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Eliot Burdett

Latest posts by Eliot Burdett (see all)

• 31 Must-Know Sales Follow-Up Statistics for 2024 Success – December 21, 2023
• 7 Success Characteristics That Define Top Performers – December 19, 2023
• 5 Reasons Your Top Employees Quit (Stop Doing This to Stop Them Leaving) – December 14, 2023

Remote Company Culture

with Kelly Ruddick

Meet Kelly Ruddick, Chief Spirit Officer at Peak Sales Recruiting

00:00 Intro

• Meet Kelly Ruddick, Chief Spirit Officer at Peak Sales Recruiting. Her role is to keep people connected.

00:10 Remote Company Culture

• Given title Chief Spirit Officer. Any company that adopts this role to specifically keep their people connected are ahead of the rest because they are focussing on their people
• So many aspects to keeping people connect, especially for remote work
• We want new hires to feel connected
• It’s about the personal touch when onboarding and making an effort to get to know them and have them feel welcome and part of the team.

00:54 Onboarding Process

• The CSO is one of the first touchpoint after getting hired
• Main point of contact, helping direct
• We have a questionnaire so we can get to know new hires a bit better. What they like, what their personality might be…
• It’s the little details that make people feel welcomed and valued.

1:48 Onboarding Tools

• Receive onboarding kit (laptop, headset, extra monitor, some books, and a little treat, welcome basket, company swag.

2:08 We Like to Celebrate!

• We like to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. Friendship Festivities as our Holiday Party. This year we went remote. We pulled off a wonderful virtual party – rave reviews!

2:44 Hashtag Days!

• We try not to overwhelm anybody as well. We don’t want TOO much. It’s a matter of finding balance.
• When you can have your staff connecting socially outside of work, that’s where the bonds and future friendships are built
• The way we’ve managed to do that is by hosting virtual escape rooms, #ThirstyThursdays, #WorkoutWednesdays…
• We will be hosting a lunch n’ learn series called “How to Win at Life” where we will bring in speakers from the Finance industry who can show us how to invest properly, to a mindfulness coach who can show us how to meditate and manage stresses.
• Anytime we can provide value to an employee’s life, they will in turn bring their best selves to work! That’s all anybody could ever ask for. If you have a full team of people bringing in their best selves to work every day…you are winning #WINNING

3:55 Companies Should Adopt This Role

• So many companies don’t have any of this at all.
• We’re already ahead of the game. We have someone looking out for Peak’s People!

4:12 Pointer

• “Give everybody the tools that they need to even get through the pandemic!”

Reach out to the Peak Sales Team for your hiring needs: www.peaksalesrecruiting.com

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• About
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Eliot Burdett

Latest posts by Eliot Burdett (see all)

• 31 Must-Know Sales Follow-Up Statistics for 2024 Success – December 21, 2023
• 7 Success Characteristics That Define Top Performers – December 19, 2023
• 5 Reasons Your Top Employees Quit (Stop Doing This to Stop Them Leaving) – December 14, 2023

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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• About
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Ryan Thornton

Latest posts by Ryan Thornton (see all)

• 3 Ways Your Employees Will Sabotage Hitting Year End Targets – December 27, 2023
• 7 Ways to Hit Your Year End Target With Ease – December 20, 2023
• How to Handle Counter Offers — and Win Top Talent – December 18, 2023

For Rivial Security, the secret is the right recruiting partner

Randy Lindberg started Rivial Security in 2008 with a focus on helping banks and credit unions comply with annual IT and security audits. Today, the Cheney, Washington-based company in Spokane County is one of the only providers to offer complete security programs that include the tools and technologies to monitor, assess, advise, and improve the security of financial services operations.

“We are unique in the financial services market sector because we offer the industry’s first continuous compliance and risk management solutions. Rather than engaging with customers at one point in time because the industry requires it, we work with clients throughout the year monitoring their network and advising on the best security practices,” Randy explains.

As Randy explains, his team’s proactive approach takes the pain out of annual audits and reduces anxiety. “We are providing peace of mind by helping clients understand the risks to their networks and actions they can take to avoid stressful surprises when it’s audit time.”

In the competitive cybersecurity market, this strategy has paid off for Rivial Security with customer referrals and steady growth.

Wanted: Sales pro with security and tech background

Wearing multiple hats since the company’s inception, Randy had been handling aspects of the sales function by himself. He says, “I didn’t realize we were lacking a sales leader but without a sales background, I was unaware of how the function could be structured and elevated. One of our business partners suggested it may be time to hire a sales VP. I remember thinking this may be too senior a role at our stage, but I agreed it was time to evaluate the talent market.”

The business partner also suggested hiring Peak Sales Recruiting. “We were referred to Peak with glowing reviews and after the first meeting, we understood why,” says Randy.

After evaluating Rivial Security’s business needs, operating structure, and culture, the Peak team recommended an individual contributor for the sales role. Shares Randy, “In contrast to hiring a Sales VP, Peak recommended finding a candidate who was experienced in security software sales who could hit the ground running, generate sales, and quickly move into a senior leadership role. I liked this approach.”

Adds Randy, “The Peak process is built to make sure the right person gets hired. From day one, it was clear that Peak brought not only expertise in B2B tech sales recruiting, but also in-depth knowledge of all aspects of the sales function.”

For Randy, the counsel and education offered by Peak were invaluable.  “Working with Peak’s client manager, I not only learned fundamentals about the sales function but also a better understanding of the recruiting process for software technology sales and how to evaluate the right sales professional. All of this helped me better understand how to elevate our sales structure and find the best fit.”

Security software sales pro joins the team

After working with Randy to identify candidates, Peak began screening and evaluating candidates through its 4-step sales recruiting methodology – a process that includes behavior-based interviews and role playing, psychometric profiling, and benchmarking.

After unanimous agreement, Robb Nielsen was hired as senior account executive.  According to Randy, Robb proved to be an ideal personality and cultural fit. He brought a solid background in cybersecurity and experience selling IT risk management services for a competitive provider and was also looking for more challenge and a growth path to senior sales management.

“The decision to hire Robb was never a question in my mind,” shares Randy. “I felt like I have known Robb for five years. He brings confidence and experience to the role and we trust him without hesitation. He makes everyone feel very comfortable, including clients and prospects.”

What’s in store for Rivial Security this year?

With Rivial Security’s 6-12 month sales lead time, Robb is putting the right pieces of the process in place. He is building a sales pipeline, recrafting the CRM and Hubspot systems, and managing account executive and VP level responsibilities.

As Randy shares, Robb is doing all the right things. “This has been a perfect fit for the organization and a milestone in terms of taking the next step in our company’s development. We have the elements in place now for a repeatable and measurable sales process and by next year, we will double revenues and size of our operations. You could say we were shooting for the moon and we hit the stars.”

Will Randy work with Peak again to support his projected growth?  “Absolutely,” says Randy.

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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• About
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Eliot Burdett

Latest posts by Eliot Burdett (see all)

• 31 Must-Know Sales Follow-Up Statistics for 2024 Success – December 21, 2023
• 7 Success Characteristics That Define Top Performers – December 19, 2023
• 5 Reasons Your Top Employees Quit (Stop Doing This to Stop Them Leaving) – December 14, 2023

Keytree Partners with Peak to Strengthen SAP Toronto Partnership & Drive Sales

For award-winning SAP consultancy firm Keytree, successfully implementing market-leading SAP solutions doesn’t always happen overnight. Sales cycles can be long with the work required to help enterprises simplify and transform complex business processes. It also demands strategy, innovation, and expert client and project management. Yet Keytree, renowned for its SAP innovation, makes the process look easy. 

With headquarters in London and offices in Australia, Spain, Wales, and India, Keytree is the largest independently-owned SAP partner in the UK. Its team of SAP experts around the globe has driven business and digital transformation across a range of SAP solutions for clients that include BP, Barclaycard, Jaguar Land Rover, Heineken, and more.

As Keytree’s Operations Director Carl Walsh explains, the company is now setting its sights on North America to expand its SAP partnerships and drive new business.

“Our immediate focus is maximizing our presence in Canada.” Carl explains. “We see a lot of potential working with SAP Toronto to identify new business and expand our reach across the SAP product stack through successful implementation projects. Our challenge is we don’t have the established SAP relationships in Canada that we have in other parts of EMEA and APAC. We need an experienced SAP sales professional on the ground in Toronto where conversations about new SAP software and re-licensing are happening.”

Partners with Peak to build SAP network in Canada

Without a track record recruiting in Canada, Keytree partnered with Peak Sales Recruiting to hire a Toronto-based sales leader for Keytree’s North America operations.  Says Carl, “We needed a sales leader who not only understands the complexities of the SAP selling environment but can showcase our capabilities across the SAP product stack and drive business in new markets.”

Peak Sales Recruiting got started right away, meeting with the Keytree team to understand the selling environment and the criteria for a successful candidate. To identify top sales leaders, Peak began screening and evaluating candidates through its 4-step sales recruiting methodology – a process that includes behavior-based interviews and role playing, psychometric profiling, and benchmarking.

 In just a few weeks, Carl had top candidates to choose from. “The speed and quality of Peak’s process were very good. Deadlines were always met,” says Carl. “I wasn’t sure if I had provided the right information to the team and in the right way, but I soon realized, Peak understood and delivered exactly what we needed.”

“The key success working with Peak was the team’s fast delivery of thoroughly screened, excellent candidates – each of the top three candidates could have exceled at the job. We had some difficult choices to make,” Carl adds.

After reviewing and discussing Peak’s analysis and evaluating all candidates, Nadim Shamoun was hired as Vice President of Sales.

Canada sales pipeline grows

According to Carl, Nadim was engaged in the business from day one, leading the operations, pre-sales, and sales elements of Keytree’s expansion effort with his sights on building a pipeline of activity to capitalize on.

“We made the right decision, Nadim is the right man for us,” says Carl. “With the nature of our business, it is a long pipeline build and we don’t sell overnight, but Nadim is already actively managing the first phase of our plan. He is on the ground at SAP Toronto, identifying the opportunities, and ensuring the SAP team and the Canadian market are aware of our business and why we are unique.”

Once client conversations progress to deals, Nadim will add a pre-sales role and then business development roles after that. Keytree also has plans to open an office near Union Square, close to SAP Toronto and client prospects.

“We are in the early stages but are making significant progress,” he shares. “We are projecting up to three significant projects this year and will build a team in Toronto of 6-7 people. It always depends on the nature of the project and what we sell – if we sell one big project, it may require 30 people and we would need to ramp up quickly.”

Keytree will turn to Peak again later this year to help hire business development roles. Says Carl, “Through our partnership with Peak, we can execute our business development plans smoothly in Canada and continue to expand across the board in all areas of the SAP business. With Nadim’s hire, we can bring SAP software to life in Canada and the U.S.” 

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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• About
• Latest Posts

Eliot Burdett

Latest posts by Eliot Burdett (see all)

• 31 Must-Know Sales Follow-Up Statistics for 2024 Success – December 21, 2023
• 7 Success Characteristics That Define Top Performers – December 19, 2023
• 5 Reasons Your Top Employees Quit (Stop Doing This to Stop Them Leaving) – December 14, 2023

Peak Candidate Promoted to C-Level Role, Transforms Call Center Ops for Midsize Companies

The days of personalized customer service may be something in the past, but that’s not the case at Auxillium. With a company name meaning “anecdote or aid,” Auxillium’s dedication to helping businesses create exceptional customer interactions through dynamic call center environments is core to its culture.

A subsidiary of Project Resources Group (PRG), Auxillium operates in the global business process outsourcing (BPO) sector – a market projected to exceed $400 billion by next year. The company is executing an impressive growth plan focused on maximizing its competitive edge: dedicated, high-touch service to small and mid-markets.

If you ask Auxillium’s new Executive Director Randy Arellano, the team is already ahead of plan.

Hired through Peak Sales Recruiting, Randy joined eight months ago as Auxillium’s Head of Sales and Marketing. Flash to 2019 and Randy is now in a C-level role running Auxillium’s entire operations.

Randy Hired Through Peak & PRG Teamwork

For the team at PRG and Auxillium, Randy’s move from Sales Executive to C-Level is no surprise. With a goal last year of recruiting a top sales executive to jump start Auxillium’s sales and marketing, the company needed a seasoned pro. The ideal leader would bring deep experience across multiple operational functions to position Auxillium for success in the highly-competitive, rapidly-changing BPO market.

Steve Wychulis, Director of HR for PRG, discusses the talent acquisition search that led to finding Randy, “There were significant expectations for this role. It was critical for us to find an experienced sales executive with in-depth experience in the call center and BPO space as well as someone who understood how to execute our vision as we build our business and leadership team.”

After researching top recruitment firms, Steve chose to partner with Peak Sales Recruiting. “I researched the competitive options in the market very thoroughly,” says Steve. “Peak stood out among the rest for its structured process and methodologies, and its strong track record recruiting successful B2B sales leaders.”

Using a talent acquisition process that includes a 4-step sales recruiting methodology, the Peak team worked quickly to identify, screen, evaluate and present top candidates.  Peak’s methodology determines corporate objectives, identifies the profile of an ideal candidate, and targets headhunting to find the top candidates. For the final step in its methodology, Peak adds scientific assessment – its proprietary P95 assessment method – taking the process one step deeper. Its P95 assessment evaluates candidates’ selling behaviors through three phases of advanced assessment that are critical in determining whether candidates have the sales DNA to perform in a client’s selling environment.

60 days later, Randy was hired as Auxillium’s first sales executive.

“We are extremely pleased to have Randy on board and I’m confident we made the right choice partnering with Peak,” says Steve. “Working with the Peak team was a fantastic experience and exactly what I expected from my research. There was also a lot of great education gained. It was more of a partnership than a vendor relationship.”

New Auxillium Executive Director Puts Plan into Action

Soon after his hire, Randy was promoted to Executive Director, a C-Level role leading Auxillium’s operations.  Steve explains the vision behind the promotion, “Randy’s move to Executive Director of Auxillium was a natural step and this role showcases his deep experience across all operations management functions in the call center and BPO outsourcing space.”

A seasoned and dynamic management leader, Randy has spent more than thirty-five years in the financial services, insurance, call center and BPO industries combined. In the past 25 years, he has helped many of the largest companies in the Call Center and BPO sector develop new business units, build new service offerings, and expand into new markets by leading and directing teams to a high level of success.

“We have an exciting path ahead of us,” says Randy. “I’m honored to step up to the challenge and drive success for our customers, Auxillium team, and our parent company.”

Through Randy’s leadership and strategic focus on the midmarket, Auxillium already has a full pipeline of new opportunities.  “As the BPO market continues to consolidate and automate service delivery, smaller operations have a hard time finding the support they need for their projects. We also know there is a need in the market for customized, high-touch service and that’s where our team shines,” explains Randy. “Our competitive edge is the ability to support smaller call center projects. We are the only call center and BPO solutions provider in our market that can effectively respond to any size project.”

Auxillium provides operational support, management, documentation and consultative processes, working with companies across a range of verticals to design, implement, manage and enhance their customer interaction and data handling environment. The company’s proprietary, structured coaching and techniques process ensures exceptional performance at a smaller scale.

The result? Auxillium helps clients raise their level of operational effectiveness, lower operating costs, enhance the customer experience, and build powerful brands.

As Auxillium executes its growth plan, Randy and Steve plan to work with Peak again. “Working with exceptional business partners like Peak are enabling us to leap ahead of the competition, build our business, and continue to provide the highest level of service to our customers,” adds Randy. “We will definitely partner with Peak again as we grow our operations.”

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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• About
• Latest Posts

Eliot Burdett

Latest posts by Eliot Burdett (see all)

• 31 Must-Know Sales Follow-Up Statistics for 2024 Success – December 21, 2023
• 7 Success Characteristics That Define Top Performers – December 19, 2023
• 5 Reasons Your Top Employees Quit (Stop Doing This to Stop Them Leaving) – December 14, 2023