Finding the Right Sales Director for a Construction Leader

The Company

Operating in the UK for over 20 years, Collingwood’s client had recently amalgamated several other businesses within the same industry to create a larger group, all specialising in similar and complementary products.

The UK business was acquired by the leading, £100m+ group in Europe in 2022. The ambition is to double the size of this group within five years, through additional acquisitions and organic growth.

The Role

Prior to engaging with Collingwood, three months previously the UK Managing Director had led a restructuring of the sales team and as a result was looking to bring in their first genuine Sales Director.

In part due to the coming together of these five UK entities, and due to the parent company’s ambitions to grow, they needed a sales leader who could firstly identify the strengths and weaknesses of the 19-person strong sales team, whilst devising and executing a sales strategy.

Equally, with a lack of succession planning throughout the UK structure, it was important to this Managing Director that the preferred suitor had the motivation to potentially succeed him.

The Business Challenge

Much like the previous Head of Operations assignment, and fully appreciated by the Managing Director, due to the current size of the UK operation, budget would restrict the company to looking outside of larger manufacturers Sales Directors.

Initially, the Managing Director was keen to bring in a sales leader from the same product background. However, when considering their head office location, Collingwood was able to provide data relating to the lack of regional talent.

We discussed other building products sold into the same routes – local authority, schools, universities and public transport. This dramatically opened up the talent pool.

The Result

In summary, the following process took place:

This was a fulfilling assignment to work on with the client. The Managing Director was extremely easy to work with: he took our advice on board when the brief was set, and again when barriers came up during the headhunt.

The four interviewed by the client demonstrated a full array of levels of experience; from a Sales Manager who managed a variety of teams, feeding different routes, who reported into a Group Sales Director for a parent business, to readymade Sales Directors of smaller manufacturers.

Ultimately, the Managing Director and CEO of the parent company plumped for the former. Although a manager in title, it was evident to all that he essentially operated as a full-blown Sales Director. Not only did he come in within budget, but, when assessed by all, it was clear that he had the bandwidth to grow into the role and futureproof the organisation moving forward.

Testimonial from the Managing Director

“Having picked up on a speculative LinkedIn post from Collingwood several years ago, I was impressed by the quality of the thought leadership pieces that were put together.

With Collingwood in my regular feed, they immediately were the go-to people to discuss a recruitment project that had presented itself within our organisation for a Head of Operations. I arranged to meet with Mark and we discussed the brief and role at length and in great detail. I immediately warmed to Mark as an individual and was encouraged by his ability to diligently listen and take away the salient points of both our business, the role and our ambition. Trying to understand someone else’s business (who know if intimately) from a standing start and in a short space of time requires a special quality.

From our initial meeting, Collingwood fully understood the assignment, managed our expectations in terms of timings and kept us fully updated at all stages throughout the process. The upfront work in terms of candidate selection and due diligence is really what separates Collingwood in an often-congested market. The online shared platform really assisted myself with the process and made communication so much more efficient.

Following a comprehensive search of the market, the standard of applicants put forward were all of high calibre, making the selection process both challenging and diverse, but in a very positive way as separating the candidates was tough. I am delighted to confirm that the chosen applicant is flourishing and adding real value to the business.

It was clear that when a vacancy for the Group Sales Director role became live, I had no hesitation in picking up the phone to Mark and commissioning the brief to Collingwood. I am pleased to confirm that the same exacting standards were applied, and the process was equally as successful.

In summary, I would have no hesitation in recommending Mark and the Collingwood team for any Executive Research requirements and I can vouch for their professionalism, integrity & importantly humility, they are just normal people providing an excellent service.”

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