Episode Overview

Title: Owning the Recruiting Process with Andy Price
Podcast: Revenue Builders
Hosts: John McMahon & John Kaplan
Guest: Andy Price (Artisanal Ventures & Artisanal Talent)
Date: October 26, 2025

Main Theme:
This episode focuses on the critical role that sales leaders must play in actively owning and driving the recruiting process within their teams. Drawing on decades of recruiting experience, Andy Price and the hosts dive into the pitfalls of delegating hiring to HR, the shift in recruiting mentality during recent economic cycles, and actionable insights for building and sustaining high-performance sales organizations.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Importance of Sales Leaders Owning Recruiting

• Delegating Recruiting Is a Huge Mistake

  • Sales leaders must recruit their own teams—they cannot simply offload the responsibility to HR departments.
  • "Your team, believe it or not, is going to determine your own success and in your own career." — John Kaplan [00:41]
  • HR is invaluable for administrative, compliance, and benefits functions, but not for directly sourcing core talent for sales orgs.
  • “[Sales] leaders need to drive that process and own it and touch every candidate.” — John McMahon [01:32]

• Impact on Organizational DNA and Consistency

  • When sales leaders stop owning the recruiting process, the quality and culture across teams become inconsistent.
  • Successful sales orgs maintain a ‘DNA’ by having leaders set, maintain, and personally assess the talent they bring in.
  • “When these sales leaders move away from truly owning that DNA… then I think what happens is you end up with inconsistent talent across the board and things start to vibrate.” — John McMahon [02:18]

How and Why the Mentality Changed

• The ‘Go-Go Era’ and Easy Money

  • The boom of venture capital and ‘easy money’ led to larger teams, quick hiring, and a “throw bodies at the problem” approach.
  • “Everyone just had so many resources… I think people got lazy, honestly.” — John McMahon [03:00]
  • Over-reliance on sheer numbers led to "burning through lots of money" by hiring average or below-average talent.
  • “When you recruit a bunch of C’s and D’s, you’re gonna burn through a lot of money.” — John Kaplan [03:29]

• Aftermath: Inefficiency and Frustration

  • When leaders don’t have a personal, quality network to draw from, onboarding suffers and recruiting overhead balloons.
  • Founders then become frustrated with the inconsistency and escalating costs of recruiting in this system.
  • "The quality of the network [sales leaders] are able to hire is a big determinant of success or failure.” — John McMahon [04:11]

What Makes a Great Sales Leader? (Beyond Selling and Managing)

• Recruiting Ability as a Core Attribute

  • A key differentiator among sales leaders is their ability to recruit top talent and bring a strong network with them.
  • "I'm not only looking, you know, can they sell and can they manage? The biggest question I have is, who are they going to bring?" — John Kaplan [04:44]
  • If a leader can’t attract A-players, it signals their reputation and performance outside the company may be lacking.

• Being the Type of Leader People Want to Follow

  • Top sales reps want to work for leaders they believe can advance their careers and lead them to success.
  • "If you’re going to go to work for a sales leader, you have to believe that they’re going to get you to the next level." — John Kaplan [05:36]
  • Relates the leadership dynamic to military metaphors: great generals attract committed troops; poor leaders can’t inspire or recruit top performers.
  • "Would you follow the general that kept losing battles?... I want to be the Marines taking island by island, and we’re going to follow that person to the end of the earth." — John McMahon [05:50]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Sales Leaders’ Role in Recruiting:

  "You have to own the recruiting process. You cannot delegate it to anybody else because you're recruiting your own team." — John Kaplan [00:41]

• On the Dangers of Delegation:

  "It's actually a huge mistake because... nobody ever invests heavily enough in HR to do it successfully." — John McMahon [01:19]

• On the Risks of Losing Focus:

  “...when these sales leaders move away from truly owning that DNA... then I think what happens is you end up with inconsistent talent across the board and things start to vibrate.” — John McMahon [02:18]

• On the Cost of Bad Recruiting:

  “When you recruit a bunch of C's and D's, you're gonna burn through a lot of money.” — John Kaplan [03:29]

• On What Defines a Great Sales Leader:

  "The biggest question I have is, who are they going to bring? Who are they going to recruit?" — John Kaplan [04:44]

• On Leadership and Inspiration:

  “Would you follow the general that kept losing battles?... I want to be the Marines taking island by island, and we're going to follow that person to the end of the earth." — John McMahon [05:50]

Timestamps for Crucial Segments

• [00:41] – The necessity of sales leaders owning the recruiting process
• [01:18] – Why delegating recruiting to HR is a mistake
• [02:18] – The consequences of sales leaders losing control over team DNA
• [03:00] – How the ‘Go-Go Era’ of easy money changed recruiting culture
• [04:11] – The critical importance of a leader’s network
• [04:44] – What John Kaplan looks for when hiring sales leaders
• [05:36] – The link between leadership reputation and recruitment ability
• [05:50] – Military metaphor: Why people follow great leaders

Takeaways for Listeners

• If you are a sales leader, recruiting is your job—don’t hand off the most crucial driver of your results.
• Building and maintaining your own network is vital to scaling effectively and efficiently.
• Assessment of candidates should include who they can bring with them and the strength of their professional following.
• A leader unable to attract or recruit top talent is sending an unspoken signal about their own limitations.

For deeper insights and more examples, listen to the full episode (link in show notes).