1. Challenge

Finding, recruiting and retaining the best sales talent for specific business values and cultures.

2. Solution

Develop an integrated approach to recruitment and training for sales executives to quickly and accurately identify the ‘best-fit’ candidates.

3. Outcome 

A faster onboarding time, positively effects sales confidence, improves sales pipeline and gives Dachser an overall competitive advantage.

Investing in outstanding sales talent and using a more integrated approach for recruiting, assessing and training sales candidates in SPIN® Selling has helped Dachser to retain the high performance standards they have achieved over the last three years.

The assessment helps Dachser uncover possible motivational drivers and demotivators, knowledge and SPIN® Selling skills gaps at the recruitment stage. This enables Dachser to quickly and effectively plug skill gaps during the SPIN® sales training and coaching efforts at the on-boarding stage. Candidates feel invested in and highly motivated – they become more receptive to the training which speeds up the sales behavioural change and improves sales results.

“The logistics industry is very competitive. Finding, attracting and recruiting the right sales talents is therefore a major challenge”.

Per T. Jensen
General Manager, Dachser Denmark A/S in Kolding.

“An effective sales assessment session, where I got the opportunity to learn about my own sales performance and reflect upon how I can develop myself. Very exciting and challenging assessment!”

Marie-Louise Spohr Olesen
Sales Executive, Dachser Denmark A/S in Hvidovre

The Huthwaite Sales Candidate assessment is built on over 45 years of rigorous behavioural research into what the very best sales people in the world do differently. The full process includes:

• Candidate interview using Huthwaite four causes matrix to assess attitude, motivation, safe learning environment, knowledge and skills
• candidate roleplay based on a real case scenario, scored using Huthwaite’s objective, measurable system in verbal behaviour analysis by a qualified assessor
• review roleplay with candidate creating a safe learning/coaching environment and a great opportunity to identify sales skill gaps where SPIN® training can help.

Key outcomes

Dachser managers have experienced the following results:

• On-boarding time is reduced from 6 to 3 months
• having the right sales candidates in place improves sales teamwork overall
• able to benchmark knowledge and skill competence
• diagnosing performance issues to identify skill gaps so that the most appropriate training and coaching is provided
• an independent and unbiased overview from a professional VBA (verbal behaviour analysis) consultant and sales coach.

“It’s fantastic to see how the assessment accurately reflects the real market experiences our candidates will encounter. We haven’t had any surprises after assessing the sales talent in this way and the new sales executives integrate into our organisation faster than ever before”.

Carl-Johan Westas
Branch Manager, Dachser Sweden AB in Gothenburg.

“Up until now, we typically experienced 6 months onboarding time before seeing any sales build up in pipeline and it would take up to 12 months for results in growth to be visable. Now, sales pipeline is building up in just 3 months and we see results in growth within 3-6 months.”

Peter Hut
General Manager, Dachser Denmark A/S in Hvidovre.

Dachser Nordic A/S and Huthwaite International

Dachser Nordic A/S has worked alongside Huthwaite for several years, embedding SPIN® Selling skills and ‘The Dachser Way of Selling’ as the shared high-performance standards for sales and services in the Nordic region.

“In a very competitive and price focused market, investment in a core sales training methodology is key to our business growth. For Dachser Nordic, truly understanding value selling produces more effective sales cycles, committed and loyal customers and a more positive, focused and motivated sales team”.

René Sidor
Managing Director, Dachser Nordic A/S.

About the Author

Written by Anders Hjort

As Regional Development Director and Behaviour Change Expert at Huthwaite International Anders leads multinational and global behaviour change projects as a behavioural expert, trainer and coach. With a strong track record in industries like IT, telecomms, manufacturing, engineering, healthcare and logistics he is instrumental in Huthwaite’s ongoing observational behavioural research projects, new instructional designs and digital learning innovations. Anders is a highly endorsed global expert with hundreds of personal recommendations on LinkedIn and is ranked amongst the top sales performance experts in the world.