Saleswithout selling

hapa was looking for new employees for direct sales. Until then, the company had relied on traditional recruitment measures. Social media had not yet played a role for the sales division: there was no existing presence, profile, campaign or digital recruitment system.

This meant there was no direct access to people who might be interested in a role in sales. At the same time, the campaign had to make a sales model understandable that could seem to require explanation: at hapa, sales assistants arrange appointments. Consultation and closing are handled by the subject-matter experts.

The goal was clear: hapa wanted to bring direct sales to social media, explain its own model simply and continuously generate applications for the various locations.

hapa has a sales model that clearly differs from traditional sales conversations. Sales assistants arrange appointments for the subject-matter experts. They therefore do not have to provide consultations or sell themselves. This very difference became the central campaign insight and the USP of the communication.

The campaign translated the model into a simple message: “Sales without selling”. The phrase briefly explains what it is about and who the role may suit. The people from the sales team became the faces of the campaign. This meant the key message came directly from day-to-day work rather than from abstract recruitment communication.

With Meta Ads, hapa tested social media as a recruitment channel for the first time. The campaign did not start with a general solution for the whole of Germany, but with an individual setup for each branch. This allowed the approach, candidate profile and application situation to be tailored to the respective location.

Branch-specific campaign: each branch received its own landing page with suitable ads, ad copy, a tailored candidate profile and a form. The form explains the model before interested parties click “Apply”.

Optimising from reach to quality: in the first phase, the focus was on reach and a rapid learning curve. The funnel was further developed using the data obtained. Disqualifying questions and more targeted ad messaging helped improve the quality of applications.