Recruiting: 3 Paths To Hiring Your New Sales Manager
As you know, hiring the right sales manager for your winery is essential to building your brand in today’s market. Here are three paths to lead you to the best suited candidate.
- Retain a recruiting firm. This approach is perfect if you are busy, believe in leaving recruiting to the experts, and cost is not an issue.
Pros: For wineries who can afford to retain a recruiting firm, I wholeheartedly recommend this route. These firms keep current on best practices, maintain a large database, and can help you secure the right candidate in 2-3 months. I have had successful relationships with executives Chet Hutchison, Dawn Bardessono, and Amy Gardner.
Cons: Can be expensive, costing up to 30% of the new hire’s first year compensation.
- Do-It-Yourself (DIY) recruiting. The DIY approach (asking colleagues for referrals, promoting internally, posting on a job search website) is good if you have limited money and a strong network.
Pros: You are in control and the monetary cost is low.
Cons: Sample size, perspective, and time. Likely, your network will help identify a dozen or so candidates. It is hard to find the best candidate in this small of a pool. Plus, you must be wary of a conflict of interest, e.g., a distributor’s recommendation may be good for them and not as good for you. If you promote internally, expect 1 to 2 years before anyone without established buyer relationships to earn their trust. Also, while the monetary cost of DIY recruiting is low, you will spend more time finding that perfect candidate. We all know, time is money.
- Choose a happy medium. Palmateer Consulting offers a hybrid service between hiring a recruiting firm and DIY. This path is great if you want an experienced professional to help you secure the best suited candidate at a fraction of the cost of recruiting firms.
Pros:
- Palmateer Consulting is structured differently than a single-focused recruiting firm. This allows us to help wineries find the right new hire at a much lower cost.
- I have extensive recruiting experience and walks with clients hand-in-hand through each step of the 2-3 month process. Throughout my career, I have successfully recruited and hired hundreds of wine industry professionals. I have a strong network to tap into and maintain a list of possible candidates within the wine industry.
- Having worked for importers, wineries, and distributors, I use my unique perspective and strong network to help clients evaluate their sales needs and find the right fit candidates.
- As a third party, it is easier for Palmateer Consulting to maintain objectivity to find the right candidate to fit your company, your needs, and to help build brands in the market.
