A $25M professional staffing organization with 4 branch offices is evaluating their sales strategy due to a decline in revenue and gross profit. The company is considering a national accounts strategy to accelerate top-line growth.
Charted Path conducted an assessment of the organization and determined that each branch did an excellent job servicing existing accounts and had a strong culture as well as solid alignment between sales and recruiting. However, each branch had an aging book of business and two branches were dangerously dependent on a single anchor account. The sales organization was not sufficiently focused on new business development and lacked national account experience while the recruiting organization had a relatively low submittal volume per recruiter.
Based on the assessment, we decided to focus on effective account penetration and new business development for both direct accounts as well as large staffing programs. We decided to forego the national account strategy, since supporting national accounts was outside the core capabilities for both sales and recruiting. By not expanding the sales strategy to include national accounts, the leadership team was able to focus on high-impact improvements with a relatively quick turnaround. Improvements needed to be made to all three drivers: Sales, Operations, and Culture.
A two-tiered approach was necessary for Sales. Management procedures for high potential growth accounts were developed. These objective-based plans ensured that the right sales activity was occurring, and critical knowledge of the account was being captured and leveraged effectively. In addition, processes were built around territory management and prospecting. A more hands-on approach from all levels of management raised the profile of business development as well as providing coaching and sales support.
At Charted Path, we recognize what truly makes an impact on your business, and focus on solving those issues.
Recruiting was retooled to improve the speed as well as the volume of qualified candidates produced. In addition, competency-based hiring and development programs for new sales personnel were developed. These programs ensured that not only the right people were hired, but they were given the relevant coaching based on their individual strengths and weaknesses.
The improvements to account penetration and business development required significant change efforts over a period of time. Charted Path provided detailed analytics and targeted management templates while coaching the management team through the implementation.
Charted Path worked closely with all levels of management to ensure that not only were the changes successfully rolled out, but that management had the tools and training necessary to lead the team more effectively. Over a twelve month period, monthly placement performance doubled while the production team grew by only 40%.
