Bill Jacobs Case Study
Building a Scalable People Strategy at Bill Jacobs Using PDP

KNOW YOUR STRENGTHS
Phil Olsen, a highly-regarded business consultant with over 22 years of experience with PDP, was already well-established in the consulting field when he considered partnering with PDP Global. As the President of Know Your Strengths, a consultancy focused on matching talents with tasks, Phil had tried several assessment tools but felt they lacked precision, accuracy, and adaptability. That’s when PDP Global came into the picture and changed everything for him.
Company Overview
Industry: Auto
Location: Chicago, IL
Employee Size: 325
Instruments Used
ProScan®
TeamScan®
JobScan®
JobScan Models Created
Career Advancements
Company-Wide ProScan Completion
The Challenge
- Limited data to guide hiring decisions
- Succession planning challenge
- High-stakes CEO vacancy
- Lacked structure for employee growth
Bill Jacobs Automotive Group, a well-established, family-owned business with multiple dealership locations, faced challenges in hiring, talent development, and leadership succession. Historically, their hiring decisions relied on traditional assessments that provided broad, often generic insights, making it difficult to predict long-term success in specific roles.
When the company embarked on a search for a new CEO, they recognized the need for a more precise and strategic approach to identifying the right candidate.
Additionally, as they sought to enhance team collaboration and performance across departments, they required a tool that could provide deep behavioral insights to foster a more cohesive and efficient workforce.
The Solution
- Data-driven job models
- Strengths-based employee development
- Interactive team workshops
Bill Jacobs turned to PDP Global’s people management system to revolutionize their approach to hiring, leadership development, and team dynamics. They initially worked with The Rawls Group and consultant Dan Schneider to create a data-driven job model for the CEO role. This PDP JobScan model enabled them to assess candidates beyond just experience and qualifications, ensuring the best fit for their leadership team.
Encouraged by the successful placement of their CEO, the company expanded the use of PDP Global tools across the organization. With PDP, they could now identify high-potential individuals, map out growth paths, and align development opportunities with both personal strengths and business needs. The insights also helped improve interpersonal relationships and communication across departments, creating a more connected and collaborative workforce.
The Implementation
To ensure widespread adoption, Bill Jacobs implemented a structured rollout of the PDP Global system across their 325 employees spanning multiple dealership locations. Leadership buy-in was strong from the outset, as executives saw firsthand how effective PDP was in hiring their CEO:
Margaret Johnson, Chief Human Resources Officer
“I have prior experience with DiSC, and the tools supporting you with PDP Global are so much better. Instead of leaders relying on training that happened a year ago to estimate what profile a potential hire is and maybe how they’re going to react to stress, I get great comfort knowing that we send out the PDP Survey and we’re going to have side-by-side reports, a unique motivational checklist, and information that really spells it out for you.”
John Hernandez
Vice President Call Center Operations, MAQ Management“I have prior experience with DiSC, and the tools supporting you with PDP Global are so much better. Instead of leaders relying on training that happened a year ago to estimate what profile a potential hire is and maybe how they’re going to react to stress, I get great comfort knowing that we send out the PDP Survey and we’re going to have side-by-side reports, a unique motivational checklist, and information that really spells it out for you.”
John Hernandez
Vice President Call Center Operations, MAQ ManagementCompany-Wide ProScan Assessments & Team Workshops
Every employee completed a ProScan assessment, providing leadership with a detailed understanding of natural behavioral tendencies and workplace dynamics. TeamScan workshops then brought those insights to life through collaborative discussions and team analysis. These interactive sessions fostered deeper self- awareness, improved communication, and strengthened collaboration across departments.
Tailored Data-Driven JobScan Models
Bill Jacobs used PDP JobScan insights to refine job models for key roles, including sales, service, and management positions. By analyzing high performers’ attributes, they developed specific JobScan models tailored to each position and aligned with the unique needs of individual dealership locations.
For example, they established two distinct sales models—one identifying individuals highly suited for long-term success in sales, and another recognizing those who would excel in sales but ultimately transition into leadership roles within the organization.
Sales Advisor JobScan Model #1 | Sales Advisor JobScan Model #2 | |
![]() |
![]() |
|
Pace is the highest behavioral trait, with an Allegiance-style energy. | Extroversion is the highest behavioral trait, with a Thrust-style energy. |
Optimized Hiring & Structured Interviewing
PDP JobScan applicant match scores and reports were integrated into the applicant tracking process, allowing hiring managers to assess candidates for role alignment before making final decisions. To ensure consistency, the company developed a standardized, structured interview framework informed by PDP’s JobScan. An objective model helped align hiring decisions across different dealerships with company-wide success criteria rather than individual manager preferences.
Performance Management
PDP insights were also embedded into performance reviews to align job expectations with employee strengths and development areas. This approach ensures that employees are measured against the actual expectations of their roles. The PDP Global system has helped managers provide more targeted coaching and career development opportunities.
In one scenario, PDP ProScan results helped identify an employee struggling in sales as a strong match for the parts department instead:
“Before we made the decision to let a struggling sales team member go, I ran a PDP Career Path analysis to see if there was a better fit. The results showed he was a perfect match for the Parts Department—a role 180 degrees different from sales. He transitioned into a Parts role and ultimately led the very department he didn’t even know existed. That kind of transformation was only possible because of PDP."
Margaret Johnson, Chief Human Resources Officer
The Results
All-Time High Retention
HPOne’s retention skyrocketed by 20% to a staggering 80% rate after using the PDP People Management System to make the right hires from the start and intervene with employees close to quitting to support them. Of the 6% of the workforce identified as close to burning out during peak season, managers successfully intervened to retain every single one of them, contributing to a total 50% reduction in turnover costs.
Confident and Streamlined Hiring
Because recruiters could utilize PDP JobScan models to make informed hiring decisions, HPOne knew a 70% candidate match or higher would succeed in the role and perform well under the stress of the busy period. The Hiring Manager no longer needed to interview and give final approval for each of their 1,100 hires. When retroactively analyzing profiles of low performers hired before PDP Global was incorporated into the hiring process, HPOne determined that 75% wouldn’t have been hired in the first place had PDP job modeling been used.
Consistent Company Culture
HPOne’s company culture has always felt like being part of a family. But when Covid hit and that family shifted to remote working, it was harder to maintain that sentiment since employees weren’t experiencing the office community. PDP Global empowered the culture to grow in new ways, encouraging meaningful engagement from leaders and employees unique to their behavioral preferences. Colleagues attest that the culture still feels like a family: a fun environment with high integrity and accountability.
Leadership and Management Style Shift
Instead of leading and managing based on something “wrong” with an employee, the PDP People Management System shifted HealthPlanOne’s coaching perspective to capitalize and grow an employee’s strengths. Only after knowing someone’s strengths through ProScan can that individual be placed in opportunities to naturally succeed. HPOne used this behavioral knowledge to create small wins by giving certain tasks to individuals who genuinely enjoy doing them rather than someone who wouldn’t. Leaders appreciated hiring people who were not exactly like them because it created a more well-rounded team and released the pressure they often felt to be good at everything.
Moreover, HPOne’s HR department quickly realized that most complaints stemmed from simple miscommunication between people with different behavioral traits. ProScan equipped leaders and managers to conduct crucial conversations more effectively than before with insights into likes, dislikes, motivators, preferred communication methods, and logic styles.
The Results
Efficient Hiring
By aligning new hires with job models suited to their strengths and goals, Bill Jacobs improved the quality of hires. Employees in well-matched roles were more engaged, productive, and less likely to leave the company.
Scalable Talent Strategy
Bill Jacobs created a sustainable system for supporting long-term employee growth by embedding PDP insights into performance reviews and professional development plans, which has also been instrumental in long-term succession planning.
Stronger Collaboration & Culture
PDP insights strengthened relationships across stores, improving teamwork, communication, leadership, and growth opportunities. These improvements were reflected in higher engagement and culture survey scores.
Margaret Johnson, Chief Human Resources Officer