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.
How to Hire an Account Executive Who Can Actually Close
The best closers are often the best interviewees. That is precisely the trap. Here is how to tell a real quota-carrier from a polished story.
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.
Building a Compensation Structure That Does Not Break as You Scale
Paying by negotiation feels flexible until the day two people doing the same job find out they earn thousands apart. Here is how to build pay that scales without that landmine.
Should You Cap Sales Commissions? Why the Ceiling Costs More Than It Saves
The cap feels like discipline. Then your best rep hits the ceiling in October and quietly stops closing until January. Here is what a commission cap really costs, and what to build instead.
I Used to Think an Employee's Money Stress Wasn't My Problem
The cost of living is a business problem, and paying more is not where to start. A note to Canadian small business owners on competitiveness, AI, livable wages, and letting people share the upside they create.
What LeBron Is Teaching Us All About Retaining Top Performers
LeBron James just handed the Lakers his notice. If an organization with that much going for it can’t keep someone, what is a small business actually supposed to do when its best person walks in with the same news?
The Commission Plan That Turned Paul's Engineering Team Into the Enemy
Paul's engineering team had stopped cooperating with sales. His best business dev rep was closing deals that blew up on delivery. His longest-tenured client (eleven years) was now asking for a refund. He was convinced he had a people problem. He didn't. He had a commission plan that was quietly destroying the culture he had spent a decade building.
The People Who Quit in January Decided to Leave in October
The people who quit in January decided in October, and your comp plan often made the decision for them. With switching no longer paying a premium, a soft market strips away the easy excuse. Here is the retention fix.