From strategy and innovation to action: SIKA Portugal’s commercial transformation

In a construction market that is becoming progressively more competitive, technical, and focused on integrated solutions, SIKA Portugal implemented a commercial transformation project aimed at reorganizing its sales force and bringing the organization’s strategy closer to teams’ day-to-day work in the field.

This project, carried out with the support of Kaizen Institute, involved a multidisciplinary team from SIKA, made up of 7 departments and 84 individuals. Its structure was designed around three fundamental principles that run through the entire organization: strategy, innovation and action.

The company and its commitment to commercial excellence in the construction sector

SIKA Portugal, S.A. is part of a multinational group that is a leader in chemical solutions for construction and industry, manufacturing paints, sealants, admixtures, and similar products. With 131 employees and annual revenue of approximately €57,7 million, it stands out for its differentiated technical portfolio and a strong focus on innovation.

The organization’s strategy is built on sustainable growth, customer proximity, and operational excellence, supported by continuous investment in people development and process improvement.

Challenges in responding to a more demanding construction market

Before the project, SIKA Portugal’s sales team was organized by customer type, split across two functional units, and focused on upselling. The construction market’s growing competitiveness and technical complexity put pressure on this model, revealing several opportunities to improve how sales were organized and executed.

Below, in more detail, are some of the challenges encountered:

Sales structure misaligned with market demands

The sales team, organized by customer type and split across two functional units, was focused on upselling activities. This model limited the organization’s ability to respond differently to the specifics of each target market.

Reactive sales activity disconnected from strategy

Sales activity was concentrated downstream in the sales process, following a reactive approach with a weak connection to the organization’s vision and strategy, which limited engagement with project owners and the specifier during the more decisive stages of the process.

High administrative workload and low synergy between teams

The sales structure carried a heavy administrative workload, which reduced salespeople’s availability for actual sales activity.

Poorly standardized planning and low use of digital tools

Work planning was not standardized, resulting in limited team presence during critical project and specification stages. This gap was compounded by low use of available sales support tools, such as the CRM and the B2B platform, which reduced visibility into commercial activity. H3: Variability in daily management and indicator tracking
There was also significant variability between teams in how daily management and indicator tracking were carried out, which made it difficult to establish a consistent management practice across the organization.

The project’s 6 strategic pillars

The project carried out with Kaizen Institute targeted six main goals:

• Transform the sales force into an integrated commercial system oriented around projects, customers, and value, organized by target markets.
• Enhance the added value of commercial activity by focusing efforts both upstream and downstream in the sales process — not only with the contractor, applicator, or distributor, but also directly with the project owner and the specifier.
• Reduce administrative waste, with more salespeople available to sell and the customer support service closer to and more focused on the customer.
• Implement a standardized work plan, with commercial focus dedicated to projects and customers.
• Increase activity logging in the CRM and reactivate the B2B platform.
• Standardize management routines for natural teams, focused on planning, performance analysis, and improvement cycles.

A structured approach built on three principles: strategy, innovation, and action

To address the challenges identified, SIKA Portugal developed a commercial transformation program structured around three principles that span the entire organization.

Strategy — reorganizing the sales structure

The sales structure was reorganized, moving from two functional areas to eight target markets, structured around the main construction areas, in a cross-functional, project-based approach with multi-category selling.

Each salesperson’s budget was broken down into customer-level targets, aligning efforts with sales potential. A customer categorization and certification program was also implemented to boost sales and loyalty, along with the standardization of prices and commercial offers, and a sales model for value-added products with higher margins.

As a result, the organization:

• Went from zero leads in the pipeline to 179 active projects.
• Reduced active customized commercial offers by 97%.
• Increased sales of Gold products by 14%.

Innovation — technology and customer proximity

The Innovation principle centered on configuring and upgrading the CRM, which serves as the foundation for activity tracking, visit scheduling, and visibility into project activities.

A sales-oriented contact center was implemented, with proactive outreach to correct deviations from purchasing patterns, and on-site technical support was strengthened through roadshows and technical demonstrations.

 The organization also promoted prospecting and retention initiatives — partnerships, events, and digital channel optimization — to increase its market presence.

Action — management routines and team capability building

As part of the Action principle, 42 Daily KAIZEN™ routines were implemented, focused on work planning, performance analysis, and improvement cycles.

A standardized process for planning and logging commercial activities was introduced, and a digital B2B sales channel was rolled out. Customer support became closer, more focused, and more agile, with teams trained in new sales scripts and with information just a “click” away.

This pragmatic approach made it possible to implement the program without disrupting the teams’ day-to-day commercial activity, over a 21-month KAIZEN™ journey marked by 89 team meetings and 240 gemba walks.

These actions translated into:

• 140% increase in the number of business activities recorded in the CRM.
• 29% increase in the number of customers registered on the B2B platform.
• 225% increase in sales through the B2B platform.
•  91% increase in customer calls handled by customer service representatives.

Overall, between 2023 and 2025, SIKA Portugal’s sales grew 5,9% per year, and penetration among existing customers increased by 3,2 percentage points.

Commercial transformation: A proven strategy for improving performance

Recognized with 1st Prize in the Operational Excellence — Corporate Operations category at the 15th edition of the Kaizen Awards Portugal, SIKA Portugal is now a prime example of ambitious transformation, bringing together Strategy, Innovation, and Action — from reorganizing the sales structure to integrating new ways of engaging with customers.

More than just results, this journey demonstrates that a culture of continuous improvement, adopted across the entire organization, leads to sustained growth and a model that can be replicated by any company facing similar challenges.

To enable this transformation, the partnership with Kaizen Institute proved essential, synergistically combining marketing and sales consulting to structure the new market approach, operations consulting to eliminate administrative waste and increase the efficiency of customer support, and the implementation of Daily KAIZEN™ to build team capability and sustain new management routines on the ground. This project’s success demonstrates that when strategic alignment is supported by robust continuous improvement methodologies, even the most complex decisions translate into tangible, lasting, high-value results.