Customer case

Built a sales team for complex sales targeting private and public sectors

Background
Grade, a leading player in HR-tech, has embarked on a significant expansion journey with the aim of growing both organically and through acquisitions. With several new products coming into play, Grade needed to strengthen its sales team in Oslo to drive successful new customer sales while maximising value from its existing customer base.

Grade required salespeople who could manage complex sales with long sales cycles, where understanding both technology and customer needs was crucial. The role placed high demands on the ability to sell to the public sector and having a background in HR-tech.

The Challenge
Grade's recruitment challenges were manifold:

Complex sales: With a broad product portfolio, it was essential for salespeople to identify customer needs through deep needs analysis rather than trying to sell everything at once.

Public sector: Candidates needed to have experience selling to the public sector, where purchasing processes are particularly structured and long-term.

Technical understanding: With a technically advanced product portfolio, salespeople were required to quickly grasp the solutions and understand their value to the customer.

New customer and upsell/cross-sell: The role combined pursuing new customers with maximising value from existing customers, which required a unique combination of skills.

Narrow candidate pool: The candidate market was limited, necessitating a focused and structured recruitment strategy.

The Solution
Revelyn worked together with Grade to meet their specific needs and find the right talents for their sales team:

Market mapping: We identified candidates with experience selling to the public sector and a relevant background in HR-tech. By analysing the market and building a structured shortlist, we could focus on the most qualified profiles.

Proactive recruitment: Since the narrow target audience was not actively seeking new jobs, we contacted candidates directly and presented the opportunity to be part of Grade's expansion.

Matching for complex sales: We ensured that candidates not only had experience with technologically advanced products but could also handle long sales cycles and work strategically with needs analysis.

Dual competence: The focus was on finding salespeople who could balance new customer sales with upsell/cross-sell to existing customers to maximise revenue.

The Result
Within a short timeframe, Revelyn was able to help Grade appoint 2 salespeople to their office in Oslo. The recruited profiles:

Had experience selling to the public sector and an understanding of the long purchasing processes involved.

Demonstrated the ability to manage complex sales and work across multiple product areas through in-depth needs analyses.

Contributed directly to Grade's expansion journey by driving new customer sales and maximising the value from the existing customer base.

The recruitment process ensured that Grade not only found the right people but also that they could start delivering value in a short period, helping the company to take the next step in its growth.

Linus Wetterlind, CCO - Grade
"Revelyn's structured and strategic approach contributed greatly. They helped us find candidates who not only had the right background but also understood the complexity of our business. The salespeople are already underway and contributing to both new customer sales and further development of our customer base."

Grade is a Swedish company that specializes in digital solutions for competency provision and Talent Management. They offer scalable tools that help organizations attract, recruit, onboard, develop, and retain employees throughout the employee journey.