case studies: retail sales
Our Challenge
A top-flight retail sales organization in the U.S. embarked upon an aggressive,
redefining growth initiative that called for them to hire and retain hundreds
of professional sales consultants in just a few strategic markets. Such an
unprecedented recruitment campaign demanded that our client partner with
a specialized third-party partner dedicated to, and experienced in, identification,
selection, interview process management and on-boarding. One major
objective of the client was to reduce turnover which was running in the 90%
range, thus allowing us the opportunity to create a customized solution which
aligned our process with the client’s definition of success.
Our Solution
For one full year, our team committed to place 250 sales consultants in three
major markets. Given the volume of candidates interviewing and the
number of new hires, we also had to assist in creating a cultural transformation
to allow for increased organizational efficiency in recruitment and on-boarding. The
client also needed assistance in identifying candidates who were a better
cultural fit so that, over time, their turnover would decrease.
Our solution included:
- Management responsibility for the recruitment process, partnering with senior leadership, hiring managers, and human resources to ensure maximum efficiency.
- Providing expertise in industry competitor knowledge, highlighting our client’s competitive edge over the value propositions of other players in these markets.
- Proven identification and recruitment strategies designed to locate and attract high caliber sales consultants.
- Implementing A.C.E. (our proprietary on-line candidate tracking software) to provide a real-time dashboard of the entire project which supported metrics and recruiting goals.
- Weekly results review meetings with clear objectives designed to discover issues, analyze root causes and identify solutions.
- Quarterly business review with key stakeholders to ensure results are on target.
The Results
Increased Revenue
Our team was able to help the client create an efficient recruitment and
on-boarding process, and delivered higher quality candidates, as evidenced
by their performance once on-board. As a result of our customized sourcing strategy, over
25% of the candidates placed met our client’s diversity requirements. By
placing candidates who were more committed to the position, our client’s turnover
reduced, thus increasing their overall sales results.
Interview-to-Hire Ratio
Due to our knowledge of the competitive landscape, weekly communication with
hiring managers and our seasoned team of recruiters, our team was able to
achieve a closing rate of 75%. This reduced the time hiring managers had
to spend in the recruitment cycle, and helped them hire a large number of
better qualified candidates.