“Managing Client’s expectations”

Client

The client was a CMMI Level 5 company and the leading PLM services provider in India with over 20 years of experience. It was a specialist in providing PLM solutions to global mechanical design, manufacturing and industrial markets and was looking to expand the "product" pie in its total revenues which were currently skewed in favour of “services”.

Role

The client was looking for someone to lead the marketing of the software products developed by it for consumption in international automotive and aerospace industry. The role assumed criticality as the incumbent was supposed to drive the entire product business to meet the desired objective of achieving the target proportions in the overall revenue pie.

Challenge

The challenge was mainly three pronged:

	The client had already scanned the market for the role through other consultants / internal sources
	The compensation indicated was on a lower side for the kind of person, the client was looking at. The client was strict on the compensation budget for the position.
	The perfect blend of qualification backed by relevant experience was rare in the Indian market.

What we did

We first identified all the product software companies in India, dealing with technical applications as the client was looking at someone from such companies. This was done to ensure that all relevant people within the industry had been considered and gaps left by other consultants/internal sources had been plucked. On interviewing relevant profiles obtained from our research, we realized that there was a wide gap between the client’s budget for the position and existing compensation levels of candidates working with the relevant companies and having the requisite skill set / experience. We updated the client with the findings and convinced them to either modify their budget or allow changes to the search strategy.

Since the client was not in favour of altering the compensation, we convinced the client to consider profiles from other industries but dealing with identified target markets. We were quick enough to source profiles meeting client requirements with respect to educational qualifications, exposure sought, knowledge of the target market and specified compensation levels. The client was introduced to three shortlisted candidates and one of them was offered the job.