The C&I Energy Hiring Readiness Checklist

1. Business strategy and growth

□ Have we established 2027 revenue and gross-margin targets by market and customer segment?

□ Which geographic markets or ISO/RTO territories offer the strongest expansion opportunities?

□ Are we entering new products such as demand response, storage, or energy management?

□ Do we have sufficient management capacity to support expansion?

2. Sales and business development

□ Have we compared revenue and gross margin per salesperson?

□ Are we adequately staffed for direct enterprise sales and new customer acquisition?

□ Do we need additional sales leadership or sales operations capabilities?

□ Are our compensation plans aligned with profitable, retained business rather than volume alone?

3. Channel sales and partnerships

□ Are broker, consultant, and referral channels generating the expected results?

□ Do we need additional channel account managers or partnership directors?

□ Have we identified underperforming or underserved broker relationships?

□ Do channel managers have the technical and commercial expertise to support more complex energy products?

4. Marketing and demand generation

□ Does marketing generate enough qualified opportunities to support sales targets?

□ Do we have the right expertise in account-based marketing, CRM, and marketing automation?

□ Can we measure lead conversion, acquisition cost, and pipeline contribution?

□ Are marketing and sales jointly accountable for pipeline quality?

5. Energy consulting and technical expertise

□ Do we have sufficient expertise in energy procurement, tariffs, risk management, and load analysis?

□ Can our team explain and sell demand response, storage, and flexibility solutions?

□ Are technical consultants becoming a bottleneck in winning or servicing customers?

□ Do we need more customer-facing energy analysts or advisory professionals?

6. Have we identified mission-critical positions and likely succession gaps?

□ Are salary, incentive, and commission plans competitive?

□ Have we defined the skills, experience, and performance measures for each priority role?

□ Can we complete interviews, decisions, and offers quickly enough to secure preferred candidates?

□ Do we have onboarding and retention plans for new hires?

7. A Caveat About Hiring More People

This is a management assessment rather than a prediction that every company needs more employees.

In some firms, productivity improvements, training, or reorganizing responsibilities will be more effective than adding headcount.