AVERY DENNISON · AD CIRCULAR · FRANCE

Taking AD Circular to #1 through indirect sales leadership

At Avery Dennison, I was the sole person responsible for AD Circular in France, a program helping converters and brands recycle used paper and film label liners. I owned commercial development for the French market and built the field motion around the service.

Operating without direct reporting authority, I equipped and mobilized Avery Dennison’s existing label-sales teams to identify suitable customers, introduce the recycling program within established account relationships and bring me into relevant opportunities. France ranked #1 for AD Circular sales performance across 12 countries.

European Graduate Program · French Sales Manager for AD Circular · Avery Dennison · October 2021–September 2023

At a glance

#1

Sales-performance ranking for AD Circular

12

Countries in the comparison

France

Only commercial owner for the market

Field-led

Growth through existing account teams

CONTEXT AND ROLE

Building a new service motion inside an established sales organization

Market problem

Label liners are necessary during label application but become waste once the label is used. Avery Dennison reported that Europe consumed approximately 470 kilotons of label liners in 2019 and that just over one third were recycled.

AD Circular offered converters and brands an alternative to landfill or incineration: a web-enabled program coordinating collection, transport, recycling and sustainability certification.

My commercial role

AD Circular was adjacent to Avery Dennison’s core label-material business. Account salespeople already owned the customer relationships, but the recycling program was not the principal product they sold.

As the sole person responsible for AD Circular in France, I owned commercial development, field activation and opportunity support. My challenge was to help existing sellers recognize relevant opportunities, explain the customer value and involve me at the right moment—without formal reporting authority.

PROGRAM VALUE

Turning label liner waste into a practical customer proposition

01

Easy to activate

Customers could register through a web application, collect their used liners and request pickup when ready.

02

Operationally complete

The program coordinated pickup, transport, recycling, regulatory paperwork and compliance through Avery Dennison and its recycling partners.

03

Commercially credible

Avery Dennison positioned the service as comparable in cost to existing waste-disposal services and able to accept liners regardless of their manufacturer.

04

Measurable sustainability

Customers received analytics and certificates covering recycled liner volumes and the resulting avoided CO₂ emissions.

Program context

470 kt

Label liners consumed in Europe in 2019

>1/3

Share recycled at the time

2.28 kg

CO₂ that could be avoided per kilogram recycled

12

Active country programs (January 2023)

Sources: Avery Dennison’s 2021 AD Circular launch announcement and January 2023 French program leaflet.

OPERATING MODEL

Influence the field, then support the opportunity

01

Existing relationship

An Avery Dennison account salesperson already managed the customer’s label-material relationship.

02

Opportunity signal

The seller identified relevant liner volume, sustainability objectives, disposal friction or a recycling need.

03

Program introduction

The seller introduced AD Circular using the field narrative, discovery questions and supporting materials.

04

Specialist involvement

As the French program owner, I joined the opportunity to qualify fit, address questions and shape the next steps.

05

Customer activation

The customer confirmed operational requirements and moved toward registration, collection and recycling.

APPROACH

Creating a repeatable field-activation system

01

Prioritize the right accounts

Focused the field on customers whose liner volumes, sustainability priorities and operating model made AD Circular relevant.

02

Equip existing sellers

Translated the program into a concise customer proposition, discovery questions, qualification criteria, objection responses and a clear internal referral path, customized by region.

03

Co-sell the program

Used sellers’ established customer relationships while providing specialist support for program explanation, commercial discussions and opportunity progression.

04

Build repeatability

Captured recurring questions, operational barriers and effective messages so that the field motion became easier to reuse across accounts.

FIELD ENABLEMENT

What a scalable country program required

Targeting and qualification

Account-selection criteria, opportunity signals and discovery questions to identify companies with meaningful liner volumes and relevant sustainability objectives.

Seller enablement

Internal training, a customer proposition, discovery prompts, objection handling and a clear process for involving the French program owner.

Opportunity progression

Customer workflow, commercial follow-up, operational requirements and feedback to help move suitable opportunities toward program activation.

EVIDENCE

How field activation translated into performance

COMMERCIAL RESULT

#1 across 12 countries

Ranked #1 for AD Circular sales performance among 12 countries as French Sales Manager.

FIELD ACTIVATION

20+ account sellers activated

Trained and engaged 20+ account sellers who introduced AD Circular within their customer relationships.

CUSTOMER ADOPTION

2× customer enrollment

Doubled the number of customers enrolled in AD Circular within one year as French Sales Manager.

CAPABILITIES

What this work demonstrates

01 · Commercial program ownership

02 · Indirect sales leadership

03 · Field activation

04 · Sales enablement

05 · Customer value proposition

06 · Opportunity development

07 · Circular-economy GTM

08 · Cross-functional influence

DISCUSS THE WORK

Interested in how I activate sales teams around new solutions?

I’m happy to discuss the field strategy, commercial choices and lessons behind the program.