GSD on The Valuable Mind Podcast: Fixing a Broken Hiring Process

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I recently had the pleasure of joining Brandon Poni on The Valuable Mind podcast for a wide-ranging conversation about the real, in-the-trenches work of building elite sales teams.

We covered my journey from a door-to-door vacuum salesman to a SaaS sales leader, and how the frustrations I faced in that role led me to build a completely new playbook for recruiting. For anyone tired of the traditional "post and pray" hiring model, this episode is for you.

Here are a few of the key takeaways from our conversation.

The Origin Story: Fixing a Problem You Can't Ignore

My journey into recruiting wasn't a choice; it was a necessity. As a sales leader at the fast-growing startup Trulia, I was spending five hours a day interviewing candidates I knew I would never hire. Faced with the choice to quit, complain, or fix it, I chose to fix it. I spent months teaching myself how to be a recruiter and started sourcing candidates at 4 am every morning, bypassing our internal department to find the A-Players we needed to fuel our growth to a $3.5 billion exit.

The GSD Playbook: A System, Not a Search

That experience became the foundation for GSD. Our entire model is built on a few core, non-negotiable principles:

• The "Ocean to Pond" Method: We don't believe in collecting thousands of irrelevant connections. We teach our clients how to build a small, curated "pond" of their ideal candidates and customers, turning their network into a high-signal, strategic asset.
• The "3-Question Tactic": A-Players know their numbers cold; B-Players make them up. We use a simple, three-part questioning technique (asking for quota, % to plan, and total attainment at different times in an interview) to get to the truth and test for preparation and integrity.
• We Don't Send Resumes: We build a comprehensive "candidate profile" that serves as a full business case for why a candidate is the right fit, so our clients can make an evidence-based decision, not just a gut-feel one.

The Power of Process

The reason a two-person team can run a seven-figure business is our obsession with process. Inspired by advice from Dan Martell to "niche your niche," we had a full-day whiteboard session where we mapped out every task, eliminated 25% of the "dumb stuff," and defined our roles based on what we love and what we're great at. This discipline is the engine behind our success.

To hear the full stories and get a deeper dive into these concepts, you can watch to the complete episode here: GSD on The Valuable Mind Podcast: Fixing a Broken Hiring Process.

By Travis Janko, CEO of GSD Coach & Recruiting, helping SaaS founders build the top 5% of talent, FAST!

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