Recruiting Senior Sales Talent…a very different approach !

For corporate executives, hiring recruiters to source Senior Sales Management talent always feels like the proverbial “pounding round pegs into square holes”.  The process is disheartening, it takes too long and the results are too frequently fair to poor.   

The stats say it all: 
     The average life of a head of sales is 2.5 years!  Ridiculous!

After spending years watching expensive, failed, search efforts for senior sales-leaders, Derby Management decided to architect a completely new approach for recruiting.  The results have been dramatic in hiring candidates who stay and grow with the organization well beyond the current 24- 36 month average tenure for newly hired sales managers in most industries.

  • Shorter search times given our expertise as CEOs and VPs of Sales
  • Lower-cost of acquisition model using our unique financial incentives
  • Quality candidates due to tighter position profiles and assessments which lead to…
    • shorter sales cycles and faster close rates
    • higher ASPs 
    • significantly more accurate forecasts
In addition to being far less expensive and much more successful, we wrap every recruiting assignment around a suite of services that includes the following:

  • Position Profile:  With you, we prepare a detailed Position Profile that provides exactly what the sales executive must bring to the company in order to be successful.  This principal hiring document is not a typical vanilla job description for a head of sales. It is a customized, detailed profile defining the specific skills that are needed, the experience that is required, and the personality attributes that will specifically match the culture of your company to the candidate.
  • Assessment:  Using this Position Profile, we partner with you not only to ensure that the candidates meet the most critical components, but additionally design customized assessment criteria for skills and attributes that dramatically improve the success rate of the selection process.  We have learned that too often people are hired based on their experience and then fired based on missing culture and personality attributes that did not translate to your company’s values.
  • Compensation Plans:  Working closely with you, we design a realistic, understandable, and attractive compensation plan that includes base salary, bonuses and a variety of variable components.  In this process, we ensure that the compensation metrics fit perfectly with the company’s objectives to drive internal results and add customer value.
  • Negotiation:  Taking direction from you, we will provide whatever level of compensation negotiation and involvement you need.  Our focus is the same as yours, and that is to ensure that the newly hired sales executive begins this position with a winning, positive relationship fitting smoothly into the culture and rhythm of your company. 
  • New Hire Success:  We architect a detailed onboarding process with weekly and monthly metrics, check-ins and periodic reviews.  This commits the company to investing time in training with specific individuals and the new sales executive knows what they are responsible to master each week.
  • Sales Process and Tools: Everyone in a high-growth company must sell, not just the salespeople and sales management.  If the new hire is to succeed, that person must fully understand and actually live the value principles of customer focus and culture. This includes your sales process and the related embedded tools that define the most efficient method of selling, while also delivering the highest value to your customer. If any components of your current sales process are missing, we can extend the recruiting assignment to work with the newly hired sales leader to develop a highly efficient and customer-focused process specifically customized to your business. 

-We're experts in recruiting sales managers since we've held that job!
-We've held the titles of VP, President and CEO for varieties of companies!
-We've sold on the street, on the phones and using virtual tools! 

Intrigued?  Contact me to learn more.

George Simmons, Senior Partner, Derby Management
508-789-7246 or george@derbymanagement.com