SELF ESTEEM BRANDS:
POSITIVITY FOR POSITIVE GROWTH
Self Esteem Brands, LLC, is a Minneapolis-based, multi-brand company with a mission to improve the self-esteem of the world. They are working toward that ultimate flex goal as the parent company of familiar brands such as Anytime Fitness (the world’s largest fitness. franchise), Waxing the City, Basecamp Fitness, and The Bar Method, among. others.
Self Esteem is in growth mode, continuing to expand into new verticals that align with their overarching mission. Their growth comes from the successful opening and operation of franchises, which they do in a precisely targeted way.
THE
RESULTS
While Jed says it’s too early to have performance numbers from his new team members since the sales process is so long, he says the level of excitement and buzz about their knowledge, expertise, and pace is record breaking. He can’t wait to see how they contribute to the Self Esteem Brand’s success.
“The RevsUp team gets it done. When push comes to shove, your back is against the wall, you’re running out of time, and you need somebody’s help; when you need to find the right person but you don’t know what to do or where to go, and the market looks like nobody wants a job, you can turn to RevsUp and they will get it done.”
Jed Smith, Chief Development Officer
Self Esteem Brands
UPPING THE INTENSITY
But crushing those big gains demands having the right sales team members in place that can drive that growth. In the franchise sales organization that Jed oversees, there are fewer than 10 team members, and many have been there for more than 15 years — which he describes as pretty unheard of in sales.
“It’s a pretty tight-knit group. I would call these roles highly coveted within the organization, and it’s quite the gauntlet” to receive an offer to join the team.
But before he could extend any offers, Jed needed to source the right candidates for two new. open franchise sales positions. He was on the hunt for sharp, eager candidates with a wealth of not just sales experience and a proven track record, but also franchise experience.
His ideal candidates would be familiar with talking to executives at companies, speaking their language, and conversing intelligently about financials and about the brands under the Self Esteem umbrella. Their target franchisees are capitalized individuals and businesses looking to purchase franchises, and it’s up to the sales team to educate prospective owners and ensure alignment with Self Esteem’s mission.
Jed had been working with internal recruiters and HR for some time with zero success given the conditions of the economy and labor market surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Jed says that he was running out of time and had exhausted all options on his own. He needed to find the best people, and do so quickly.
That’s when he called RevsUp. Jed already knew Mark and had worked with him previously to source candidates in a former role.
THE REVSUP APPROACH:
HEAVY LIFTING & INTENSE FOCUS
“The best way to describe it is that Mark zooms out so that he can zoom in,” Jed says. “He wants to understand more about the business, the industry, the environment, and the culture. And because we’re a multi-brand company, it also means understanding the space we play in.”
Once Mark quickly grasped all of that big picture stuff, he “zoomed in,” tightly focusing on things like org structure, lead generation channels, and the fine details of what each brand does, all the way to the nitty gritty of the compensation structure. “Certainly, it’s a very thorough way of extracting a lot of information in a short period of time, so that he’s able to get down to the really accurate candidate.”
Mark went about gathering information through asking really pointed, thoughtful and strategic questions in order to understand the caliber of person Self Esteem was looking to recruit and the background required.
Within a matter of days after Self Esteem engaged Mark, he provided almost 20 on-target candidates — people who weren’t on the market, because as Jed says, “the caliber of people we are looking for are not actively looking for jobs. They’re the ones with good resumes, a healthy background, strong track record, and are already employed.”
Self Esteem has a “drain the tank” hiring process that requires no less than six rounds of interviews with a variety of internal team members. Although their internal process is drawn out, the response from the RevsUp team was swift.
Speaking about Mark and RevsUp, Jed says, “I appreciate the relationship we have, the trust we’ve established, and his ability to not only take what I provide him in a short window of time and translate that into great candidates, but he and his team always follow through above and beyond expectations.”
