The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

In this episode, we’re exploring what smart sales leaders do before their top performers resign. 

And joining Matt is Beth Sunshine, SVP/Talent Services at The Center for Sales Strategy. 

Her contribution to the 2025 Talent Magazine highlights the importance of being ready long before turnover happens. And, here, she shares actionable ways to build that readiness into your talent strategy. 

Beth brings so much wisdom to the table, including: 

• Why it’s essential to protect the relationships with your people who leave, because “boomerang” employees are all too common 
• How, when it comes to referrals, vague requests get vague results  
• And, finally, why the only thing more expensive than making the wrong hire, is waiting too long to make the right one

In this episode, we’re diving into how identifying and leveraging innate talent (rather than just experience) can help leaders build stronger, higher-performing sales teams. 

And helping Matt unpack it all is Trey Morris, VP/Senior Consultant/Director of Training Innovation at The Center for Sales Strategy. Trey’s article in the 2025 Talent Magazine explores how smart hiring decisions can transform team performance, and, here, he brings those insights to life with practical strategies and real-world examples. 

Trey shares so many eye-opening tips, like: 

• Why hiring for raw potential often yields better results than hiring for polish or experience alone 
• How to spot innate talent during the interview process using tools like structured assessments 
• And, finally, why, every time you interact with anyone, you should ask yourself: “Is this someone that I could I add to my Talent Bank?” 

In media sales, top talent is developed, not found.

The 6th Annual Media Sales Report reveals a consistent theme across high-performing teams: intentional learning and development. But while salespeople crave growth, most organizations still struggle to deliver it consistently.

Here’s what the data from the Learning & Development section of the report tells us, and what sales leaders must do to bridge the performance gap.

Sales leaders are constantly asking: “Are we hiring the right people?” and “Are we coaching them to reach their full potential?” The answer to both begins with using the right sales talent assessment. In this post, we’ll explore how a validated, role-specific assessment can help you hire smarter, coach better, and build a high-performing sales team.

Both questions are essential to long-term success, and both can be answered more confidently with the help of a validated talent assessment.

Each year, The Center for Sales Strategy’s Media Sales Report offers an up-close look at the evolving dynamics of media sales departments. The 6th annual report reveals important shifts in recruitment, structure, and compensation, and offers insights sales leaders can’t afford to ignore.

Here’s what we uncovered in the Sales Department section as well as what media sales managers should do about it.

What Skyscrapers Can Teach Us About Sales Structure

Imagine trying to construct a skyscraper without blueprints or support beams. Even with the finest materials and most skilled workers, the building would never stand tall—or worse, it might collapse. The same is true for your sales organization. A well-designed sales structure is the framework that supports everything your team does. Without it, your efforts might look busy but lack the stability and scalability needed to grow.

From Steel Beams to Sales Teams: Why Structure is Everything

A solid sales structure acts as the steel frame of your business development skyscraper. It dictates how efficiently tasks are handled, how well your team collaborates, and ultimately, how effectively deals are closed. Conversely, a shaky structure causes confusion, inefficiency, and underperformance—no matter how talented your team is. Just as engineers routinely inspect the integrity of a tall building, leaders must regularly evaluate their sales structure to ensure it’s supporting performance and growth.

Let’s face it—not every prospect deserves a spot on your call list.

That can be a tough realization, especially for newer sellers who assume every business with a budget is a viable lead. But experienced sales pros know better. Your time, energy, and focus are limited resources. If you want to grow your revenue and hit your goals, you have to get ruthless about prioritization.

Here are three key questions to help you separate real opportunities from the ones that just waste your time.

If you're grappling with organizing your sales team or pinpointing issues in your current structure, you're not alone. Many sales leaders face these challenges, and understanding the right sales organizational structure can make a significant difference.

Determining the best way to organize your sales team is important, and you're likely looking to find the most efficient sales structure. Your sales team organization matters, because it can affect the sales that you make and the revenue you bring in.

Let's talk about what the different kinds of sales organizational structures are and list some pros and cons. Then, we can discuss how you should go about organizing your own sales team.

As a sales manager, your role in guiding your team through the initial Connect phase of the sales process is crucial.

At The Center for Sales Strategy, the connection phase is an integral part of our comprehensive sales process, known as the Sales Accelerator. This process is designed to align with the modern buying journey and includes six critical steps: Identify, Connect, Discover, Advise, Close, and Grow.

The Connect phase focuses on using insights to develop a compelling reason for engagement and build rapport with potential customers. By mastering this phase, sellers can establish trust and credibility, making it easier to move prospects through the subsequent stages of the sales process. It is all about establishing meaningful connections with prospects, and it sets the foundation for a successful sales journey.

Here are some effective coaching ideas to help your team excel in this critical phase: