Stefan
Consultant, Frankfurt Office
Education
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, Christ's College
B.A. in Economics, 2002
Activities at Cambridge: Member of the second Cambridge University Ice Hockey Team and Roller Hockey Team, Captain of Christ's College Basketball Team, President of Cambridge University Kung Fu Club, Foreign Students Rep at Christ's College Student Union
Memories of Cambridge: Being awarded the opportunity to study at Cambridge proved to be a real privilege. Starting from the excellent facilities to very dedicated teaching by renowned professors it is a marvelous environment to deepen one's interest in a subject. Also, through the wealth of social activities, I have been able to establish many friendships with quality individuals that have inspired my personal growth.
Hometown
Landshut, Bavaria, Germany
ZS Career Path
Business Analyst, 2003
Associate Consultant, 2005
Consultant, 2006
On the work
"On my first project in the pharmaceutical industry, a medium-sized business asked us to do an evaluation of their current sales force size and a subsequent realignment of their sales territories. As a new Business Analyst, my role had a strong focus on learning, but at the same time got me fully involved in project work. To begin with, I mostly helped with historical data analyses and tool building. As the project progressed, I was given more opportunities to show my value to the team. What made this project so interesting was that this company has had little exposure to sales force effectiveness before and our results were a real 'eye opener' for management and our work really made a difference as we were able to reshape the face of their sales force. In addition to that, after the three month period, I was extremely pleased to observe a drastic improvement in my technical skills as well as my knowledge about the customer and the markets.
"A large player in the pharmaceutical market wanted to evaluate their current retail sales force size, as well as their hospital business. What made this project particularly interesting was the strong interrelationship between the hospital and the retail sector as many patients were entrained on a drug in the hospital and then periodically followed up with their general practitioner after their release from hospital. The main challenge for our team was to design a process that took account of this interrelationship and also to customize our approach to include external targeting information. I was in charge of the design of the technical process and its results which presented an attractive task as standard ZS tools had to be adapted and complemented with new approaches of analysis. Despite the long lasting relationship with the client, we were able to make an impression, since our customized analysis met all requirements added a completely new element to a fairly familiar process."
On ZS values
Do the Right Thing: "After a sizing project, we discovered that the current sales territory alignment of a another business unit within the company had an alignment that was a sufficiently good fit for our business unit. Although the alignment project had already been sold, we advised the client to adapt the alignment of the other business unit and not realign. This resulted in a loss of business for ZS but at the same time proved the level of integrity that is vital to our work. As a result, ZS is fortunate enough to having established lasting partnerships in the industry."
On life outside work
"Apart from keeping fit, I enjoy going out with my girlfriend and plugging holes in my ice hockey trading card collection. Other than that, I often return to Munich to spend time with my family and our pets."
On the Frankfurt office
"Being from Munich, I certainly have a high level of expectations on a location. However, with a close look, Frankfurt is full of attractions: an international city with a rich offering of leisure activities, a very central location with good access to many German cities and international flights, an appealing landscape surrounding it (most notable the Rheingau and the Taunus), and several discrete neighborhoods with a different flair to each of them."