Client Testimonials

“Whether as a job seeker or as a hiring manager, Denise Grant of Dana Associates is the first person that I reach out to for help. Excellent at asking intelligent, and at times probing, questions Denise goes to great lengths to understand our research business and to determine the qualities and skills that I am seeking in a prospective employee. Bringing her own ideas and thinking to the search process, she takes the time to get to know the candidates and presents only those that will be a good match for my organization. Denise doesn't waste my time; she saves it! In fact, I hold her in such high regard that when asked to recommend a search professional to a job seeker they have to be in a specific league before I will send them to Dana Associates. They have to be high caliber, 'Denise-worthy'. Over the twenty years that I have worked with her, she has also become a personal and professional mentor, coaching me on aspects of my own career planning and the skills that I need to bring to my role as the hiring manager. Having worked with other search professionals, what I most want to say is: Denise Grant is in a league of her own!”

“Within the past year, we used Dana Associates to build out our inside sales team, hiring three terrific young women. As the CEO of a sustainable textile design company, I was seeking sales professionals who were focused, driven, had the ability to close sales, and were uniquely able to fit within our culture. Denise took the time to learn about our company, coming out to meet with the Director of Marketing and even attending a 'Friends & Family Sales Event'. Utilizing her understanding of our needs and organization, she was able to find candidates that not only had the qualities to be good at the job, but would fit within our company. At the end of the day, the organizational fit is often more important than what is on the candidate's resume. Denise knows so much about her business, has a sixth sense about people, and understands that the intangibles make such a difference. For Denise, filling the position is not the end of her responsibilities; she checks in and follows-up if there are concerns. We know that she cares about the candidates and the company.”

“Dana Associates has helped to professionalize our sales organization over the past few years in many ways. Their candidates are always exceptional professionals; they clearly take extra time to source the best sales professionals in the market and are particular in terms of who they will present to a company. The extra time they take also means they can give you a very specific profile of the candidate they are presenting, allowing you to know more about the prospective candidate than any other headhunting firm I have ever worked with. They work hard to understand your staffing needs, often in ways you hadn't thought of yourself, by asking very useful and important questions to best understand the position, the organization, the people, and culture to maximize the success rate of a candidate that will fit long term.”

Finally, they have advised us on ways to structure offers, and develop hiring plans that truly impact the successful growth of our company. We have several key management sales professionals in place today that are exceptional performers, allowing our company to grow from $32 to $51 million in sales. This growth has given us further bank financing and investment community interest that would not have been possible without such hires from Dana Associates. We are truly grateful for the impact they have made on the success of our company.

“My experience in working with Denise Grant of Dana Associates is that she is the 'one to go to' for hiring sales professionals; she is straight-forward, professional, hard-working, and has incredible attention-to-detail. Although I have known her for about two years, we have worked together for the past seven months to build my sales team. She knows what I am looking for in a sales professional and delivers the results. Denise has been able to profile our needs, and find the right candidate for them; she does not try to 'fit a round peg into a square hole'. Unlike other recruiters who are more concerned with earning their fees, her major concern is not the fee, but building long-term relationships with her clients. Probably 65 - 70% of our current sales force has been recruited through Dana Associates. I have been extremely satisfied with the quality/retention of those sales team members.”

“I have known Denise Grant for over twenty years, and have used her services to fill sales positions for a number of different companies, all of which have high-end solution selling requirements. She has consistently been able to source exceptional sales professionals, who are smart, unique, know the reality of the business, and are able to 'ramp up quickly'. Regardless of the specific organization for which I might be hiring, Denise always knows what I need and like in a sales professional. Shortly after starting the search, she will frequently call to tell me 'you have to meet this person'; she is rarely wrong. She is able to find those unique sales professionals, who understand solution selling, and how to find a workable solution for their clients. When I have to hire in the greater Boston area, Denise Grant is the first person that I think of working with.”

“As an HR manager at a financial services company, I used Dana Associates a number of times to search for the right candidate for sales positions in our organization. When we were hiring, particularly to fill a critical sales role, there was significant pressure from senior management to get 'the right candidate' for that job. Unlike any other recruiter that we have ever worked with, Denise Grant knows the placement business. I can't say enough about the screening process; she educated herself so that she fully understood our company, the people, and the sales role. She thought of everything, and only sent candidates that she knew would fit the bill. Denise made certain that she kept current about changes in our organization, and never once wasted our time. I hold Denise Grant in very high regard, and have never known an executive recruiter, who is so proactive and insightful!”

“Our company is a leader in the development and manufacturing of microwave absorbing materials and has an extremely specialized, technical environment. This was not a typical sales search for what we required was an individual that was highly skilled and had expertise in both engineering and sales. From the very beginning, Denise Grant brought greater value to our project than merely supplying us with candidates to fill this position. She was able to identify through both telephone and in-person interviews with the GM, VP of Sales, Sr. Sales Engineer, and me that we had different expectations and ideas about what the ideal candidate would be. Even more importantly she helped us reach a shared understanding of what we were looking for and what we needed for our organization; this was huge. Denise is very intuitive, and had the strength to be direct and forthcoming in her interactions with us. By identifying the inconsistencies, and helping us to 'get on the same page', she was able to send us candidates that were 'exactly as advertised' and met the very specific criteria that we had determined. We ended up interviewing only three candidates; they were very different from each other, yet each met the job criteria and filled the bill exactly. Her process for identifying and interviewing prospective candidates is very effective; we were so pleased with one of the candidates that we stopped our search, and hired him immediately. Denise is so impressive; she is powerful, assertive and such a valuable asset to any organization searching for sales professionals.”

“What was outstanding about working with Denise Grant was her ability to listen deeply and quickly understand my organization's specialized requirements. Her assignment was to find a senior level sales manager and a senior salesperson for the Hult International Business School, of which I am Global Head of Sales and Marketing. My company, although part of a large established parent organization, is very analogous to an entrepreneurial startup with the environment and needs of a small company. Denise was able to 'capture my expectations' and present candidates that understood strategy and had managerial capacity. Since I am based in Switzerland and travel extensively, her availability, flexibility and quickness made a tremendous difference. Dana Associates was a really good fit for my needs ...good follow-up, clear and easy communication, immediate responsiveness. I will definitely come back to Dana Associates to meet my U.S. placement needs.”

“I have worked with Denise Grant of Dana Associates as both a client and as a candidate. She is smart, quick and effective, taking into account both the personality of the candidate and the environment of the client to ensure long-term success. Denise has the unique ability to identify and deliver impressive and capable candidates, keeping my interests in mind in pursuing those candidates. She effectively manages the job search process from the beginning of the search to its fulfillment; she doesn't waste my time.”

“I have used Dana Associates to recruit for new business sales positions, which are the hardest sales positions to fill. The candidates that have been sent to me for interviews have shown a history of over-performance, ambition, intelligence and have been well-prepared for the interview. Denise Grant, president of Dana Associates, is also a motivating and effective executive, therefore she tends to attract and send candidates to me that embrace those same qualities. Candidates that I have hired, who were sent by Dana Associates, have been very successful in their roles at Forrester.”