I take commercial leadership in machinery businesses when order intake stalls — and rebuild market coverage and sales management so that market share and order intake grow again.
Managing Director at Yamazaki Mazak, DMG MORI and Seidenader. CSO ad interim at CHIRON, 09/2025–06/2026. Over 20 years of full commercial responsibility — inside the management team, not as an outside adviser.
Four situations in which I take commercial responsibility. The results come from completed mandates.
Revenue still runs off the backlog, but order intake is falling away. Visit numbers and hit rate are dropping while sales costs keep rising.
I take commercial leadership and point sales at the companies with a demonstrable investment need — instead of visit routines and account maintenance. In parallel I move sales management onto figures that hold up.
CHIRON: order intake +40%, hit rate +20%
After the acquisition two sales organisations work side by side. Responsibilities overlap, customers have two contacts, and the expected synergies fail to appear.
I merge the organisations operationally — territories, roles, processes, CRM — and put commercial alignment ahead of system integration.
DMG MORI: 3 country organisations integrated, market share doubled in under three years
The home market is exhausted. Which markets actually hold potential is unproven — the choice follows opportunities, trade fair contacts or the competition. And the conventional route demands a sales structure before the first order arrives.
I determine the strongest target markets with data and AI — and identify the manufacturers there with a concrete investment need. Order intake comes before an organisation exists. The structure — own subsidiary, distribution or hybrid — then grows along proven demand instead of assumption.
Yamazaki Mazak: Austrian subsidiary built, DACH revenue from €120m to €190m (+58%)
The CRM covers a fraction of the addressable market. Forecasts rest on experience, potential is unknown, territories are historical accidents.
I have the addressable market mapped and qualified systematically, bring it into the CRM and move management onto KPIs. AI where it improves decisions.
CHIRON: data-driven sales management built, order intake above plan
Machine tools are the part of the machinery industry I have known from the inside for over 20 years. The challenges here are typical of industrial B2B as a whole — only unusually easy to measure.
companies worldwide running metal-cutting production — the industry's addressable market
of them recorded in the CRM of a leading manufacturer — less than 10% of the real market potential
of the buying process is complete before a salesperson is involved (source: 6sense)
of investment decisions go to suppliers who were on the shortlist from day one (source: Forrester)
This pattern repeats across industries. Very few manufacturers map their addressable market systematically. The buying decision is made before sales becomes active. Whoever is invisible in that phase is not competing at all — however good the product.
I take responsibility for order intake and market share — as Managing Director, CSO or within a clearly defined operational scope. 6 to 18 months, on site, inside the management team. No project reports, figures.
I bring transparency into market coverage: who the customers are, where the potential sits, how the pipeline is managed. Where it improves decisions I use AI — as a tool, not as an end in itself.
“Advising sales from the outside does not change it.”
CSO ad interim
09/2025–06/2026
advisory since 07/2026
1,600 staff | €300m revenue | order intake +40% | hit rate +20% | data-driven sales management built
Managing Director DACH
2015–2023
220 staff | revenue from €120m to €190m (+58%) | market share Germany +54% | Austrian subsidiary built
CEO
2013–2015
360 staff | €90m revenue | highest order intake in the company's history (+35%) | service revenue +25%
Director Global Marketing, Managing Director Scandinavia
2005–2013
80 staff | 8 countries | market share doubled in under three years | 3 country organisations integrated | global marketing responsibility
CSO ad interim
09/2025–06/2026
advisory since 07/2026
1,600 staff | €300m revenue | order intake +40% | hit rate +20% | data-driven sales management built
Managing Director DACH
2015–2023
220 staff | revenue from €120m to €190m (+58%) | market share Germany +54% | Austrian subsidiary built
CEO
2013–2015
360 staff | €90m revenue | highest order intake in the company's history (+35%) | service revenue +25%
Director Global Marketing, Managing Director Scandinavia
2005–2013
80 staff | 8 countries | market share doubled in under three years | 3 country organisations integrated | global marketing responsibility
Commercial Due Diligence
Technical assessment for the acquisition of a machine tool manufacturer on behalf of a Luxembourg PE fund (AuM €2.3bn)
Market and competitive analysis
Strategic assessment for a PE portfolio company in metal-cutting technology
External Advisor (ongoing)
Strategic support for an AI platform for market intelligence in manufacturing
Speaker
Industrial transformation and the role of AI in commercial decision-making.
Keynote Speaker
How AI is put to work in industrial sales — beyond pilot projects.
Alongside my mandates I publish regularly on the subjects that shape my work: market structure, sales transformation and the sensible use of AI in an industrial setting.
From the series „Destination Unknown“ by lab25, Münster — with Mario Martini and Nicolas Dillmann. In German.
Engineering skill and technical precision are no longer enough. What modern markets additionally demand — and why the task remains doable.
Adding a feature and analysing data is not yet digitalisation. On ecosystems, critical control points and the nerve to cut deeper.
My mandates come from decision-makers looking for operational responsibility for commercial results — not concepts.
Confidential and direct.