Pryor Learning Solutions is a nationally recognized leader in the business training solutions industry with over 40 years of service and millions of satisfied customers.
In recent years, the company has shifted its business development strategy from selling to individuals to focusing on opportunities within large companies.
This strategic change has helped them increase their success and even double their revenue in the past 5 years.
However, as their company began to explore this new business channel and expand into new markets, they knew they needed to plan for growth and hire top sales reps that could make these strategic sales and build long-term relationships with clients.
PLANNING FOR NEW HIRES
In late 2016, Pryor began working on their sales recruiting and hiring plans for 2017. From their projections, they knew they had a lot of requirements to meet:
- Hire between 12 and 14 sales reps
- Build talent pool in 18 markets across the US
- Hire top B2B sales reps with strategic selling experience
- Use most cost effective recruiting methods
- All hires need to be made by March to attend sales training program
After determining their sales hiring needs and position requirements, they tasked Grace Clapper, a Senior Account Manager at Pryor, to lead their sales hiring efforts for the coming year.
With only two months to make 12-14 sales hires, it quickly became clear to Grace that she was going to need some assistance on this search
THE NEED FOR A RECRUITING PARTNER
In January 2017, Clapper began her search for a recruiting partner. She knew hiring a sales recruiting firm would help with her time crunch, and above all, help her find the best candidates possible.
“We didn’t post the job ourselves because filtering through a large number of unqualified resumes wouldn’t have been the best use of my time. Instead, I needed to rely on recruiters to initially qualify and vet the candidates for me and then I could review them using our own three step qualification process,” Clapper said.
In addition to needing help with the large volume of candidates, Clapper knew she needed help covering the large number of markets.
“We chose 18 markets across the US to hire 12-14 sales reps because we truly wanted to find the best talent out there. If some markets had lower quality candidates to choose from, then we could easily hire from the other markets,” explained Clapper.
“I needed to rely on recruiters to initially qualify and vet the candidates for me and then I could review them using our own 3 step qualification process.”
GRACE CLAPPER, PRYOR LEARNING SOLUTIONS
However, a tight deadline to hit a planned sales training made it nearly impossible for her to find the volume of candidates she needed on her own. When she began vetting sales recruiting firms, she knew she found her match after talking with Naviga Recruiting & Executive Search. Naviga was an excellent fit for this particular search because they had a national presence to cover all of the markets, were able to recruit for multiple positions at once, and their sales hiring expertise could help them quickly filter and select star sales candidates.
IMPACT OF PARTNERING WITH NAVIGA
Once the search was underway, Naviga was quickly able to meet, and even exceed Clapper’s expectations.
“Naviga immediately set up an initial discussion where I was able to describe what we needed in a sales candidate and why it was important to the job. This process was essential to laying the groundwork for the search and finding the right candidates,” said Clapper.
From there, Naviga maintained constant communication and worked with the candidates to move them through the process. They also made sure the candidates they submitted were top performers and were prepared for their interviews.
“When I asked Naviga’s candidates what they already knew about the job, they were able to say, ‘I know you’re looking for someone with these qualities, this is why I’m interested in the position, and this is why I think I would be a good fit.’ Now that’s a great place to start an interview,” described Clapper.
Another benefit of working with Naviga was that Pryor was able to stay within their budget. Clapper had worked with recruiting firms in the past that tried to negotiate higher salaries for candidates after an offer was made so they could make more money or would try to renegotiate the terms of the contract after the search began.
“It was nice to work with Naviga and get feedback on our compensation and have the contract terms nailed down in the beginning,” Clapper said. “I would rather have an upfront cost in a lot of ways than get something unexpected on the back end.”
Finally, the position required very professional, polished people who were experienced making complex sales and could understand a strategic sales model. Naviga was able to find highly qualified candidates for the position who had the right experience and qualifications to perform the job at a high level.
“It was nice to work with Naviga and get feedback on our compensation and have the contract terms nailed down in the beginning. I would rather have an upfront cost in a lot of ways than get something unexpected on the back end.”
GRACE CLAPPER, PRYOR LEARNING SOLUTIONS
OUTCOME OF USING NAVIGA
Pryor was able to accomplish their sales recruiting goals with the help of Naviga and ultimately hired 13 new sales reps. The sales reps were hired by the March deadline so they could complete their training and are currently working to make an impact for the company. Pryor’s long term sales hiring goals are to have a presence in the 30 largest cities in the US. They are well on their way to completing this goal and have partnered with Naviga again to assist them in their 2018 hiring blitz.
HOW NAVIGA CAN HELP YOU
If you’re planning to grow your sales or explore a new business channel, hiring multiple, experienced sales reps can help your company reach your desired goals. Partnering with a sales recruiting expert like Naviga is valuable in that it allows you access to top sales candidates and gives you the ability to hire multiple reps without having to do all the legwork on your own.
