Field Notes
Where Sales Strategy Meets People Strategy
Practical, research-backed lessons on hiring salespeople and sales leaders, paying them well, and keeping the good ones.
Background Checks for a Sales Hire in Ontario: What You Can Check and How
Police checks, credit checks, driving records and résumé verification each come with their own rules in Ontario. Here's what applies when you're hiring a salesperson, and where owners most often get it wrong.
How to Verify a Salesperson's Claimed Quota and Numbers Before You Hire
Every salesperson you interview was a top performer at their last job. Mathematically, that cannot be true. Here is how to separate the reps who hit their number from the ones who learned to describe hitting it.
The HR Policies Every Ontario Employer Needs (and the Order to Build Them)
You do not need forty policies. You need the right six, built in the right order. Here is the required-versus-nice-to-have stack for an Ontario SMB, sequenced.
The Employee Handbook That Holds Up in Ontario
A handbook you copied off the internet is not a shield. In Ontario it can quietly become a promise you did not mean to make. Here is what belongs in it and what to leave out.
How to Manage an Underperforming Salesperson in Ontario (Before You Reach for the Termination Letter)
A founder called wanting to fire his rep by Friday. In Ontario, that instinct is the expensive one. Here is how to manage an underperformer, and protect yourself, before you reach for the termination letter.
Non-Solicitation Clauses in Ontario: How to Protect Your Customer List When a Salesperson Leaves
Your top salesperson just resigned and you are worried about the client book. Before you reach for the non-solicitation clause, here is what that clause actually does in Ontario, why so many of them fail, and the protection that matters more.
When to Hire Your First HR Person (and Why Most Ontario Businesses Wait Too Long)
Most Ontario businesses get the timing wrong on when to hire their first HR person, waiting for a headcount number instead of the moment people risk starts costing them. Here are the real triggers, and what to cover until a full-time hire makes sense.
Hiring for culture fit is a legal landmine. Here's what to hire for instead
Hiring for culture fit may seem like good judgment, but it is often a legal minefield and a bias trap. Here is what to hire for instead, using the four dimensions of fit.
Are Non-Compete Agreements Enforceable in Ontario?
In Ontario, employee non-competes have been void since October 2021. Here is who is exempt, what it means for your sales team, and what actually protects your book of business.
The probation period myth that costs Ontario employers
Most Ontario employers treat probation as a no-risk window to let someone go. The ESA, the Human Rights Code, and the courts disagree. Here is what probation actually means, and how to run one that holds up.
Ontario's 2026 Job Posting Rules: A Compliance Test You Can Pass and Still Lose
Ontario's new job posting rules took effect January 1, 2026: posted pay ranges, AI disclosure, no Canadian-experience filters, and a 45-day reply to anyone you interview. The bare-minimum version is legal and quietly expensive. Here's the sales leader's read.
Your Annual Performance Review Measures the Manager, Not the Employee
Only 14% of employees say reviews inspire them, and more than half of a rating reflects the rater, not the person rated. Why the annual review measures the manager, what to do instead, and the Ontario documentation risk.