Just because someone excels in their role doesn’t mean they should interview new hires—especially if they’re a salesperson. In this episode, Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller reveal why great salespeople often make the worst hiring decisions, how to spot the right evaluators for your team, and the mindset shift that separates a persuasive seller from a discerning buyer.

Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:

• The role of a job seeker in an interview.
• The role that an interviewer should be playing.
• Why Dan isn’t involved in the hiring process at Strategic Coach®.
• A secret ingredient in the Strategic Coach hiring process.
• The powerful question you should ask every prospective customer and team member.

Show Notes:

Salespeople shouldn’t conduct interviews because they’ll treat every interaction like a sale—focused on overcoming objections rather than evaluating fit.

Great salespeople are wired to close deals, which means they’ll prioritize getting a "yes" over finding the right candidate.

A sales-driven interviewer risks hiring the wrong person simply because they couldn’t resist "winning" the interaction.

As the person doing the hiring, you’re the buyer, not the seller.

It’s the job of the applicant to convince you they’re the right fit.

It’s not the interviewer’s job to get the applicant excited about the position.

Your hiring team should be dispassionate evaluators—think poker players, not persuaders.

The best hires are those who sell you on their ability to contribute to your company’s future.

Confidence in hiring comes from being decisive, not from convincing someone to join.

Trust your instincts—if a candidate feels off early on, that feeling rarely improves over time.

Resources:

Unique Ability®

Free Zone Frontier by Dan Sullivan

How To Improve Business By Asking Good Questions

Always Be The Buyer by Dan Sullivan

Your Business Is A Theater Production: Your Back Stage Shouldn’t Show On The Front Stage

Are you holding back, waiting for the “right” decision? In this episode, Shannon Waller and Dan Sullivan reveal why taking action—even imperfect action—is the key to entrepreneurial momentum. Discover how making any decision unlocks feedback, reduces anxiety, and activates your best thinking, while indecision keeps you stuck. Plus, learn practical strategies to overcome perfectionism and move forward.

Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:

• The importance of making a decision that requires that you take action.
• How indecision leads to more indecision.
• What you sacrifice when you refuse to choose.
• How to get a clear picture of the situation you’re in.

Show Notes:

Taking action, even with imperfect information, is better than staying stuck in indecision.

The problem with making no decision is that you’re not changing the situation that’s paralyzing you.

When you can’t make a decision, the pressure builds on you exponentially, as does the feeling of isolation and disconnection from your team and your goals.

As soon as you start taking action, you get an enormous amount of information about whether it was a right action or a wrong action.

Perfectionism is the enemy of progress.

Humans are best when they’re in motion.

People become unproductive when they’re not making decisions.

You don’t have to make the right decision. You can make a decision, and then make it right.

Clarity and confidence come after you commit, not before.

Decisive entrepreneurs make mistakes, but they also learn and adapt much faster than indecisive ones.

When you’re indecisive, you lose access to your wisdom, experience, and problem-solving abilities.

The act of deciding eliminates alternative options and allows your mind to focus on what matters most.

Protecting your role and saying no to distractions is a by-product of being decisive about your commitments.

The word “decide” literally means to “kill off” alternatives, freeing you from mental clutter and overwhelm.

Resources:

The 4 C’s Formula by Dan Sullivan

The Gap And The Gain by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy

The Impact Filter™

An entrepreneur for over 35 years, Gary Mottershead is the founder and president of GCP Industrial Products, the largest U.S. importer of industrial sheet rubber, serving customers across North America. In this episode, he shares the highs and lows of his career, as well as his goals as a Program Coach for The Strategic Coach® Program.

Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:

• What Gary considers to be his most important responsibility.
• How Gary’s entrepreneurial career started with an actual tire fire.
• How he and his team built up their “crisis muscle.”
• Why reinterpreting your past and protecting your present is crucial to entrepreneurial success.
• How Strategic Coach® helps entrepreneurs sharpen their vision.
• Why Gary chose to write a book—and what he learned from the process.
• How entrepreneurs can overcome FOMO.

Show Notes:

If you’re going to bring children into the world, you should look after them.

Having a support system at home is vital to the success of any entrepreneurial family.

Stability in some areas of your life can give you the energy to handle changes in others.

Sometimes, not making a decision is the greater risk.

There are things entrepreneurs feel compelled to do without knowing why.

Trying to be significant before you’re successful is doing things backwards.

The time isn’t up unless you decide it’s up.

The mark of an entrepreneur is not how often you get knocked down, but how many times you get back up.

You’ll handle a situation more calmly if you’ve experienced something similar before.

Being nimble is a mindset.

Forgiveness means letting go of the hope for a better past.

You can rewrite your own story, keeping only what’s important.

The future isn’t written yet—which means you can still shape it.

Entrepreneurship is a lifestyle, not just a job.

Without intention and direction, too much information can paralyze you.

The hardest thing for an entrepreneur is being honest with themselves.

You can only help those who want to be helped.

Resources:

Kolbe A™ Index

Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Nimble Future: Reinterpret Your Past, Protect Your Present, Engage In Your Future by Gary Mottershead

Unique Ability®

Time Management Strategies For Entrepreneurs (Effective Strategies Only)

The 4 Freedoms That Motivate Successful Entrepreneurs

The Self-Managing Company by Dan Sullivan