The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

It’s already time to look ahead into 2025. What are your priorities, and how are you going to set yourself up for success?

Here are 12 talent-related items to consider focusing on in the coming year. Bookmark this blog to reference it monthly, or take a few minutes right now to add these items to your calendar.

The most common reason employees give for quitting their last job is that their manager didn't care about them. 70% of top performers who leave their jobs point to a breakdown in a relationship.

Those employees aren’t your strugglers, or even your run-of-the-mill, average players. They are your top performers—those who you worked so hard to recruit, invested time in training and coaching, and who lead to the biggest growth in your organization.

Even though they may want to advance their careers, earn a living, support their families, and contribute to society – if an individual does not believe they can trust their manager to have their best interests at heart, they usually can’t keep doing the job.

Have you ever spilled coffee down your shirt just before leaving for work and decided it would be a bad day?

You expected it to be a bad day, so it probably was! A negative mindset can set the tone for the hours to come.

On the other hand, have you ever felt so good about a presentation you were making that you walked in with super-charged confidence and a little extra bounce in your step? Odds are, your confidence level led to a top-notch performance, and that led to a positive outcome.

Both of those situations are examples of self-fulfilling prophecies. Self-fulfilling prophecies don’t just apply to you; they also apply to managing others.

We know that top-performing salespeople are extremely driven to meet and exceed their goals. With that drive also comes the desire to continue to move up the ladder.

As a leader, it’s natural to have these salespeople “next on this list” to move up when a position becomes available. But are all top-performing salespeople destined to become top-performing managers?

There’s a whole lot more to recruiting the right person for your team than just matching resumes to job descriptions. It’s about cultivating experiences and creating an impression that goes beyond a mere transaction.

In today’s candidate-led job market, your company's reputation matters—a lot. Many of the people who have the power to influence your reputation are those you’re recruiting. It's not just about the role you’re filling anymore; it's also about building relationships.

But why should you really care?

It takes a unique set of talents to be successful in B2B sales. People who are naturally self-motivated and have a strong desire to win consistently outperform the rest.

But here’s the catch—these same people are those who crave recognition for their performance the most.

Recognition isn’t just “nice to have;” but a crucial element in boosting employee motivation and job satisfaction. Consistent recognition can be the key to unlocking each of your team members’ full potential.

Navigating through the selection process to find the next strong addition to your team can feel like navigating through an obstacle course.

The direction that seems like a safe bet may be mired with hidden traps. The direction that makes your internal “red flags” go up could be just as dangerous, though. How do you know what the right decision is?

Let’s walk through some common “red flags” and “green lights” hiring managers experience with candidates. They may not always be what they appear to be.

In species terms, a hippo is the world’s third largest mammal, but in business terms, a hippo refers to the Highest Paid Person’s Opinion.

Have you ever been in a meeting where people ask for opinions, but no one speaks up until the HiPPO in the room speaks? Or maybe you’ve been the HiPPO in the room, and everyone’s simply always agreed with everything you’ve said. When the HiPPO dominates the conversation, other team members' ideas and perspectives can be overshadowed.

Have you ever hired someone who seemed perfect on paper, but ended up being a terrible fit for your team? What about someone who blew you away during the interview process, but then turned out to be a totally different person once you brought them on board?

If we each had a crystal ball to gaze into, the hiring process would be so much easier. Instead, hiring the wrong person is oftentimes a tough learning experience.

Here are five important lessons every hiring manager needs to learn. Keep reading to avoid learning them the hard way!

Picture your sales team working together like a well-oiled machine. They collaborate effectively, support each other without question, celebrate every success with enthusiasm, and, of course, they close a lot of deals.

Now, imagine adding a new member to this tight-knit group who has top talent, skills, and experience on paper but clashes with the team. He doesn’t collaborate well, wants all of the recognition for himself, and blames mistakes on others. Suddenly, the harmony is disrupted, and chaos threatens to unravel the team you’ve worked hard to build. But he looked like a great fit on paper, right?

Finding the right fit goes beyond skills and experience —it's about cultural alignment. In today's fiercely competitive business landscape, cultural alignment in recruitment has become more than just a buzzword; it's a strategic necessity.