Recruiting a Strategic Country Sales Manager for market expansion

Kardex, one of the world's leading providers of warehouse automation solutions, approached us with a strategically critical assignment – to recruit a Country Sales Manager.

The key requirement was to hire an experienced sales leader responsible for developing Kardex's business in Poland, managing executive-level sales processes, and representing the brand in dealings with the country's largest industrial clients.

The project began with a diagnosis of the client's business and cultural challenges in the intralogistics sales environment, as well as an analysis of Kardex's specific strategy. Based on this, we created a multi-dimensional competency matrix built on eleven pillars, covering:

• leadership and management style,
• ability to conduct executive-level sales conversations,
• presenting technical solutions in terms of business value,
• alignment with the company's culture and ethics.

This framework enabled us to precisely design the recruitment process – defining who we were looking for, how to reach such candidates, and how to assess not only their hard qualifications but also their style of work and communication in complex decision-making environments.

At the same time, we developed a sourcing strategy that delivered over 1,600 potential candidates from various channels: direct search, our proprietary candidate database, job boards, and online campaigns.

After initial screening and interviews with 78 candidates, we conducted in-depth online meetings with 23 candidates, which included:

• assessment center elements,
• simulations of sales conversations and team conflict scenarios,
• sales funnel analysis,
• detailed evaluation of soft and technical skills.

From this pool, we selected three top candidates, each of whom had significant experience in project-based sales and demonstrated the ability to conduct value-driven sales processes.

Project Execution – Key Steps:

1. Recruitment strategy design – creating a competency matrix, defining the ideal candidate profile, and establishing evaluation criteria.
2. Candidate sourcing – identifying and engaging 1,611 candidates via direct search, sourcing campaigns, our database, industry networks, and ads.
3. Pre-screening – reviewing applications and shortlisting candidates.
4. Phone interviews – conducting short pre-selection interviews with 78 candidates.
5. In-depth online interviews – 23 candidates assessed through 60–90 minute interviews, including assessment center tasks, sales exercises, funnel analysis, and behavioral evaluation.
6. Additional deep-dive interviews – with the top 10 candidates to better understand motivation, work style, and business potential.
7. Final shortlist – three highly qualified candidates recommended to the client.
8. Client collaboration – jointly evaluating the strengths and potential of each finalist.
9. Decision-making support – organizing and participating in Kardex executive board meetings with the three finalists, followed by joint analysis and decision-making.