The client’s challenge

After our client was acquired by a larger company, and the majority of their sales team was exited from the business, the management team were looking to recruit new Business Development Managers to rebuild the sales team.

The client’s previous sales team faced challenges with team culture and did not consistently achieve results in line with company and market expectations. Therefore, the organisation was looking to hire multiple Business Development Managers who would spark new energy into their sales funnel, driving results and revenue, whilst also aligning with the merged culture that the senior leadership team were striving to achieve.

Actions taken by VIQU Energy

We started working closely with the company’s newly appointed Sales Director to understand their key workforce gaps, the internal culture they were looking to encourage, and the success criteria for the future Business Development Manager hires.

As part of our recruitment support, our Account Manager was present on-site weekly with this client to understand the direction of the business and to assist with hiring plans. By being immersed in the company’s culture and spending a significant amount of time understanding the organisation’s requirements and meeting with key stakeholders, we were able to effectively identify individuals who would align well with the new company’s direction.

When we began sourcing candidates for these roles, we took an honest approach by being upfront with all prospective hires about the business, the acquisition, the underperformance of the previous team, and the expected direction of the new team. We knew this was important to discuss openly, so that all candidates were fully aware of the role’s demands before they started, to reduce the risk of high employee turnover.

In collaboration with the Sales Director, we adopted a phased hiring approach, recruiting Business Development Managers one by one so that each new employee would complement the skills of the existing, growing team. For example, we initially focused on more extroverted, sales-driven individuals, followed by candidates with stronger analytical and detail-oriented skill sets.

Additionally, we closely managed the recruitment process and carried out all first-stage interviews in order to take pressure off the Sales Director, the wider management, and the internal HR team. This allowed us to identify individuals who possessed the right soft skills and personality traits the team needed, before the organisation assessed them for their technical and hard skills.

The outcomes

Due to our close management of the recruitment process, we were able to streamline the recruitment process and improve their time-to-hire by 68%, ensuring that they were able to fill the roles needed in their sales team as soon as possible.

We successfully hired 100% of the required roles, which accounted for 75% of their entire sales team, enabling the department to rebuild its structure and culture.