CDS
Case Study
- The Client
There is little doubt that the digital age has been a driving force for change in traditional print management agencies. Management teams are keen to transform their traditional brand position in the market from that of a ‘printer’, to a multi channel marketing agency. The drive for innovation however requires a new breed of talent who have experience in both camps.
This was the challenge faced by CDS, one of the UKs leading print marketing companies with a £30m annual turnover, when they began their search for a new Sales Director. They were looking for someone who lived within a commutable distance of their head office, understood print management, point of sale (POS), and traditional print marketing, but could also be credible in the digital space.
In competition with a range of other industry specialist recruiters in the print market, Taylor Higson’s Director, Jonathan Taylor, took on the brief and set out to prove to this client he was that much better than the other recruiters. As a specialist print and marketing services recruiter for over 10 years, Jonathan has seen how the industry has evolved to require talent with the original core print sector expertise but also experience of the growing allied digital area.
Jonathan made a conscious effort to seek out and connect with anyone in his network who could have conversations in both the print & the digital marketing services world. People with experience in both camps aren’t common, so Jonathan knew that this search would require he tap into all the contacts he’d collected with this relatively rare combination of skills. “These are a mix of talents more commonly found in London, not in the North of England, so networking heavily for recommendations and referrals in my network was key to my search strategy.”
He used Taylor Higson’s extensive professional network across direct mail, print management, transactional mail, marketing services, data analytics, and inbound document management. With his team to help with seeking out new contacts to network off, Jonathan also kept up a dialogue with CDS to distil the search and help select the best candidates for interview.
CDS saw several candidates from the other recruiters, and some from Jonathan that came very close, but the role remained unfilled. Proving a difficult requirement Jonathan persisted, where other recruiters lost interest, and started to broaden the search beyond the conventional ‘sales and business development’ related job titles, as this was not a conventional role.
After extensive market mapping within both his network and a range of new contacts in allied sectors Jonathan uncovered what proved to be the successful candidate.
Since being hired, CDS’ new Sales Director has gone on to grow the digital team at the company and is expanding the company’s client base from their public sector roots into the private sector. Taylor Higson’s success in filling this extremely tough assignment, where other recruiters gave up, has led to CDS awarding more of their vacancies to Taylor Higson resulting in numerous hires.
As businesses adapt to provide services that include e-marketing, marketing insight & analytics alongside traditional print services, the recruitment market needs to keep up, Jonathan adds, “It’s about spotting how the market is evolving, and adjusting searches to uncover talents hidden behind job titles.”