Sales Talent Agency

A HUGE shout out to Anna Szymanska for being one of the best recruiters around 🌟 The best recruiters make the (often stressful) interview process easy and stress-free for both clients and candidates. Anna is exceptional at this. Looking for a top-notch recruitment partner? Don’t hesitate to reach out to Anna or any of our exceptional STA team members 💚

In the US, 32.6M people will be working REMOTELY by 2025 😮 That's MORE than the COMBINED global workforce of the S&P500 🤯 The world has CHANGED A LOT since 2020. How much? Right before COVID hit, less than 9M people worked remotely in the US. That's almost a 4X increase in remote work in 5 years! This is a whole new way of working and we are all still figuring it out. So let's give some grace to those who are trying to figure this new way out vs thinking that the only right way is the old way. Because that logic breaks very quickly. And make those saying it sound like an old 🦖 🤷♂️ ------ We discuss this and other fun topics on Topline 🎙️. Our goal: to try to separate the signal from the noise for Founders & Operators. Click 'view my website' to 🎧 to the latest episode 🤟 ------

AI is changing the tech landscape–dominant players AND business strategies will need to adapt. Can they? And by how much? 🤔 In this week’s Topline Newsletter, Sales Talent Agency CEO, Asad Zaman shared his thoughts on how innovative AI technology will threaten Tech incumbents–and even impact how we do SaaS sales. As AI reshapes industries, Sales Tech will be crucial. The question is whether large incumbents (like Salesforce and Hubspot) will evolve quickly enough to handle unstructured data. Likely it’ll be today’s start-ups that will be better positioned to adapt and challenge incumbents. Day by day, AI tools change how we prospect and build sales pipeline–from prospecting to closing. Ultimately, though, while a select few companies with a huge TAM and extreme product-market fit might benefit from a fully AI-automated process, our bets are on humans to better differentiate solutions within competitive markets and create memorable experiences. At the core of it all: to run a successful GTM function, you must build elite sales teams and leverage top-tier tools. — Want to read more? The full newsletter is linked in the comments below 👇🏽 #AI #SalesTech #Investment #FutureOfSales #TechInnovation

Ready to take the next step in your career? 👀 Here are our top five roles of the week: 1️⃣ HVAC Sales Representative (#Vaughan) with Ontario's leader in Ductless, Furnace, central A/C, and boiler distribution equipment. With 40 years of experience, they provide clients with the best brands in the market and the latest HVAC systems and solutions. 2️⃣ Sales Coordinator (#MapleRidge) with a leading producer and exporter of high-quality cedar shakes and shingles. Based in Maple Ridge, the company has earned a reputation as an industry leader, providing both pressure-treated and fire-retardant treatments. The company has a global reach, with their largest marketing being in the US. 3️⃣ Business Development Representative (#Toronto) with a deep tech data platform designed to process unstructured data. The company's platform uses artificial intelligence and natural language programming to provide business data enrichment, enabling clients to automate all of the prospecting tasks and enhance their business. 4️⃣ Territory Account Manager (#Mississauga) with a 60-year-old industry leader specializing in storage solutions, fleet management, lift trucks, and service, is seeking a dynamic addition to their sales team. With over 800 dedicated employees and a commitment to excellence, our client is renowned for their unparalleled customer service and innovative solutions. 5️⃣ Technical Sales Consultant (#Toronto) with one of the world's largest manufacturers of formwork, scaffolding and engineering solutions to the construction industry. In business since 1969, this well-funded international organization is a household name in the industry. Their mission is to provide the best service to customers while making construction more efficient, faster and safer. The full job descriptions are linked in the comments. Please apply directly to any that interest you, and browse our job board for even more openings! 👇 #Hiring #Sales #CanadaJobs #STAtoday

Yesterday, our Toronto team at Sales Talent Agency enjoyed a day at the beach to connect in person for a fun gathering at Ashbridges Bay 🏖️🩴 As a remote-first company, we do our best to get together in person several times a year. We always try to plan fun events to encourage camaraderie, friendly competition and collaboration–which we absolutely needed as we were playing beach volleyball during a heat wave in Toronto! 🏐🥵 After the games & sandy shenanigans, we headed to the Toronto Beach Club for a delicious dinner and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and a gorgeous summer night out 🍾🍹 It was a great night to catch up with friends & colleagues (who also happen to be the most elite team in the industry!) We’re looking forward to more days like these in the future!!

In last week’s Topline Newsletter, our CEO, Asad Zaman, shared his thoughts on Wiz’s bold choice to walk away from the $23 billion M&A alter with Google. Rather than accept the deal, Wiz has set its sights on becoming a public powerhouse. CEO Assaf Rappaport shared the vision: $1 billion in ARR and an IPO 🚀   Big Tech acquisitions always face tough challenges with FTC scrutiny (remember the Figma-Adobe block?), and a blocked deal could cost Wiz its market lead in cybersecurity. And, the founders, with a history of successful exits (e.g., Microsoft Defender), believe they can build a world-class public company. While the venture markets face liquidity issues, there is potential for public markets to offer a pathway to significant growth–if you can successfully IPO. Wiz’s decision to "go big" echoes the journeys of giants like Google and Microsoft. It’s energizing! 🔥 Looking to stay at the forefront of tech conversations? Make sure you’re subscribed to the TopLine newsletter, with weekly insights from Asad. Find out more in the comments below 👇🏼 #TechNews #Wiz #Google #Cybersecurity #IPO #VentureCapital #MergersAndAcquisitions #Leadership #Innovation

When hiring GTM Talent, DRIVE must be #1 on your scorecard. Why: Because you can't teach drive, and you can't incentivize it. Drive isn't ambition, motivation or morale. Drive is a person's ability to consistently meet difficult goals through hard work and resiliency. It's the engine that enables a person to break through barriers to achieve their goals. Absolutely essentially for all GTM roles, especially sales roles. Why: Because in GTM roles you have to achieve difficult goals, that require hard work and the ability to try things that might not work, and still being able to move forward. The VERY BEST sales people close less than 50% of the deals they work on. They are professionals at taking losses in stride, and not letting them impact their momentum, or their approach to the next conversation. They might get screamed at on a cold call, and on the next call they need to be their best self. That's not easy. And since you can't train Drive into a person, or use incentives to activate it, you have to ensure a person brings it to the table. Which is why it has to be #1 on every scorecard for any GTM role. Because if the person doesn't score 9/10 on drive, then it doesn't matter how they score in all the other areas. It just won't work. ------ How to qualify Drive: Ask a candidate to share an example of an extremely difficult goal that they had to achieve, and walk you through their path to achieving it, with details on roadblocks, potholes and difficult moments. Everyone has one good example in them. Let them tell you about it. Then: Ask for another. And if they have another, let them walk you through it. Then: Ask for another. If they have 3 GREAT examples, you have something to work with. ------ We discuss this and other fun topics on Topline 🎙️. Our goal: to try to separate the signal from the noise for Founders & Operators. Click 'view my website' to 🎧 to the latest episode. ------

The key to a successful business is a successful team. (And, moreover, an elite go-to-market team!). Finding top sales talent isn’t easy! It’s a skill that our recruiters at Sales Talent Agency have been honing year over year. When hiring elite sales professionals, partnering with STA is a smart move. Here's why: 🕵🏻♀️Specialized Expertise: The best recruitment agencies bring unmatched industry knowledge and a vast network of job seekers. Whether you need a tech-savvy sales rep or a leader for European expansion, they have the expertise and connections to find the perfect fit. ⌛Time-Saving Recruitment: Recruiting can be time-consuming and overwhelming. Partnering with a skilled recruitment team streamlines the process, saving you time and resources. With proven methodologies and analytical tools, they deliver curated candidates quickly and efficiently. 🌟 Access to Top Talent: These agencies have access to a wide pool of sales professionals, including passive candidates who may not be actively seeking jobs. Their extensive networks and targeted selection processes ensure you get access to the best talent available. Partnering with a top-tier recruitment agency can give your business a competitive edge by providing specialized knowledge, access to top talent, and streamlined recruitment processes. It's the key to building a powerhouse sales team and staying ahead of the competition. Interested in learning more about our proven recruitment strategy at STA? Message or email one of our team members!

When you join a startup you'll get an equity grant that vests over 4 years. But chances are that you won't stay that long — less than 40% do. In fact, 25% of the folks hired by startups in 2023 didn't even make it 1 year. That means they didn't vest any equity. What should we make of this? Well, joining a startup is a high risk move. Many do it, because the upside can be much greater than joining a larger more established organization. The upside is very specific: 1. You can learn a lot faster at a startup. 2. If you do well, you can activate faster upwards mobility. 3. If you do well, and the company does well, then you can make a lot of money. You can learn a lot at a startup, irrespective of how well the company does. But, to move up and make a lot of money, both you and the startup have to do well. If that happens, then the majority of your upside will come from the equity you were granted. For that, you need to vest the equity. Generally, an equity grant vests over 4 years. Why? For many reasons, including the fact that companies use it as an incentive to drive employee retention and create an owners mindset in the employee base. If they grant everything up front, and the person leaves, then the equity would be wasted. To get the outcomes they want, they need to vest it over a period of time. So thats the deal. You are taking on a lot of risk, and so is the company. If things workout, the upside is MASSIVE. But rarely in life can you get outsized returns without taking on signficant risk. The fact that 6 out of 10 employees don't fully vest their equity is an indication of how much risk you are taking. It's generally a fair deal when you compare the risk and upside. A fair deal doesn't have to always work out in your favour. It just has to have the right balance between risk and upside. You can influence that balance a bit once you have leverage. That usually means you are an executive with a lot of brand equity based on previous impact, and the company really wants you. If that's the case, you can negotiate certain elements like double trigger clauses, longer exercise periods, etc, to influence the balance. Till then, you can't really do anything about the balance. But there is one thing you should do irrespective of where you are in your career and how much leverage you have. You should calculate the full value of your comp package based on the probability of you fully vesting your equity. Thanks to Peter Walker and the folks at Carta, you now have the data to do that.

🌟 Ready for the next step in your career? Check out some of the exciting roles we’re working on! Here are our top five roles of the week: 1️⃣ Regional Sales Manager (#Vancouver) at a company that excels in providing innovative cable and pipe seal solutions. These versatile products guarantee safety, efficiency, and operational reliability in demanding projects around the world. They proudly serve major customers such as the Toronto Transit Commission, Hydro One, and numerous provincial power authorities across Canada. 2️⃣ VP of Sales (#Toronto) with a provider of indoor lighting solutions that allow greenhouse operators to control the sunlight that their indoor plants receive. Their product is tried and tested and has come out of trial phases swinging for the fences. They raised $30M in funding and are looking to use it to grow their business in Canada and beyond. 3️⃣ Sales Enablement Manager (#Toronto) with a company that provides a Fundraising Intelligence platform that incorporates big data, AI, and automation to power modern fundraising. They offer the most comprehensive and innovative advancement and fundraising CRM, which is enhanced with rich data and insights and revolutionary AI content creation functionality. They help drive efficiency, productivity, and impact for nonprofit, education, and healthcare organizations and empower them to have the right conversation, with the right donor, at the right time—every time. 4️⃣ Account Manager (#Toronto) with a company that specializes in ground freight transportation and has no limitations of industry or products when it comes to transportation. Their versatile services of dry vans, specialized freight (Oversized, dimensional, overweight), temperature control, etc. allow them to overcome any challenges to provide the best customer experience and service! They have an amazing 99.02% pick-up time and 99.07% on-time delivery with a .001% claim rate. 5️⃣ Account Executive - Technical Recruitment (#Toronto) with a Technology Human Capital Organization that provides Technology Talent Advisory services and Technical Recruitment. Located in Toronto and working with clients across Canada, they support large enterprises, government and start-up customers. Our client connects technology organizations with the most important resource to achieve their goals: their people. The full job descriptions are linked in the comments. Please apply directly to any that interest you, and browse our job board for even more openings! 👇 #Hiring #Sales #CanadaJobs #STAtoday