Project reference · Manufacturing
A German family manufacturer’s first sales team in Ukraine and Russia.
A family-owned German manufacturer wanted its own sales people in Ukraine and Russia without opening a company in either country. Over two and a half years we recruited four of them for two of its divisions, employed the first on our own payroll for 26 months, and set up the Russian hires as independent contractors working directly for the client.
4 sales hires in two countries
26 months as employer of record and payroll
2 divisions served: consumer products and industrial plant
0 local companies the client had to open
How the work ran
Six workstreams, one client
The brief
What the client actually needed
The first brief was one person: a country sales manager who already knew the national electronics chains and could open doors for the brand. We presented five candidates. The client flew in twice to interview and chose one within ten weeks of the first call.
The harder question was who would employ her. The client had no company in Ukraine and did not want one yet. So we became the legal employer: labour contract, payroll and taxes, travel and vacation paperwork, a desk in our business centre, a laptop and phone. The client set the targets and managed the work; every month it approved the costs before we invoiced them in euro.
Expansion
Then Russia, for two divisions at once
A year later the client asked for two people in Russia: a regional sales manager for its consumer brand, and a technical salesman for its industrial division. With no Russian entity, both were set up as independent contractors with their own registration, contracting directly with the client. We wrote the offers and the contracts, explained the tax side to the candidates, and stayed the contact on both sides until the contracts were signed. A third hire, a key account manager, followed in 2014.
The hard parts
Where it gets difficult
An employer without a company
We carried the employer’s duties; the client carried the business. That only works if the line between the two is written down: who sets targets, who approves expenses, who signs a vacation request.
Bonus and car costs inside a payroll
Local law had no mileage allowance, so fuel and the target bonus ran through payroll, with the tax cost shown to the client beforehand. No surprises on the invoice.
A euro contract and a local-currency payroll
The client paid in euro; salaries and taxes were in local currency. When the exchange rate moved sharply in 2014, we explained each month’s figures line by line.
A profile that did not exist
The industrial division wanted an engineer who spoke German and knew its customers’ plants. After two months we said in writing that this person was not on the market and offered two realistic options. The client chose, and we hired.
Contractors who wanted it in writing
Independent contractors carry their own costs. Good candidates asked for travel prepayments, car use and insurance to be settled in the contract before signing. We negotiated those points before, not after, the offer.
Hiring when the market turned
The 2014 search ran through a currency crisis. We built about 120 contacts and 42 applications, widened the search to neighbouring sectors, and still presented a shortlist on the client’s travel dates.
Phases
Search, employ, expand, adapt
- 2012 · Search and set-up. Five candidates, two interview days, one hire, and an employer-of-record contract signed within three months of the first call.
- 2012–2014 · Employer of record. Payroll, travel orders, vacation, insurance and a monthly approval-and-billing routine the client could audit.
- 2013 · Two searches in Russia. Interviews with the owner on site, offers, contractor registration and contracts for two divisions.
- 2014 · Key account search and a new model. A third hire in Russia, and a proposal to move the Ukrainian role to a contractor model at about a quarter lower cost.
- 2014–2015 · Beyond recruitment. When the client looked at local production, we introduced a consulting partner with the right contacts.
Not every market entry needs a company of your own on day one. This one needed the right people, a legal employer, and contracts that both sides could read the same way.
In the client’s words
“He appreciated it very much.”
The client’s export manager, passing on the owner’s reaction to our proposal for a contractor model, 2014.
How we work
We do not show you another company’s name
The client, its owners and its people are not named here, and they will not be named in a meeting either. We are glad to talk this project through in detail. What we will not do is discuss the last client that way with you, or you with the next one.
Next step
Building a sales team in a market where you have no company?
Tell us the roles and the countries. We will tell you which contract model fits, what it costs each month, and how fast we can find the people.