Recruiting a Country Sales Manager in Turkey for Encres DUBUIT in Turkey
Finding a good salesperson is never very easy.
Finding a Country Sales Manager who understands a local market, has the right industry background and can represent an international manufacturer in Turkey is even more specific.
This was the recruitment challenge when Azkan Group supported Encres DUBUIT in Turkey.
Encres DUBUIT needed to recruit a Country Sales Manager in Turkey.
Azkan Group managed the recruitment process locally and identified the profile required for the position.
The client: Encres DUBUIT
Client: Encres DUBUIT
Country: France
Industry: Industrial inks / Industrial printing
Position recruited: Country Sales Manager
Location: Turkey
Service provided by Azkan Group: Recruitment in Turkey
Encres DUBUIT is a French industrial company specialising in the development, manufacture and commercialization of technical inks for industrial and graphic applications.
The company has developed expertise in several printing technologies, including screen printing, pad printing and digital printing.
Its solutions are used across different industrial applications and sectors including packaging, consumer electronics, automotive and other technical applications.
With activities and partners internationally, developing a market such as Turkey requires more than simply selling products from headquarters.
It requires the right person locally.
The challenge: finding the right Country Sales Manager in Turkey
Encres DUBUIT was looking for a Country Sales Manager for the Turkish market.
For this kind of position, simply finding somebody with « Sales Manager » written on a CV is obviously not enough.
A Country Sales Manager needs to understand the market, communicate with customers and partners, develop commercial opportunities and represent the company locally.
For a technical industrial company, there is another difficulty.
The candidate also needs to be comfortable selling products and solutions in a B2B industrial environment.
This considerably reduces the number of genuinely relevant candidates.
Recruitment in Turkey is not just about finding CVs
When an international company recruits in Turkey from France, Germany, the UK or the US, it is relatively easy to find CVs online.
The difficult part is finding the right CV.
A recruitment process needs to answer several questions.
Does this person really have the required commercial experience?
Does the candidate understand industrial sales?
Has the person worked with distributors or direct customers?
Can he/she develop a market rather than simply manage existing accounts?
Is the candidate’s salary expectation realistic?
Is the candidate genuinely interested in the opportunity?
And finally:
Would we trust this person to represent the company in Turkey?
This last question is particularly important for a Country Sales Manager.
The solution provided by Azkan Group
Azkan Group managed the recruitment of the Country Sales Manager in Turkey for Encres DUBUIT.
The objective was not to send a large number of CVs.
The objective was to identify candidates matching the requirements of the position and the Turkish market.
A recruitment assignment of this nature can involve:
- understanding the client’s business and products;
- defining the candidate profile;
- analysing the Turkish talent market;
- identifying potential candidates;
- direct search and headhunting;
- reviewing CVs;
- interviewing candidates;
- assessing their professional background;
- discussing salary expectations;
- evaluating motivation;
- and presenting relevant candidates to the client.
Encres DUBUIT could then concentrate its time on candidates who had already been identified as potentially relevant for the position.
Why recruiting a Country Sales Manager in Turkey is different
A Country Sales Manager is often one of the first important hires an international company makes when developing a new market.
This employee may become the company’s face in Turkey.
He or she may develop relationships with customers, distributors and business partners and provide headquarters with information about what is actually happening in the Turkish market.
Choosing the wrong person can therefore be expensive.
And not only because of the salary.
A poor recruitment can mean lost time, missed commercial opportunities and eventually having to restart the complete recruitment process.
For this reason, we believe that recruiting a Country Sales Manager requires a different approach from recruiting a more standardized position.
Local market knowledge matters
Salary is a good example.
A French HR Manager may receive applications from three candidates in Istanbul with very different salary expectations.
Which one is realistic?
Maybe the highest salary is justified because the candidate has exactly the required industry contacts.
Maybe it isn’t.
Maybe the candidate with the lowest salary has simply not understood the seniority of the position.
A salary database can provide some information.
But it doesn’t replace a discussion with candidates who are actually working in the Turkish market.
This is where local recruitment knowledge becomes useful.
Recruiting for a technical and industrial environment
Encres DUBUIT operates in a specialised industrial environment.
Its technical inks are used for different printing technologies and applications.
Selling these types of products is different from selling a standard consumer product.
A commercial profile needs to understand how to communicate with professional and industrial customers and how to develop long-term B2B relationships.
For industrial recruitment, we therefore pay particular attention to the candidate’s actual professional environment rather than simply looking at job titles.
Two people can both be called « Sales Manager » and have completely different experience.
What we learned from this recruitment
The Encres DUBUIT assignment illustrates an important point about recruiting in Turkey:
A job title alone tells you very little about whether somebody is the right candidate.
For senior commercial positions, the environment in which the candidate has worked matters considerably.
A company looking for a Country Sales Manager should therefore define the real objective before starting the search.
Do we need somebody to manage existing distributors?
Do we need somebody to find new distributors?
Do we need direct sales?
Technical sales?
Business development?
Key account management?
Do we need somebody who can build the Turkish market almost from zero?
These questions completely change the candidate profile.
How do you recruit a Country Sales Manager in Turkey?
For an international company, the recruitment process should normally start with a clear definition of the commercial mission.
The title « Country Sales Manager Turkey » is not enough.
The recruiter needs to understand:
- the products or services being sold;
- target customers;
- existing business in Turkey;
- distribution model;
- expected travel;
- technical knowledge required;
- languages;
- level of autonomy;
- reporting line;
- compensation;
- bonus structure;
- and the objectives of the position.
Only after understanding these elements does it really make sense to start searching for candidates.
Should you use a local recruitment company in Turkey?
For some positions, an international company can recruit directly.
For more specific profiles, having a recruitment partner in Turkey can make the process easier.
This is particularly relevant when headquarters doesn’t know the Turkish candidate market, local salaries or recruitment practices.
It can also be useful for direct search.
The best candidate for a Country Sales Manager position may not be looking for a job.
He/she may already be working for another company.
In this situation, publishing a job advertisement is not always enough.
The recruitment process may require identifying and approaching candidates directly.
Recruiting Sales Managers and Country Managers in Turkey
The Encres DUBUIT recruitment is an example of the type of commercial positions Azkan Group can search for international companies developing their activities in Turkey.
Depending on the client and sector, these can include:
- Country Managers
- Country Sales Managers
- Sales Directors
- Sales Managers
- Business Development Managers
- Key Account Managers
- Technical Sales Managers
- Regional Sales Managers
- Export Sales Managers
- Distributor Managers
The search strategy naturally depends on the sector and seniority of the position.
France to Turkey: supporting French companies recruiting locally
For a French company developing its business in Turkey, recruitment can create some very practical questions.
What salary should we offer?
Should the package include a bonus?
Does the candidate expect a company car?
What benefits are normal for this level of position?
How much should we negotiate?
How long is the candidate’s notice period with his/her current employer?
These questions are difficult to answer from France without local context.
Our role as a recruitment partner is therefore not simply to identify candidates.
It is also to help the client understand the Turkish recruitment environment during the process.
A successful recruitment is not about sending 30 CVs
We don’t believe that the quality of a recruitment company should be measured by the number of CVs sent to the client.
Sending 30 CVs is easy.
Finding the few people who actually match the position is much more useful.
For a Country Sales Manager recruitment, the objective is therefore to understand the client’s business first and then identify the people who could realistically perform the role in Turkey.
This was the approach used for the Encres DUBUIT recruitment project.
Need to recruit a Country Sales Manager in Turkey?
Azkan Group helps international companies identify and recruit employees in Turkey, including commercial, managerial, technical and specialist profiles.
Our recruitment services can include:
- candidate search;
- headhunting;
- CV screening;
- candidate interviews;
- salary discussions;
- shortlist preparation;
- recruitment support;
- and assistance during the offer process.
And if an international company identifies the right candidate but does not have its own legal structure to employ the person in Turkey, Azkan Group can also provide an Employer of Record / Umbrella Company solution in Turkey.
This means the same local partner can potentially support the complete process:
Recruitment → Candidate Selection → Salary Negotiation → Job Offer → Employer of Record → Payroll → HR Support
For international companies developing their business in Turkey, the objective is simple: find the right person first, and then make the local employment process as easy as possible.
