The impact an interim VP of sales made in an insurance retail company

This article examines the impact an interim executive had on a 650 million dollar insurance retail company that brought in as an interim VP of sales for a year, while the company searched for the right longer-term executive.

Company background

Prior to the interim executive stepping in, the company had been purchased by two private equity firms, and a new CEO was brought in at that time. The Senior VP of Sales position was open for a year, and the CEO and executive team were stretched trying to cover the position. Sales had continued to decline with the worsening recession, and they decided to bring an interim VP of Sales in to do some restructuring while they searched for the new key executive member of their team.

Implementation

To help address these, the interim executive started by restructured the staffing models; redefined the sales composition, and rolled out a store-in-a-box concept. He put together store level performance, guidelines and made them a priority; redesigned the selling process, and implemented it for customer retention, renewals, new business, and add-on business.

Results achieved by the VP of sales

Through all this work, the interim executive was able to help the company achieve some impactful results. There was a $3.3 Million annualized payroll savings. They increased 20% in year-over-year revenue, and 24-point hit rate in online sales productivity. Transition to the permanent interim Senior VP of Sales ensured no gap in leadership and helped preserve the continuity and momentum that they had experienced. The CEO commented, ”Cerius Interim Executive Solutions delivered a performance-based professional that was always mindful of execution and results. The depth of experience and wisdom the interim executive had was invaluable, and laid a strong foundation for us to further stimulate growth and profitability.”

For more information on how a Cerius executive can impact your company, call us at (949) 867-7119 or contact us at ceriusexecutives.com.

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