Coaching and Mentoring for Excellence
I worked with Matt Thibeau while I was the President at ECCO, USA. Matt was brought in as a Territory Manager in 2004. He excelled in that position and when the company went to a Channel alignment, he was promoted to Channel Manager for the Independent Channel. Matt believed strongly in the coaching and mentoring of his sales team, many of his direct reports went on to excel at ECCO or other footwear companies. Matt also was able to work collaboratively across functions including Finance, Marketing and Product.
They say about good football coaches that the players achieve because their coaches put them in the right position to succeed; they provide a system that allows their players' best qualities to be exploited. Matt demonstrated a similar mastery in the management of his team. He provided a template/playbook that taught them the right way to approach their territories. His ways of working were basic guidelines for achieving results; they provided a structure that was understandable and was easily repeatable. That combined with good product and a constructive sales culture led to consistently strong results.
I can recommend Matt as a consultant because of his strong understanding of wholesale business, from Sales Operations to the financial underpinnings of the business. He has the ability to dissect and diagnose issues in a sales team, coach up and develop sales professionals and make a team more cohesive in attacking the company’s objectives. He will leave a Sales team more professional in their presentation, and sell product more efficiently and with greater profit. For a company that is struggling with its wholesale function, or, trying to get one started, Matt has the knowledge base, skill set and temperament to get things moving in the right direction….quickly.
Matt is without a doubt one of the best hires we ever made at Ecco USA! I highly recommend Matt Thibeau as he is one of the best at achieving strong results regardless of the challenge!
Tom Nelson
President, ECCO, USA (Retired)