BearField

The Challenge

BearField, known for brands such as Arizona and Charlie's Organics, is a fast-growing FMCG scale-up competing with the largest soft drink companies in the world. They were looking for a Business Development Director — a newly created role within the company.

The complexity of the search was:

• Finding the combination of corporate experience with a sufficiently entrepreneurial personality that would fit BearField's unique scale-up context.
• The professionalism that corporate FMCG experience brings, combined with a personality with flexibility and pragmatism — able to take on different roles and deliver in a scale-up environment without separate departments or the ability to delegate.
• For CEO Pieter, creating this new position — and this appointment — was also important for transforming his own role within the company: "The goal was to free myself up to function more as CEO. My CEO role includes the responsibilities of the GM, the Finance Director, and the Sales Director. That's typical for an SME scale-up. I wanted to separate out that sales role."

The Approach: Development Driven Search®

SalesQuarters was brought in to take on this complex search. The Development Driven Search® methodology focused on finding the right balance:

• In-depth analysis - SalesQuarters invested substantially in understanding both the commercial business challenge and translating it into selection criteria.
• Focus on cultural and personality fit - The search focused on someone well-trained in a corporate environment, but mentally agile enough to make the transition to a startup environment with a unique culture and organizational setting. For example, questions were asked about which personalities the new person would be working with in the role.
• Realistic profiling - We looked for someone young enough in mindset not to get frustrated by things turning out differently than hoped or expected.

The Result

The collaboration resulted in a perfect match — Paul, who now successfully serves as Sales Director at BearField. The impact was immediately noticeable:

The SalesQuarters Added Value

• Deep understanding of complex challenges - Pieter recognizes Bart's unique ability to grasp the tensions between soft skills and knowledge, and to make the trade-offs needed for the right match.
• Personal profiling talent - Bart has a personal way of sharply profiling people, both on IQ and EQ, and immediately understands who he's dealing with.
• Strategic guidance – Beyond finding the right candidate, SalesQuarters provided valuable guidance in making the final choice, including a clear "instruction manual" on the trade-offs made: no choice is without compromises, the perfect candidate doesn't exist, and every final decision comes with trade-offs and risks.
• Investment mindset - Pieter emphasizes the value of SalesQuarters' thorough approach: an intensive process that takes time, but is more than worth the investment. By actively investing time in the process yourself, a strong fit emerges on both culture and personality.

For BearField, this approach meant not just filling a vacancy, but a strategic reinforcement that better positioned the company to compete with multinationals while preserving its entrepreneurial character.

Ready for more grip on sales growth? 

Approach your sales leadership decisions as investment decisions and achieve maximum return with SalesQuarters. Contact Bart Dietz. bart.dietz@salesquarters.nl or +31 20 226 90 00