Objective: To quickly identify/find sales candidates for a leading business publication.
Background: After a very successful Watch & Jewelry Sales Director left the group in November ’07, the Forbes Life Group spent the following eleven (11) months attempting to fill the position. After the Forbes Life Group both conducted their own search and used outside recruiters Meredith Levin, Group Publisher of the Forbes Life Group, retained the services of Mercury Group. Why Mercury Group? Among other reasons, Meredith liked that Mercury Group had worked with other thought leader publications and understood the cultural attributes needed in order to succeed within this type of organization. Meredith was also impressed with Mercury Group’s understanding of the watch/luxury market and our current database of the successful sellers. Meredith required an aggressive timetable for the search.
Results: Within a short period of time, Mercury Group identified nine (9) finalists for Meredith and Moira Forbes to meet. From this group, Meredith and Moira identified the candidate they felt would best succeed within Forbes and increase their revenue/share of market within the watch/luxury category. While the Forbes Lifestyle Group (and outside recruiters) couldn’t fill the job over an eleven (11) month period, Mercury Group was able to complete the task in four (4) weeks.
In addition, Mercury Group’s consultation was sought on integrating Forbes print and digital properties, which, at the time, had separate sales teams. Mercury Group’s recommendation was to integrate the teams. Within weeks of this discussion, Forbes/Forbes.com announced the integration of their print and digital brands.
“ We used Mercury Group to fill a particularly senior sales position at Forbes and were pleased with both the quality of candidates presented and the speed with which we were able to find the right person. We would certainly call on Jeff and JD again and I would absolutely recommend them to peers in the industry.”
- Meredith Levin, Group Publisher, Forbes Lifestyle Group