Don’t Neglect the Discovery Stage with Frédéric Guitton of QLM

This week on the Revenue Insights Podcast, we are joined by Frédéric Guitton, Chief Revenue Officer at Quality Labor Management, LLC (QLM).

In this episode, Lee and Frédéric discuss the paramount importance of the discovery stage for managing QLM’s customers’ journeys, including how to align sales teams on the ICP, what sets apart the top performers, and how Frédéric helps his teams hit their targets.

Frédéric is the Chief Revenue Officer at Quality Labor Management, LLC  a full-service, privately owned unique skilled trades staffing provider, specializing in workforce management for a wide array of industries. He is also an Independent Business Owner with Tresam Group, helping local businesses with their sales strategy, operational structures, and capitalization. Prior to these roles, he held many C-Suite positions at a variety of companies, including RedTeam Software and Trax Financial.

• Frédéric Guitton on LinkedIn  
• Quality Labor Management, LLC LinkedIn
• Ebsta Revenue Insights Newsletter  
• Frédéric’s Book Recommendation: It’s Not the Big That Eat the Small…It’s the Fast That Eat the Slow

Time Stamps:

• 01:34 – About Frédéric and Quality Labor Management, LLC (QLM)
• 03:39 – The state of the industry
• 04:43 – QLM’s unique customer journey
• 06:49 – Finding the right person for the right place
• 10:15 – Matching ICP with your sales team
• 14:37 – What makes a top performer?
• 17:11 – Best practices for the discovery stage
• 22:21 – QLM’s philanthropic work
• 24:09 – Frédéric’s book recommendation: It’s Not the Big That Eat the Small…It’s the Fast That Eat the Slow
• 27:22 – Helping a team hit a target
• 30:46 – Where to find Frédéric

Highlights:

QLM’s Unique Customer Journey

QLM’s customers approach them with requests such as, “I need ten electricians next week”. Instead of just immediately saying yes and finding the next available contractors, they make a proactive effort to understand the needs of the customer and match that with the skills of the talent they work with. It’s all about understanding the responsibility QLM takes in this process. When they engage with a customer, they promise that they will find the right person for their needs, creating a moral obligation. This means the sales team is not vying to get a yes as soon as possible, instead, they are looking to ask all the right questions and ensure the ideal customer profile (ICP) is the heart of the conversation from the very beginning. If they don’t think they’re right for the job and the skills of the talent do not align with their needs, they will admit to the customer that QLM is not the right team for them.

What Makes QLM’s Top Performers?

QLM’s top-performing salespeople are those who truly understand the needs of the customers and the skills of the talent. They pick the right customers and are transparent in how well they can meet their needs. They manage expectations and are hyper-communicative, finding out everything they need to know within the discovery stage.

The Discovery Stage

Since the discovery stage is paramount to QLM’s success, there are certain best practices they employ. The main focus from Frédéric is to just ask “What do you want?” It seems straightforward, but it’s an important question for ensuring the team is actually aligned with the main goal. This goes for both customers and team members. If a team member does not want to work more than 45 minutes from their home, there is no point putting them on a customer’s job that is an hour away. There also needs to be impeccable communication between the sales team and the team responsible for placing people on the job. It’s about both asking the right questions and documenting that information. 

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