The Challenge

Having recently been acquired, a leading maintenance supply distributor in the US with over 5,000 employees was struggling to make the right sales hires and needed to align its talent acquisition processes with the larger organization. They also faced the goal of surpassing $100 million in revenue by increasing sales performance.

The distributor’s talent acquisition process leveraged traditional hiring methods such as resume reviews and interviews. They also relied heavily on referrals and gut instincts, often hiring because someone liked someone or had previously worked with them, which led to hiring decisions that weren’t driving the results they needed. This distributor’s sales roles required more accurate predictions of new hire success to identify candidates who would excel and contribute to revenue growth.

The Solution

The maintenance supply distributor’s parent company, which was leveraging Cangrade’s Pre-Hire Assessments successfully across other sales, customer success, and managerial roles, recommended Cangrade’s solutions to align and optimize its acquisition’s hiring practices. Cangrade’s track record of delivering strong hiring results and flexibility in tailoring assessments to unique roles were compelling factors in the distributor’s decision to adopt its solutions.

For the distributor’s Account Manager role, Cangrade implemented a comprehensive suite of hiring and talent management solutions:

• Pre-Hire Assessment: Accurately predicted candidate success with no adverse impact using a custom Success Model built on company KPIs.
• Structured Interview Guides: Developed personalized interview structures aligned with the distributor’s sales and engagement objectives.
• Workforce Development: Leveraged Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business eLearning content to deliver personalized training for each employee. 
• Retention Forecast: Integrated job engagement into the custom Success Model to predict high performers and their likelihood to stay and thrive.

Results

Collaboration with Cangrade revolutionized the distributor’s hiring, employee development, and referral processes. With Cangrade’s solutions in place, the company achieved its objectives of increased revenue and sales performance. They also experienced the added benefits of reducing turnover and eliminating adverse impact from their hiring process, which were outside of their initial set of goals, showcasing the transformative effect of Cangrade’s talent management solutions.

The implementation of Cangrade led to significant improvements in sales performance:

• New hires who scored highly on Cangrade’s Pre-Hire Assessment drove:
  • 85% more new account sales
  • 71% higher average sales
  • 59% more average orders per day 
  • A 75% higher order value, worth over $74,000
• Account Managers who adopted Cangrade’s personalized coursework increased net sales 20% more than those who did not, driving over $89,000 more in revenue per employee.

Summary

Through a strategic partnership with Cangrade, the maintenance supply distributor revolutionized its hiring and talent management. By leveraging Cangrade’s custom AI-driven Pre-Hire Assessments, Structured Interview Guides, Retention Forecast, and personalized development content, the organization substantially improved sales performance and retention and aligned its hiring practices with its parent company, positioning itself for sustained growth and success.