Open ECX is one of the leading providers of cloud-based e-trading solutions to the construction industry and its associated supply chain. Working with thousands of businesses spanning 21 countries, Open ECX’s products help to revolutionise processes, improving efficiencies and offering time-saving benefits.
Recently awarded ‘Tech Company of the Year’ at the National Technology Awards 2022, and celebrating their strongest growth period in 2021 since their inception 10 years ago, Open ECX is moving from strength to strength.
The Challenge
Open ECX identified two key problems they faced in building their sales team. Firstly, finding high potential talent that had the drive, ambition and desire to succeed. Secondly, finding the time and resources to develop those high potential individuals in the pivotal early months of their career.
As a dynamic and fast-growing business, Open ECX wanted to invest in new starters, with a focus on developing junior sales talent into commercial leaders, supporting their growth and futureproofing the business through this process. In practice, implementing this team structure would take a significant investment of time, which Open ECX didn’t have the internal resource for at this stage.
Sales Director at Open ECX, Stuart Costello, acknowledged that with previous sales hires they had failed to provide the support and time required to fully onboard and train them, resulting in an underperforming and unsettled team, with a high turnover of staff.
"Sometimes we’d lose our sales candidates because we couldn’t give them the time and attention they needed to succeed within their role."
To address this ongoing problem, Open ECX decided to seek external expertise to help them build a right-fit sales team that could hit the ground running and contribute to the growth of the business.
The Furza Solution
After examining the options available within the market, Open ECX Head of Sales, Stuart Costello and his team selected Furza to manage the end-to-end recruitment and training process of their sales team. Furza’s expertise in the technology and SaaS market aligned with Open ECX, offering a refreshing approach in comparison to traditional sales recruiters.
Furza’s full onboarding and training services offered real value to Open ECX, providing a complete framework of sales skills and competencies to ensure candidates would be fully equipped to drive sales from day one.
Another important factor in Open ECX’s decision was the impact of freeing-up senior internal time and resources with Furza’s fully managed programme, allowing internal sales leaders to concentrate on what they do best – selling.
Recruiting
The Furza team conducted an extensive recruitment campaign, screening and interviewing over one thousand applications to fill a dedicated assessment day with potential candidates for the roles.
At the assessment day, a range of activities took place to assess suitability, with successful candidates then enrolled in the Furza Academy to complete their 3 months’ training.
"The recruitment process with Furza has been second to none. The filtering and candidate journey that happened before we even saw a candidate was immense and the people that we got in the room on the assessment day - we genuinely could have given every single one of them a job, so we were really happy."
Training
Furza worked closely with Open ECX to contextualise and align the training to their requirements, spending time understanding the key development milestones and touch points required to create a successful team. From this, our team of sales experts was able to generate a bespoke training plan based on Open ECX’s desired outcomes.
Once Open ECX had chosen their candidates from the assessment day, the Furza Academy provided bespoke training tailored to Open ECX’s products and solutions, with a focus on the fundamental sales skills required to succeed within their market.
"The main advantage would definitely be the 3-month Furza Academy. When a candidate comes into our business, we get a fully ramped, fully competent SDR – not just broad brush on sales technique but on our business, our philosophies, our ethos and our systems."
The Result
The sales function at Open ECX is now a well-rounded and cohesive team, with the skills and specific product and industry knowledge required to deliver results for the business.
The Furza graduates generated £835,584 ARR of new business revenue in their first year, and continue to successfully build new business relationships.
Since their initial placement, Open ECX has returned to expand their new team and add to their existing sales staff. Our in-depth understanding of Open ECX and their requirements enables us to efficiently find the best talent for their business, time after time.
As Open ECX continues to grow as a business, Furza plays an integral role in placing key employees to win new business and help in the delivery of their growth strategies.
“Using Furza revolutionised our sales team and processes. We expanded our existing team with candidates who knew our business processes and were immediately able to contribute.”
