Challenge: Recruiting an Executive to Grow a Consulting Practice in an Economic
Downturn.
Situation
A new client, a Fortune 1000 Global Systems
Integrator, was seeking to move up the value chain, transforming the focus of
their Manufacturing consulting business from technology infrastructure to Supply
Chain business solutions. They needed to develop and execute a go-to-market
strategy, selling to business rather than technology executives. They also
needed to integrate the U.S. consulting practice with an overseas based global
practice.
To accomplish this,
they retained us to help them hire a Partner-Level Marketing Director.
What
We Did
Sourcing appropriate candidates for this role was
difficult, even though this search was conducted in 2002, during a period of
turmoil in the consulting industry.
Because of the
downturn in enterprise software sales, a consultancy could no longer grow simply
by implementing ERP or CRM software suites. They now required a rigorous
marketing skill set, which few consulting partners have. Most
technology-consulting partners lacked sophisticated experience in merging
multi-national business divisions.
We analyzed the
critical success factors for the role and determined that Management Consultants
with Operational/ M&A Strategy experience had the business skillets necessary
for our client's needs, and that a subset of those had implemented large ERP
systems for Fortune 100 corporations. We recruited several candidates with that
background.
Over a period of
weeks, we explored with several of the candidates how this role could utilize
and enhance their skills, and present a growth opportunity even in the difficult
consulting market.
Results
The client hired one of the candidates, a
senior executive at a Big Five Consultancy, who wanted to move into
technology space.
