin problem is left running.
Activity increases, the pipeline fills and volume recovers, on terms that were never fixed. The business is now busier and no more profitable, and the discount precedents set during the recovery are the ones the next negotiation starts from.
Commercial leadership is appointed to a delivery problem.
Customers are leaving because the business missed delivery dates or shipped quality problems, and a commercial executive is appointed to win them back. The relationships improve briefly and the customers leave anyway, because nothing they complained about has changed
Relationships are held by people rather than by the company.
The commercial recovery depends entirely on one person’s contacts. It works while they are there. The mandate ends, the relationships leave with them, and the business is back where it started having paid for the interval.
Discount authority is never actually withdrawn.
A pricing discipline is announced and the exceptions continue, because withdrawing authority from a team under target pressure requires a decision nobody wants to own. Pricing recovery can fail politically as readily as it fails analytically.
Étendue des compétences
What an Interim Commercial Director mandate should include
Une ligne hiérarchique clairement définie, convenue avant le début du projet.
Whether the executive reports to the Managing Director, the CEO or the board determines what can be committed in a customer negotiation. Customers establish the executive’s decision authority quickly, so the mandate should define what can be committed in the room and what requires referral before negotiations begin.
Pricing and discount authority.
The right to set price, terms and discount limits, and to withdraw discretion from people who currently have it. The mandate should make this authority explicit rather than leave it ambiguous.
Ownership of major customer relationships.
The mandate to be the senior counterparty to key accounts, not to accompany someone else. Where a relationship has to be rebuilt, the executive needs standing rather than introduction.
Contract and terms authority.
The ability to renegotiate payment terms, volume commitments, indexation and escalation clauses within defined limits, which is where much of the recoverable margin actually sits.
Authority over the commercial organisation.
The ability to restructure coverage, reassign accounts and address capability gaps, rather than to recommend those changes for later.
Ownership of the forecast.
Accountability for a commercial forecast the board can plan against, including the authority to change how it is produced and by whom.
Note d'autorité
Authority must be proportional to the decisions the mandate requires in its first thirty days. In a pricing recovery, an executive without the authority to say no to a discount has no mandate at all.
Responsabilité légale, champ d'application et couverture
Responsabilité légale.
Where the mandate requires it, the executive may receive defined authority over price, terms and contract signature, delegated statutory duties or, where formally appointed and permitted by the local corporate structure, a statutory position. The scope is agreed before the start rather than assumed.
Le périmètre est défini avant que le dirigeant ne commence.
The client, CE Interim and the executive define duties, boundaries and signature limits in writing.
L'assurance est souscrite pour chaque mandat.
Executives carry their own professional liability and directors’ and officers’ cover. On some mandates the client provides or contributes to it. CE Interim and every member of the Valtus Alliance carries its own cover as well.
Arc de mandat
How an Interim Commercial Director mandate unfolds
Every mandate is different. The sequence below describes a common pattern of restoring commercial control.
01
Days 0 to 21
Meet the customers, then look at the numbers
Visit the major accounts personally and early, because what customers say about the business is more reliable than what the pipeline says. Establish the real price waterfall from list to realised. Identify which volume is profitable and which is not.
02
Days 22 to 90
Take the pricing decisions
Set price, terms and discount limits, and withdraw the authority that has spread. Open the contract conversations where input costs have moved and prices have not. Rebuild the relationships that depend on someone senior being present rather than on history.
03
À partir du 91e jour
Restructure and hand the discipline over
Realign coverage and account ownership so relationships sit with the business rather than with individuals. Rebuild the forecast so the board can plan against it. Establish the commercial governance that will hold after the mandate.
COMMERCIAL MANDATE · 9 TO 12 MONTHS
Pricing decisions can be taken inside ninety days. In CE Interim’s experience, three months is the minimum period in which a price position genuinely changes rather than simply being announced. Margin follows the contract renewal cycle, which in many industrial businesses is annual, so the mandate runs long enough to see decisions through to realised price rather than agreed price.
VACANCY COVER · TO THE PERMANENT APPOINTMENT
Where the mandate holds key accounts through a leadership gap, the priority is that relationships transfer to the business rather than leave with the departure. The mandate runs to the permanent appointment. Where price recovery is also included, the duration may extend through the relevant contract-renewal cycle.
Discutez du mandat avec un partenaire avant que la situation ne le définisse à votre place.
Résultats et transfert
What effective interim commercial leadership should achieve
Margin, not only volume
The business knows which revenue is profitable and prices accordingly.
Pricing under control
Discount authority sits where it was intended to, and the waterfall from list to realised price is visible.
Relationships owned by the company
Key accounts are held by the business through defined ownership, not by one person’s contacts.
A forecast that survives contact
The board can plan against the commercial number because it has stopped being an aspiration.
Terms that reflect current costs
Contracts carry indexation and escalation appropriate to the cost base rather than to the year they were signed.
Transfert
Pricing discipline, account ownership and commercial governance transfer to named people inside the business. Continuity without dependency is the objective, and a mandate whose gains leave with the executive has not succeeded.
Qui nous envoyons
The Interim Commercial Directors we appoint
Has recovered price, not only grown volume.
Has gone back to customers where the commercial position no longer reflected the cost base, renegotiated it and retained the relationship.
Has been received in a customer’s boardroom, not introduced.
Major-account recovery requires enough seniority and authority to negotiate directly with the customer’s decision-makers.
Has withdrawn discount authority from a team under target pressure.
Pricing recovery requires both the analysis and the authority to change behaviour when commercial pressure encourages exceptions.
Has renegotiated terms, not just prices.
Indexation, escalation clauses, volume commitments and payment terms can materially affect realised margin and should be considered alongside headline price.
Knows what the business can deliver.
Commercial promises that operations cannot meet can damage margin, customer confidence and delivery performance. Executives who understand the operational side of that trade-off price differently.
CE Interim works through more than 90 operating partners across the Valtus Alliance, in over 30 countries. That reach is what makes it possible to match sector, customer type and commercial situation within 72 hours.
Le modèle de prise de rendez-vous
D’une réunion d’information confidentielle à une nomination à un poste de direction
01
Point sur la situation
A Partner conversation under NDA. Where the commercial position stands, which relationships are at risk, what margin has been lost and what authority can be delegated.
02
Définition du mandat et évaluation spécifique aux enjeux
CE Interim defines the scope, the reporting line and the pricing authority, then interviews each executive for this commercial situation and this customer base rather than against a generic sales profile.
03
Présentation, nomination et gouvernance
You receive a small number of genuinely relevant executives, not a CV list. The appointment decision is yours, and a CE Interim Partner stays involved through delivery.
Tensions transfrontalières
Why cross-border commercial mandates are harder to govern
Ce dont le siège a besoin
- A group price position that actually holds in each market
- To know what is really being conceded locally, and when
- A forecast it can plan against rather than hope for
What each market needs
- Terms that reflect what competitors are doing locally
- A negotiator the customer takes seriously, present rather than remote
- Authority to settle in the room instead of referring upward
A group price list that ignores local competitive conditions can produce either lost volume or local discounting that headquarters cannot see. The Interim Commercial Director therefore needs enough local presence and authority to understand what is being conceded and to negotiate directly where the customer relationship requires it.
Les domaines dans lesquels nous intervenons le plus souvent
Modules de situation
Typical Interim Commercial Director mandates
Redressement opérationnel
Margin is eroding while volume holds, and a key account is under review. The mandate is to recover price, rebuild the relationship at senior level and make the profitable volume visible.
Gouvernance, visibilité et contrôle
Discount authority has spread and the forecast is not believed. The mandate is to bring pricing under control and produce a commercial number the board can plan against.
Intégration post-fusion et scission
Two sales organisations are calling the same customers with different prices. The mandate is to agree coverage and account ownership before the customer exploits the gap.
Poste clé à pourvoir
The commercial leader has gone and the relationships are exposed. The mandate is to hold the key accounts through the gap and transfer ownership to the business.
Environnements sectoriels
Where CE Interim appoints Interim Commercial Directors
Secteurs primaires
Également proposé
Contexte de propriété
Il est important de bien comprendre le secteur. Le critère de sélection déterminant est le fait d'assumer des responsabilités de direction comparables dans une situation comparable, au sein d'un environnement de propriété comparable.
Éléments de preuve présentés au dossier
Where this mandate applies
Italian mid-market manufacturer · Intervention across Bulgarian and Romanian markets · Distributor channel
Market development through a distributor network, Southern and South-Eastern Europe
Situation
An owner-managed manufacturer was building its position in two South-Eastern European markets through an established distributor network.
Mandat
Commercial strategy and execution, working directly with the owner. Mandates of this kind turn on channel management and on being present enough in the market to know what distributors are actually doing, rather than on headcount or activity.
Résultats
The mandate was designed to move distributor management from passive oversight to active market execution: clearer visibility of partner performance, more frequent in-market engagement, and a stronger basis for growing sales through the existing channel network.
Coût et durée
What an Interim Commercial Director mandate costs and how long it runs
Le tarif des missions est fixé sous forme de forfait journalier en fonction du périmètre, des responsabilités et de la durée. Il n'y a ni pourcentage du salaire, ni commission de placement, ni investissement initial. Vous payez les jours travaillés dans le cadre d'une mission convenue, et le tarif est confirmé avant l'entrée en fonction du cadre.
Tarif journalier indicatif
1 000 € – 3 000 €
Plus élevé lorsque le mandat implique une fonction réglementée ou présente une complexité transfrontalière.
Durée et étapes clés
Commercial mandate
Nine to twelve months
Remplacement en cas d'absence
To the permanent appointment
Pricing authority and commercial cadence established
Dans un délai de trente jours
Cadre présent sur place
Dans les 72 heures suivant la remise du dossier complet
Qu'est-ce qui fait varier ce chiffre ?.
The complexity of the commercial model and the number of markets and channels. Whether major account recovery sits inside the mandate. Whether pricing authority extends to contract terms as well as price. The language senior customer negotiation is conducted in. Every mandate is delivered on site.
À quoi il faut le comparer.
Ce n'est pas le coût de cette obligation, mais celui d'une situation qui perdure sans exécutif responsable, alors que les décisions sont reportées.
Ce que vous paierez réellement.
Lors du premier entretien confidentiel, un partenaire vous communique un montant. C'est gratuit et sans engagement.
Questions
Questions boards and owners ask
Interim Commercial Director or Interim Sales Director?
Commercial Director where the model is complex, with several revenue streams, channels or major accounts, and where pricing and margin are in scope. Sales Director where the model is a single sales motion and the requirement is to lead the team executing it.
Our revenue is falling. Is this the right appointment?
Sometimes. If customers are leaving because of delivery or quality rather than price or relationship, a commercial appointment treats the symptom. A Partner will say so, and will point to the operational appointment that addresses the cause.
How is this different from a commercial consultancy?
A consultancy typically analyses the position and recommends action. An Interim Commercial Director holds delegated executive authority to make pricing, account and commercial-structure decisions and to negotiate directly with customers within the mandate. It is the difference between a recommendation and a decision taken with a team missing target.
Will an outsider damage our customer relationships?
It does not have to. Relationships held by one individual are already a continuity risk. Part of the mandate is transferring them to defined ownership so they survive any departure, including the interim’s.
What authority does the interim receive?
Pricing and discount authority, contract and terms authority within defined limits, ownership of major accounts, and authority over commercial structure. Agreed before the executive starts, because a customer establishes what someone can commit to within the first meeting.
Can prices really be recovered without losing the customer?
They can be, where the economics support the change and the relationship can absorb it. The negotiation should reflect the customer’s position, the cost movement, the contract and the value of the account rather than assume every increase can be passed through. Seniority and clear decision authority become particularly important where the account or the negotiation is material to the business.
En combien de temps peut-on commencer ?
A vetted, mandate-matched executive is ready to start within 72 hours of the completed mandate brief. In CE Interim’s experience, a permanent Commercial Director search can run eight to twelve weeks, with any notice period adding further time, and pipeline and relationships decay throughout it.
Qui engage le dirigeant, et quelles sont les responsabilités du client ?
CE Interim met en place des missions sur une base interentreprises, et le cadre intérimaire ne rejoint pas l'entreprise cliente en tant que salarié permanent. La partie contractante est une entité locale ou un pôle régional, selon le pays d'intervention, choisie parmi plus de trente entités au sein de l'Alliance Valtus. Le statut professionnel, les obligations fiscales, sociales et autres obligations connexes dépendent de la juridiction, de la structure contractuelle et des circonstances de la mission ; l’intervention est donc structurée en fonction du pays dans lequel le travail est effectué.
Qui assume le risque lorsque le dirigeant occupe un poste officiel ?
L'assurance est souscrite pour chaque mission. Le cadre dirigeant dispose de sa propre assurance responsabilité civile des dirigeants et des mandataires sociaux, ainsi que d'une assurance responsabilité civile professionnelle ; pour certaines missions, le client fournit cette couverture ou y contribue. CE Interim et chaque membre de l'Alliance Valtus disposent également de leur propre couverture. L’étendue de la responsabilité, les limites et les plafonds de signature sont convenus par écrit entre le client, CE Interim et le dirigeant avant que ce dernier n’entre en fonction.
Does the executive need to speak the customer’s language?
Not always, but direct language capability can materially improve a senior customer negotiation. CE Interim treats it as a selection criterion where the account relationship, local market or negotiation requires it. Negotiating through an intermediary can concede ground that is difficult to recover.
How long before margin actually moves?
Pricing decisions can be taken inside ninety days. Margin follows the contract renewal cycle, which in many industrial businesses is annual, so the mandate runs nine to twelve months to see the decisions through to realised price rather than agreed price.
Will we lose customers?
Possibly. The mandate should define which accounts and volumes create sustainable value, and what level of customer attrition, if any, the business is prepared to accept. Price recovery is not about preserving every unit of volume regardless of economics.
Que se passe-t-il à la fin ?
A deliberate handover. Pricing discipline, account ownership and the commercial governance move to named people inside the business, so the gains do not leave with the executive.
Every discount granted this quarter is the opening position for the next negotiation.
Discutez directement avec un associé par intérim de CE de la situation en matière de direction, du mandat et des pouvoirs nécessaires. Cet entretien est confidentiel et ne vous engage en rien quant à une éventuelle nomination.
Réponse d'un partenaire dans les 24 heures. Les situations urgentes liées au leadership sont traitées en priorité.
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