Beyond the Desk: Build Relationships, Not Sales

As Chief Revenue Officer at Madison Resources, one of my core beliefs is simple: KPIs should be designed to build relationships and drive real revenue—not just check activity boxes.

A lot of companies claim “great service” as their differentiator. That’s easy to say and hard to prove. In staffing, especially, the perception is that candidates from one agency are just like the next. When everyone’s saying the same thing, how do you stand out?

It starts at the very beginning of the sales cycle, and it gets proven over time. You earn trust by doing things differently: by showing up curious, not pitch-ready.

Don’t go for the close too early. This is a people business. You’re not selling software. If you're trying to be a trusted advisor, your first few conversations should be about learning the client’s business—what they need, what they’ve experienced, and how they measure success.

A good friend and industry pro, Tim Giehll, once shared a few simple but powerful questions:

• What have your best staffing experiences looked like?

• What made them work?

• What’s gone wrong before - and why?

• How do you really measure your vendors?

• What are your peak seasons and pressures?

• What would make your life easier?

  
  

These questions aren’t just discovery, they’re relationship-builders. They show you’re not just there for the order; you’re there for the long game.

Forget activity quotas, focus on meaningful contacts. I had lunch a while back with James Oh, a former client and friend. We swapped stories about sales teams being buried under metric-driven pressure: 50 calls, 10 meetings, handing out 20 business cards (for real), rinse and repeat. It rarely works. Why? Because the focus shifts from quality to checking boxes. Rapport disappears, and revenue follows it out the door.

In my earlier days managing sales teams, nothing drained performance faster than arbitrary metrics. Good reps want to win. Great reps want to solve. But they need the space to listen, dig deep, and position themselves as problem-solvers.

The best staffing pros aren’t chasing orders, they’re winning relationships. Ken Tracy ex-CEO of Talemed, a travel nurse staffing company, runs a great example of this. His team doesn’t just sell, they advise. They focus on understanding client goals and solving for those. That’s how you build a client base that sticks around.

Let me take you back to my days at Bertucci’s Meat Market. We were a small shop surrounded by big-box grocers. One Christmas Eve, a customer came in looking for a specific roast and we were sold out. She was ready to walk out disappointed. I asked her one question: “What do you like about that cut?”

That one question changed everything. We found a better solution, she left happy, and she stayed a loyal customer, even after moving out of the neighborhood.

The point? Ask better questions, listen more, and solve with purpose. Whether you’re selling staffing, steak, or financing - it’s about understanding what the customer is really trying to accomplish.

So no, I don’t believe in KPIs that just push activity. I believe in KPIs that push progress: relationships, solutions, and ultimately, revenue.

Photo credit: Hitachi Business