Alternative Head of Sales to Clerk.io

Our collaboration with Clerk.io started in the beginning of 2018, where they need an Account Manager for their office in Copenhagen. This case, however, originates from another position, Clerk contacted us about in the beginning of May 2018. They needed a Head of Sales and until then they had not had success filling the position through their own network. Their HR-manager, Fernando, chose to ask us for a helping hand.
32 Days
5 Candidates interviewed
1 Head of Sales

Head of Sales for independent sales team

Clerk.io is a SaaS company who helps e-commerce businesses sell more on their respective webshops. They have clients all over Europe and the majority of the business is operated from Copenhagen.

Clerk.io’s sales team consists of independent employees, meaning the Head of Sales they were looking for primarily needed to be present to support, motivate and coach their employees.

Fernando told our Match Manager Anne that they had tried various personalities in the positions but they did not feel like they had hit the head on the nail yet. Leading up to this, they had success using Statum and therefore trusted us to find the right solution for the Head of Sales position in their rapidly growing company.

First candidate after five days

Anne instantly started contacting candidates in her network to hear, who they would recommend for such a position. After a couple of days she had gotten a fair share of recommendations whom she contacted and screened for the position. Because of the efficient inclusion of Statum’s network it took her just five days to get the first candidate ready for Clerk.io.

During the following two weeks we added a total of four potential candidates to Clerk.io’s profile on Statum. Fernando called all of them in for an interview and saw a potential in all of them. All four of them later proceeded to a second interview, this time with CEO and founder of Clerk.io, Hans-Kristian.

Unconventional solution

Even though four, very qualified, different candidates were supplied for Clerk.io, Anne was not sure she had given it 110%, as she prefers. She then chose to add a “joker” to the pool to challenge Clerk.io’s view on the position and the conventional full-time hire.

She contacted a sales coach who also were in touch with Statum from time to time and pitched him the position. He was very interested in solving the problem and had a different approac to – he wanted to solve it on a consultancy basis. Anne informed Fernando that we had a joker who had an unconventional approach to the solution.

Fernando was very open to explore it and booked the interview. The same interview exceeded expectations and our joker was quickly called in for another one with Hans-Kristian, who also happened to agree that the alternative solution was the right fit for Clerk.io.

The right fit in just five weeks

After a mere five weeks we had solved Clerk.io’s need and they signed off with what began as a joker. Without going into the specifics, they agreed that the sales coach should meet on a scheduled basis and primarily focus on motivating, developing and coaching their sales team.

The moral of the story is: The obvious solution is not necessarily the best one. We are very pleased that we were able to help Clerk.io find the right solution for their specific situation and look forward to follow their cooperation with our joker.