Meet an Insider: Marivic Cortes
by Paul Catiang

“The challenge,” says Marivic Cortes of John Clements’s Executive Search and Selection Division (ESSD), “is to give your clients what you promise them.” What sounds so simple becomes Herculean when examined in the light of executive search and selection, which, according to April’s Salesperson of the Month, has the most demanding clients. “It’s because they pay more, and want to get their money’s worth.”

As the salesperson assigned the highest sales target in ESSD, Ms. Cortes has her work cut out for her. Staying on top of industry developments and knowing the players is only part of the challenges. “My industry,” she says, “is consumer industries—-food, beverages, related services—-and it’s the most mature in terms of the industries who rely on executive search firms.” These days, she works on winning back former clients who defected to other firms, and she says that they have been quite successful in doing so.

While the idea of defecting clients may not sound like good news, it is, while ironic, a testament to John Clements’s work ethic. According to Ms. Cortes, “John Clements is the pioneer in executive search, and there are a lot of competitors who try to offer more than we do. They’re familiar with our style, how we work, and so they use us as the benchmark. So you have to compete against that.” In effect, one of the biggest challenges is to surpass oneself.

Ms. Cortes names her most satisfying accomplishment yet. “It’s a consumer company who uses maybe 10 headhunters at one time for any one account. Early this year, we were able to meet them and sell John Clements to them. We were able to offer a trial to see if they will open an account with us exclusively. We were supposed to come up with a program to deal with their specific needs. The positive outcome of that was that they were interested in John Clements’s other services.”

Delivering promised services, staying on top of developments, and outdoing past accomplishments: for Marivic Cortes, this is what it takes to become salesperson of the month.