How Do You Achieve the Perfect Sales Climate?

Energy management system innovator Pelican Wireless Systems discusses the formula for success

Can climate and temperature be life-changing to your work day? If you ask the nationwide customers of Pelican Wireless Systems, yes. And that’s the response you would expect as Pelican sets the highest bar for design, innovation, and service for its energy management systems (EMS) products. Powered by scalable and secure wireless technology, Pelican EMS products put customers fully in control of their workplace climate and energy usage.

As Mark Willens of the business development team explains, “We are literally changing lives through climate control, enabling people to be comfortable in their work environment. Customers call us and are amazed at the results as they had never thought about climate and its impact inside offices and facilities. It’s very satisfying to see the results of your work having a real impact on lives.”

Mark joined Pelican Wireless Systems nine years ago, and says, “We are really an engineering company that is taking commercial climate management to another level with technologies that add advanced logic, new capabilities, and better information and control for clients at a fraction of the cost of traditional companies.”

Teams with Peak to find unique talent for key territories

Two years ago, Mark turned to Peak Sales Recruiting with a goal of growing Pelican’s direct involvement in its Midwest, Southeast, and Southern California territories by adding business development talent.

As Mark explains, Pelican is focused on managing growth and the bottom line carefully. “As a private company, we need to be smart about how we spend our money and grow at a rate that keeps us profitable. At the same time, our culture is very empowering here. We have open communication throughout the company and move forward and get things done without office politics getting in the way,” says Mark.

Serving every type of commercial market across the U.S., major corporations across America use Pelican EMS products to control their climates every day. Offering the first true wireless zone control solution for these markets, Pelican’s advanced analytics, intuitive scheduling, simple design, and anywhere mobile access are just a few features that put its customers firmly in control of their company’s climate and even the way energy is consumed.

“We weren’t looking for traditional sales people roles or customer relationship people. We needed specific skills with the ability to think on both a business and a sales level and be just as involved in the strategy behind how the company moves into territories as how we sell and generate demand,” he says. “It’s a challenging candidate profile and on top of this, there are technical aspects about the products and our markets that candidates need to come up to speed on.”

Three reasons for choosing Peak

Mark chose to work with Peak for three key reasons — proven process, enthusiasm, and commitment to understanding Pelican’s business.

“Number one, when I first spoke to the Peak team, they discussed their hiring recruitment process with me in detail. I was immediately interested. Peak’s services go beyond recruitment, they are not just recruiters, they want you to have a better hiring process,” he shares. “The Peak team also took a genuine interest in our business. They wanted to thoroughly understand the complexities of our market and were focused on taking the right steps to find the best fit.”

Known for its structured talent acquisition process, Peak relies on an approach with a 4-step sales recruiting methodology that determines corporate objectives, identifies the profile of an ideal candidate, uses targeted headhunting to find the top candidates, and adds scientific assessment.

“I have worked with multiple recruiters and can tell you that Peak’s hiring process ensures the fit is right and saves me considerable time, Mark adds.

Peak’s enthusiasm was the second factor. “I actually talked to the owner of Peak Sales Recruiting and realized this was coming from the top down and it was similar to the empowerment and motivation we foster at Pelican. Peak’s owner was excited about our unique hiring needs and the challenge. There was no hesitation about the goal, just confidence.”

And last on Mark’s list, Peak was committed to do the work required. Mark says, “Peak was willing to dig into what we do and why we do it, and learn about our culture. The team explained exactly how they will tap into this and bring me people that align and fit with our culture. That was a dramatic difference in contrast to the past recruitment firms I have worked with.”

One hire leads to three

Training and shaping a sales hire to adapt to a new selling environment and achieve results quarter after quarter is the ultimate challenge. Yet Pelican and Peak make it look easy — today, three hires were made by Peak and each team member is contributing at a high level at Pelican.

Also important for Mark, the hires were very positive about their experience working with Peak. “Peak was able to articulate our vision to these candidates and the uniqueness about our company and the advantages of working here,” he says.

After hiring Daniel Diaz in early 2017, Mark worked with Peak again in the last quarter of 2017 and Colleen Nolan joined the Pelican team. The third and newest hire, Jamie Gorbenko, joined Pelican in late 2018.

Pelican’s approach isn’t focused on growth in numbers and setting and meeting quotas. Instead the team looks at factors like how they can generate demand and how this contributes to business growth. “These team members have enabled us to enter and succeed in our U.S. markets and far outdo what has been done. They all bring unique and compelling skills and that’s what our company looks for — positive, diverse views and ways of doing things. Every team member has continually exceeded its goals in their territories — all have been great additions to our company,” Mark adds.

“When it comes time to recruit new business development team members, there is never a discussion about who we will partner with. We continually turn to Peak and they have always done a great job of finding the candidates we should be talking to,” he explains. “At Pelican, when we hire new team members, we have very specific criteria and standards and expect a lot from our recruiting partner. That’s why we continue to work with Peak.”

Are you ready to take your talent acquisition to the next level? Learn more about Peak’s services or contact us today to recruit top sales talent.

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