The challenge
Cbeyond has always been committed to promoting their people from within. Consequently, as they opened up new markets, Sales Directors were relocated and promoted to start up these branches. Although many of these Sales Directors became very successful Branch Vice Presidents/General Managers, Cbeyond did face some challenges. Some of their markets experienced very low productivity, as well as a lack of the strong leadership needed to manage the many issues that arise on a daily basis. As a result, they determined it was time to look outside the company for successful management executives for two specific struggling markets.
The project criteria was to find VP/GM’s within each market that would understand the nuances of the business landscape and successfully fit into Cbeyond’s unique very high activity sales model.
Additionally, Cbeyond was introducing a new sales profile in the field. The company was interested in recruiting more industry experienced sales/sales management professionals who had more knowledge of data applications and could successfully carry a higher sales quota.
TEG was chosen as the vendor of choice for this project because of our expertise in executive placements within Communication Services companies.
Additionally, Cbeyond requested assistance in adding more Senior Sales and Sales Management openings in multiple cities. TEG was able to assign a Mid-Market Communications Recruitment Specialist, Jerry Huinker, to staff their most immediate needs in Sales and Sales Management positions
The highlights
The TEG search team visited Cbeyond’s Atlanta branch and corporate offices to gain a full understanding of the culture of the company and the company expectations. A kick off meeting was held with the TEG search team and the executives at Cbeyond to review desired experience and qualifications of candidates.
A weekly conference call was scheduled to review the status of the search process. This conference call was accompanied by a detailed spreadsheet of all candidates contacted and the interview results. Both VP/GM positions were filled within 45 to 60 days from start of project. Additionally, several sales and sales management positions were filled with candidates from the industry that met the new profile requirements.
Through TEG’s 90 day executive on-boarding process, we have received feedback from both VP/GM candidates and the hiring Regional VP’s that expectations have been met and the candidates are well positioned for success.
The impact
On this project, TEG was able to meet Cbeyond’s need to bring two highly qualified experienced VP/GM leaders into the company to turn around two poor performing branches.
Additionally, TEG was able to staff important sales/sales management candidates in a variety of cities to insure corporate revenue objectives remained on target. As a result of this success, TEG was been immediately asked to take on additional search work in several new markets across the county.
