4 TALENT TALK What You Need to Know to Increase Sales Performance I probably don’t need to tell you that it’s a candidate-driven market out there, but you may not realize the extent to which the pendulum has swung. The current job market is now commonly reported to be 90% candidate- driven which means you don’t pick talent anymore. Talent picks you. While recruiting and hiring top talent has always been difficult, now more than ever, sales organizations are finding it extremely expensive and time-consuming to fill an open seat with the right person. As a result, the best companies have made two significant changes to the way they do business. 1. First, they have changed their recruitment practice to focus squarely on creating a positive candidate experience. Treating job candidates in the same way they would treat their very best customers, these savvy companies are striving to earn positive reviews even from those they choose not to hire. 2. Top companies are also recommitting themselves to developing and retaining their top performers to ensure that their high- value employees remain both productive and engaged. Losing a top performer is a double- whammy, bringing both the loss of revenue and the need to return to square-one with hiring. We built this year’s issue of Turning Talent into Performance to help you shift with the market and win the raging war on talent. These pages are chock-full of the information you will need to compete with the very best in the talent arena. You are about to unearth powerful facts, trends, stories, strategies, and creative ideas that will help you turn talent into performance in your company. We’ll start your journey with a focus on Recruitment. Dig into these pages to see the results of our latest sourcing study and discover the secret to finding your next sales superstar. Discover a completely different way to hire future stars using the “tour of duty” framework, learn creative tactics you can use to keep your talent bank full, and learn the secrets of recruiting millennials. Move on to the Selection section to become adept at avoiding the most common interview pitfalls and then shine a bright light on how to hire and onboard in a way that will engage star employees. Here you will also learn best practices for using talent assessments and nail- down how you can set your new hires up for success using strong feedback.