About ECS Learning Systems
Established in 1982, ECS Learning Systems is a San Antonio, TX-based Integrated Standards Prep company that equips over 500,000 students annually with the knowledge and tools necessary to complete tests confidently. Using an award-winning system, ECS Learning offers computer adaptive learning solutions to help all children reach their full potential to succeed and excel.
The Challenge
Finding talented, reliable, and consistent sales talent is challenging for any business, and ECS Learning’s situation was no different. ECS operates in a highly specialized market, making it fairly easy for salespeople with poor sales skills to mask their lack of abilities throughout the sales process by talking confidently about the education space. As ECS looked for higher-level roles, it became increasingly more challenging to isolate the right candidates and pin down salespeople who could walk the walk, not just talk the talk. They needed a team who could apply their deep industry background knowledge towards selling to customers, not just selling themselves.
Why Topaz
Referred to us by another client, Mary Jo Eldridge — CEO at ECS Learning — approached Jorge to discuss their pain points and determine the best path forward. Even before moving forward with us, Jorge provided their team with helpful suggestions on how to uncover a candidate’s true self throughout the hiring process. From their first conversation, Mary Jo was convinced that utilizing our Metahire Sales Hiring System and then enrolling new hires in Buyer Facilitator by Topaz training would significantly impact their business.
Our Solutions
After determining the main problems in ECS Learning’s sales recruitment and sales processes, we tailored our two-pronged approach to fit their business and market with a mix of online sales hiring training and live coaching and live group training for the entire ECS team covering rapport-building, pain discovery and setting ground rules. First, we enrolled their leadership team in Metahire sales hiring training. The focus was to learn how to identify candidates who would succeed in their unique market. Once these ideal hires were brought onboard, we then conducted two on-site Buyer Facilitator Sales Workshops for their leadership, existing team, and new sales hires to give them all the skills they needed for effective selling.
Our Metahire Sales Hiring System training helped ECS:
- Use the Metahire tools and process to screen for the right sales skills needed to grow their business
- Be more focused on identifying top sales talent with a customer-focused mindset (vs. a subject matter expert)
- Get them out of their comfort zone to challenge their recruiting team to perform better and find suitable candidates for available roles
- Do the hard work on the front end making the right hires to avoid the costly mistakes on the backend making the wrong hire.
The Buyer Facilitator Sales Workshop guided their organization to:
- Focus on customer issues and challenges rather than the education solution they provide
- Be dynamic in their approach towards sales by uncovering prospects’ problems and pain points directly
- Waste less time on prospects who weren’t likely to convert into paying customers
Results Achieved
Using our sales hiring system, ECS has successfully hired and onboarded four new sales candidates who have become fantastic assets for the company. Their hiring team spends far less time wasted on low-quality candidates, freeing up resources to interview other candidates for available roles in sales and other departments. Their existing and newly hired salespeople have thrived after our Sales Workshops and now genuinely see themselves not as sales reps (focused on selling something) but as Buyer Facilitators (helping people buy). They can confidently get in front of customers with an effective and efficient sales process that meets ECS Learning’s customer-centric company standards.
Testimonial
“Jorge’s focus is on helping others, and his attitude demonstrates the kind of caring that I want my sales team to carry throughout their day. As an instructor, he demonstrated the skills he taught. As a consultant, he listened, advised, and tailored his program to our needs. And as a friend, he has continued to keep in touch and has helped me connect with others in similar situations.”
-Mary Jo Eldridge – CEO at ECS Learning Systems
