Transform the Salesforce — Thornbury's Digital Mandate

A four-round, advanced commercial-transformation simulation set inside Thornbury Industrial Supplies Ltd., a £148M UK B2B distributor of MRO products in Coventry. Its commercial engine is a 95-rep field sales force on a paper-and-spreadsheet pipeline, with a website that takes just 11% of orders. On 6 March 2026 the three largest accounts (£19M, 13% of revenue) issue a joint digital-procurement mandate: from 1 October 2026 they will only buy from suppliers offering punch-out catalogues, real-time stock/ETA, self-service reordering and API e-procurement integration — none of which Thornbury can do today. With another ~£22M of mid-market accounts watching, ~28% of revenue is exposed. The board approves a £4.5M, 18-month transformation budget, but full scope across all four levers costs ~£7.8M (1.7× budget), so sequencing under a binding constraint is the whole game. Playing the new Commercial Director, you (1) DIAGNOSE the operating model — read where value is created vs where cost-to-serve is highest, segment accounts by digital-readiness and strategic value, and name the most exposed segments; (2) PLAN the 18-month roadmap, allocating the £4.5M across commerce platform/e-procurement, CRM & analytics, rep reskilling & change, and inside-sales/digital channel — the mandate forces platform-first, but skipping reskilling strands the technology; (3) DECIDE the coverage model, the reskilling plan, the redesigned commission, and a channel-conflict governance rule under a facilitator-played rep council; and (4) RECOVER & PROVE ROI to the CFO with revenue retained, cost-to-serve change and payback on the £4.5M. The math rewards platform-first with funded reskilling, value-based coverage (keep complex accounts field-led), channel-neutral commission, and pricing governance — and punishes the five classic errors: technology-first/people-later (£2.4M platform nobody uses), digitising the strategic accounts that most need a human, leaving a commission plan that pays reps to keep reorders off the portal, opening a marketplace without pricing governance, and reporting activity instead of value. Final KPIs track Retained Revenue (£M), Digital Adoption %, Rep Capability, and Channel-Conflict & Margin Risk.