by GRS Managing Director Matt Loczi*

I’ve been in the recruiting business my entire career, and this time of the year always proves to be the most challenging for sales leaders.

Let me share one example for you.

A few years back, I worked with a sales director who always waited until January to “get serious” about hiring. Great guy. Smart. Big goals. But every year the same thing happened: January hit… and he was already two months behind.

Planning is the part no one wants to do. But it’s also the part that wins the quarter.

Here are four moves you can make right now so your team walks into Q1 with momentum instead of excuses.

1. Get brutally clear on who you need to grow — before the holidays hit.

Not a fuzzy “we’ll probably need another rep.” I mean role, territory, quota expectations, experience band, and the real skill gaps on your team.

Most teams carry hidden gaps like:

• No one owns the technical demo.

• Too many reps farming and not enough hunting.

• One superstar doing the work of three.

Write it down. Name the gap. Decide what “better” looks like.

Once you know exactly who you’re hiring, the process gets 10x faster.

2. Build your Q1 pipeline now, not later.

Everyone assumes candidates disappear during the holidays. They don’t. They just get quieter. But they’re listening.

The “I’m not really looking yet” candidates? That’s where the magic is. Those passive folks start thinking hard about their career after a tough year, a bad review, or a bonus that didn’t impress.

Start conversations now. Warm them up. Get them curious. January becomes the close of the process, not the start.

3. Sync with operations and marketing before you go into 2026 blind.

I’ve seen more missed targets from misalignment than from bad selling.

Talk to operations and find out:

What lead times are changing?

Which products are going to be tight?

What’s launching?

What’s dying?

Talk to marketing and find out:

What campaigns are coming?

Who are they targeting?

Where do they need reps with sharper technical chops?

When sales, ops, and marketing speak the same language before year-end, your whole team stops tripping over each other.

4. Be honest about the skills your team needs to level up.

Every director knows their “wish list,” but few say it out loud.

Does your team struggle with one of these?

• Pricing conversations

• Value-based selling

• Prospecting discipline

• Technical storytelling

• Negotiation

Pick one skill your team must level up in Q1.Choose it deliberately. Tie it to revenue. Train toward it.

It’s amazing how much pipeline turns around when the team all rows in the same direction.

The leaders who win Q1 don’t wait for Q1.

Every December, I see two kinds of sales directors:

1. The ones who coast into the holidays and spend January rebuilding.

2. The ones who lock in their hiring plan, warm the right candidates, and hit January already moving.

Guess which group hits their number more often...

If you want help shaping that Q1 hiring plan or identifying the right sales talent, we’re here.

It’s what we do every day at GRS.

Ready to stop rebuilding every January?

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*Matt Loczi is a hands-on industrial sales recruiter with a passion for connecting high-growth manufacturers and distributors with hard-to-find sales talent. When he’s not hunting unicorns for his clients, you’ll find him spending time with his family, listening to reggae, reading negotiation books, and quietly raising the bar on what “great hire” really means. Connect with Matt on LinkedIN here.