National Sales Director 

An international manufacturing company from Serbia, a leading player in the Eastern European optical lens market, approached us. Due to the withdrawal of major brands from Russia, the client decided to fill the emerging niche. They needed a National Sales Director capable of building sales "from scratch." Key requirements: fluent English, a deep understanding of the market, and personal rapport with the General Director.

The production was based in Eastern Europe, offering a logistical advantage but requiring a specialist ready to work closely with foreign manufacturing. The Russian optical components market itself was practically "empty" – there were no suitable candidates publicly available. Specialists with the necessary expertise were either already employed or had left the country. The search funnel was catastrophically small.

We conducted a total market mapping, analyzing all companies that had left and those that remained to find "hidden" leaders. We reached out to specialists who had led this direction in large corporations before their departure. After a series of in-depth interviews and reference checks, we formed a pool of candidates ready to work with international production.

Despite the extremely limited choice, the vacancy was closed. From the first contact, the candidate established a great rapport with the General Director, which was a critical condition. The specialist began building sales and developing the business in Russia from scratch, leveraging the resources of the Serbian production facility.