Andy Neary - Why Top Talent Stays: They Know How to Win

Why Top Talent Stays: They Know How to Win

Why do some organizations consistently retain top performers while others struggle with turnover?

In this episode of the People/AI Strategy Forum, Sam Reeve speaks with Andy Neary, Founder of Complete Game Consulting, about the connection between employee retention, leadership, confidence, and performance. 

Andy shares the Brand Authority Blueprint, a practical framework that helps professionals and leaders identify what makes them unique, define who they serve, understand the problems they solve, and build a repeatable approach to creating value.

The discussion explores how organizations can improve recruiting, retention, sales performance, leadership development, and employee engagement by helping people gain clarity and confidence in their roles.

In This Episode:

• Why top talent stays when they know how to succeed
 • The Brand Authority Blueprint framework
 • Leadership lessons from professional sports and business
 • Building confidence through clarity and ownership
 • Recruiting and retaining high-performing employees
 • The role of trust in modern sales and leadership
 • Practical uses of AI for coaching and professional development
 • Why leaders should focus on strengths, not just mistakes
 • The importance of investing in personal growth

Key Takeaway

The best employees do not stay simply because they like where they work.

They stay because they understand how to create value, achieve success, and continue growing within the organization. 

Guest:
 Andy Neary

Learn more:
 https://completegameconsulting.com

Connect with Andy:
 https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyneary

Learn more about CompTeam:
 https://compteam.net/

Watch the full video episode:
 https://www.youtube.com/@PeopleStrategyForumPoweredByCompTeam

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the People/AI Strategy Forum on your preferred podcast platform and join the conversation! 

About the People/AI Strategy Forum
The People/AI Strategy Forum explores how leaders navigate the intersection of people strategy, leadership, and artificial intelligence. Hosted by Sam Reeve, Founder & CEO of CompTeam, the Forum features conversations with executives, practitioners, and experts shaping the future of work.

Learn more about CompTeam and the People/AI Strategy Forum at compteam.net.

Transcript

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The best people do not stay just because they like the company. They stay because they know how to win there. They understand what makes them valuable, they know where they fit, they know what problem they own, and they trust that leadership is serious about helping them succeed. So welcome to the People Strategy Forum. I'm Sam Reeve, your host and CEO of CompTeam. This show is for founders, executives, and senior HR leaders who want practical ways to attract, retain, and motivate great people in a market where talent is harder to find, harder to ramp, and frankly, faster to leave more than ever. And today's topic is Complete Game Sales Leadership: When Clarity and Confidence Collide, Action Happens. And my guest today is Andy Neary. Andy is a performance coach who works with executive teams with deep expertise in helping organizations, especially in the insurance and sales areas, improve leadership, recruiting, retention, and that sales performance, as we mentioned. In our prep conversation, Andy pointed out a challenge that is bigger than one industry, and it's harder, it's harder to find people, and especially those younger people, who want to sell. And even when companies do find them, many leaders still don't provide the kind of training that helps them succeed fast or, frankly, reveals if they're cut out for that, that role at all. So Andy, shared a practical framework he teaches inside his, his work, the Brand Authority Blueprint. We'll be going through that. It starts with four questions: What makes you unique? Who is the ideal buyer? What problems will you own? And what framework do you use to solve it? Andy, welcome and thanks for joining us today. Sam, I'm honored to be here. Looking forward to the conversation. So first, before we jump into things, Andy, can you, just go back into your, personal development story? what, got you to, to help leaders in, in the way that you help leaders today? Yeah.

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A

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great question, Sam. I, I've been in the insurance industry since 2002, and for the first 11 or 12 years of it, I was very mediocre at best. I was your typical sales guy making all the excuses, right? My territory stinks, my boss stinks, our prospects stink. but it was a move we made in 2014, I say we, my fiance and I, a move we made that really changed my career because we we decided to make a move from Wisconsin, where we were both born and raised, to Colorado, a market where nobody knows us. And when I landed in Colorado, I realized, okay, I'm... I have the task of selling insurance in a market where nobody knows me now. I have no network. I have no connections. And, quite frankly, that insurance market was definitely kind of a good old boys club. So I made a decision. I said, "Listen, at... I have no one to blame now if I don't succeed. This is on me." And it was there when I really started to learn what professional development was. I still remember the first course I ever bought, online course, was a program called Insane Productivity. it was by gentleman by the name of Darren Hardy, who was the editor of Success Magazine at the time. I invested money I really didn't have into a program that was gonna be- make me better at my profession. And I'd say it was realizing that if I was going to have success in a new market, it was entirely on me, and investing in my own success is what is going to give me the best chance to win. And I, and I s- share that because even to this day, Sam, I think that's something when we work with the people we get, the, the sales produ- sales reps we get to work with today, one thing that I see separates the best from everybody else is one's willingness to invest in their own growth, not expecting somebody else to do it for them. Yeah. No kidding. I was just, talking to another professional about the importance

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era

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to be curious. the, pace of change is, moving faster and faster, and if we're not curious, we'll quickly get left behind. We need to simply have our pulse on the market in our area of expertise and be curious to learn more. I couldn't agree more. AI, you talk about the one that requires personal professional development. that's gonna be the one the, once in a lifetime have to deal with. I don't know about you, there's not a day that goes by where if I'm not working on something with AI, like playing with it, I feel like I'm falling behind. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So Andy, tell us about the, Brand Authority Blueprint. So, going back to my story, here I am selling insurance, in Colorado. New mar- new market, no- nobody knows me. I realized, Sam, if I look like just another broker, I have no chance. And if I go in and say the same things everybody else does, they've talked to 300 guys like me. And I went to work, and honestly, in 2014, I really didn't know what I was doing. I just over time realized what I did worked, which was I've got to find a way to look different than my competition, stand out, and get attention from the right buyer And at that time, my, my differentiator, so a little bit about my backstory. I, played some pro baseball in my career as well. So I built a brand of being the former pro baseball player who sells health insurance. And what it did is it, is it created a recognizable name. And over the course of the next five years, from 2014 to 2019, what I did is slowly put a bigger and bigger megaphone on that message through social media, speaking, podcasting. And really what I did was amplify my unique message, which allowed me to go into a new market and build a really successful book of business. And the brand authority blueprint is our framework we use today. What I did back then, really not knowing what I was doing in the moment, but looking back at it, there were some definite steps I took to help me stand out. And I really believe that the blueprint works whether you're selling a product to make revenue, or you're an HR director selling yourself to the people you work with. So as you dive into that, blueprint, we have to sell ourselves every day. how do you use that, blueprint in that type of situation for yourself? you're in sales whether you like it or not. Everybody's in sa- you're selling something every day. everybody has a personal brand. Whether you know it or not, you have a personal brand. Now, the question is, does your buyer, and sometimes your buyer might be your own employees, do they recognize that brand and do they, do they align with that brand? So when we sit down with teams or, or individuals and we help them build out their brand authority blueprint, there's four pillars we focus on. Number one is what makes you unique? What's your zone of genius? And a lot of people, especially in the insurance industry, when they hear "What's your niche?" I equate zone of genius to a niche. And in the insurance industry, that often means, oh, like what industry do I specialize in? Well, a niche can also be a strategy or skill set. So if you're an executive leader inside an organization, your niche might be a skill set you have. So the first pillar is what is your zone of genius? What's your niche? The second question is who is your ideal buyer? Now, when we work with a sales rep, that's who's the prospect, right? But if you're an executive leader, it's maybe who is that ideal employee you're trying to recruit? Who is, what does your next great hire look like? Because in that case, that's your buyer. And then pillar three is what problem are you gonna own for them? I think all people who have expertise and have a brand, they don't solve 12 different problems. They solve one. They become known for one thing, and that's as true for leaders as, as it is for people in sales. And then what's the framework you're going to use to help them fix it? So if we're working with a sales rep who's selling an insurance product to businesses, right? Okay. What's your niche? Who's the buyer? What is the, the, the, the business look like? What problem are you gonna own for them? Is it insurance costs? Great. And now what's the framework you're gonna use to help them fix it? an executive who's trying to grow your organization. In order to do that, you need to recruit great talent, Who does that look like? What's the problem you're gonna own for them to help them achieve their goals? And what's the framework your organization will have for them to help them fix that problem? And that brand authority blueprint at the end of the day allows everyone within an organization to craft their own brand message. Yes. Now let's talk about, the, the building of that actual framework. I imagine different for every organization. So what's the, uh, um, how, what's the approach of building your framework of how to, do effective selling? Yeah, so when you think about selling, I'm gonna use insurance a- as an example. Again, the biggest risk you have today is looking like everybody else. And when you're putting together a sales message, when you're building a message that is uniquely yours It's gonna give you more confidence, and it's gonna give you more conviction. And when I work with our insurance clients, a sales rep who's confident and convicted in their sales message is a dangerous producer, and I say that in a very positive way. But likewise, anybody within an organization who has a message that is uniquely theirs because it's tied to their personal brand, that is a message employees can buy into. That is a message that will attract good employees, make the ones that work for you feel good they do... a great example of this, Sam, we have a client we work with, and the CEO of the insurance firm, he literally uses his LinkedIn content, his sales message, to speak to his employees. He's built a brand on LinkedIn, but he told me, "Every time I go to make a post, what I'm doing is putting out a message that I wanna share with my employees." "Because we have multiple locations, we're across several states. I can't be in front of them all the time, so I use my content to illustrate my brand to my own team to speak to them." And what that's done is they continue to expand at a very rapid pla- uh, pace. Recruiting, this has become a recruiting weapon for them. And the employees that work there, oh, they're loyal as ever. And so that's, that's my point, is this isn't just a sales tactic for somebody selling a product that makes revenue. This is a sales message for anybody inside an organization that is looking to continue to create growth for that organization. Right. And a lot of this, this blueprint is very basic, uh, starting point in, in training. so where do companies really fall short when it comes to training their salespeople to be successful? Most organizations go right to the how first. And what I mean by that is you bring in a team of sales reps, maybe they're new to your product, but they also might be new to the industry, right? And instead of helping them get really dialed in on a sales message they feel good about, they feel confident in, we go right to the, "Here's how you're supposed to sell. You're gonna make this many calls a week. You're gonna send out this many emails a week," or some cases, "You're gonna go door to door and knock on so many doors every week." Well, if we tell tell reps how to sell without giving them a sales message they feel confident about, all they're gonna do is do a ton of activity and fail. And I think this is more important than it's ever been today because Sam, right now, we're in a trust recession. It's hard to get people's trust today. Which makes it harder to sell today, and it takes longer to get somebody's trust. So if you have a message that you can share with confidence and conviction, I truly believe prospects, your buyers, feel that energy. What do you think is eroding that trust right now? I think people have a fear of AI. You know, just look at something as simple as social media, right? Every time you see a post now, your first question is, "Is this real, or is this AI?" Right there, that's trust. And I just think everything we have going on, regardless of what side of politics you're on, the war, the gas prices, Just with everything and uns- all the uncertainty going on in the world right now, I just think people, it's... Trust is hard to come by. Mm-hmm. So, speaking of AI, what is the, the best way for sales, experts or sales professionals to use AI, responsibly? I am no AI expert, so what I'm about to say is purely my point of view. I see a lot of people using AI to be the thought leader. Write this email for me, create this LinkedIn post, do this project. I read a book, called The AI-Driven Thought Leader, or, uh, The AI-Driven Leader, written by Geoff Woods, who, was one of the co-authors of The ONE Thing, another great book. And it was in his book that it really caught my attention. He said, "Your job is not to let AI be the thought leader, let it be your thought partner." You're the thought leader. Use AI to work in tandem with you so you can enhance your thought leadership, and that's, my answer to your question. If I'm a sales rep today, AI, I'm gonna be using AI to help me enhance my thought leadership, not just do a bunch of repetitive tasks for me. So when I look at certain use cases in sales where this can be really helpful is, we do a lot of our discovery calls virtually. we record them, and we tell the prospect we record them for training purposes. But what that allows us to do is we can literally take that recording and feed it into AI and be like, "All right, be an expert sales coach. Break down the call. Tell us what we did right, tell us what we did wrong." We use, when we're putting a proposal together for, a prospective client, When you've got a proposal coming up, throw the proposal in AI,

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AI,

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have the AI be your prospect. Role play with it and tell it where you are, have it tell you where you have gaps in your proposal. If I'm s- if I'm in sales right now, that's how I'm using AI. And I imagine, it's helpful tool to do research on the person you're speaking with. So yeah, it can be definitely a, a, uh, a true, uh, a real good research partner. But, to really ensure that you have that trust, we need to take that information ensure that it's accurate, and, and process it effectively so that we can, we can be human when we're actually speaking with the prospect, right? The number one tip we're giving our clients right now f- from, uh, the, uh, from a sales perspective, is do everything you can to make sure they know you're a human. And I know that sounds weird, but that's why I love speaking, right? I'm on stage in front of you. That's not AI, that's Andy Neary. that's why I love podcasting. It's you and I having a conversation that they can watch or hear. But even down to tactics like this, you wanna use LinkedIn to, to, to grab a prospect's attention? If you're gonna send a m- send anybody a DM on social media, send it as an

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audio or a

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video note so they know it's you. You have to let prospects know you're human. Well, your, your coaching program is called Complete Game. a strong phase. I imagine that comes back from, y- the time when you were in sports. So, what does the Complete Game leader do differently, uh, from other leaders? I would say it's a couple things. As a leader, you must lead by example. One of the things one of them is we go first. And what that means is our team is never gonna teach your team something we haven't done already. And so if you're gonna lead people, you, you better lead by example. You better not be asking your people to do things you're not willing to do. we do a lot of coaching of how to use social media, how to use LinkedIn in a B2B world, and we'll have executive teams tell their people, "You've gotta be doing this." And I'm going, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second. I don't see you on there." Yeah. How can you be preaching this to them when you're not even showing up? And so I would say for leaders, a Complete Game mindset, number one, starts with are you leading by example? And Your leadership role is not just a job title, right? It's you have to lead by example. The second thing is, I think we get so stuck on trying to catch people screwing up. How about if you led by f- catching, finding people doing good things? Catch people doing things right. You know, we've got a couple situations with clients right now where they're starting to demand their employees come back to work more days. So it used to be, "Okay, you only have to be here two days a week. Now it's gotta be three." And it's created a lot of fear in the organization, and what's, probably exacerbating it a little bit is I can tell who's here and who's not. Why isn't he here?" And I'm like, you can't be doing that." That, all that's doing is creating more fear in your organization. Instead of walking around and trying to catch people doing things wrong, how about we start walking around and catching thing, people doing things right? How about you step into the, Jim's office and say, "Hey, Jim, great presentation yesterday. I loved how you did this, this, and this. Hey, Betty, I loved how you stepped up for Jane over the..." Like, I think if leaders just took more time, letting people know when they're doing things right, I think it would absolutely elevate the culture of your organization. And it just takes but a few minutes a day. That, that good communication is, is critical. But as a, a leadership consultant, what are the, the top things that you see that you coach your, your leaders on how to improve performance in their team, uh, in, in the near term? One, you have to make sure you're measuring the activity over the result. I... We see it a lot in the insurance industry. Producers are purely judged by their sales results, and there's not a lo- enough emphasis put on, well, what is the activity leading to that result? And I understand, we gotta create results, but number one, measure the activity, not the result from a sales perspective. Number two, from a leadership perspective, if you wanna create a team of sales reps that love what they do, meet them where they're at. Not all sales reps are designed the same. And I see a lot of training today in sales where it's a one-size-fits-all training, which is not the case. I'm an introvert by nature, Sam. I cannot be taught how to sell like an extrovert. And so if you can help me design my own prospecting game plan that fits m- where I'm at,

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I'm

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going to enjoy what I do more, and therefore have more success. The energy you bring to the work you do has more of an impact on your results than we ever give it credit for. And so if I'm leading a team in sales, I'm gonna make sure I'm putting those reps in a position where they can show up with their b- as their best selves in the right energy, because I know that energy is going to be felt by the people we're trying to do business with. Great. So, so really taking a customized approach to training, understanding the behavioral profile of each of your, your people, and to, to ensure that you're, you're delivering training in a way that best re- resonates with them so that they can apply that effectively. And I imagine that also, going back full circle to your blueprint, uh, that, that sales process or the process of actually delivering their message can be customized to the individual in any organization. 100%. Here's the perfect example. About a month ago, I did a workshop in tandem with our podcast sponsor, and they represent a solution in the insurance industry. The purpose of that workshop was teaching the room full of advisors how their product works, and then I was coming in on the back end and teaching the room full of producers how to sell their product. And here's what was interesting. We were in Dallas. There were 20 sales reps in that room who all compete with each other, all learning the same product. And what I said to them was, "The beauty of this brand authority blueprint is this: All of you can walk out of this room in the same market, sell the same product with a different message." That's what the Brand Authority Blueprint does. It's building that message that is uniquely designed for you. So t- can you tell us a little bit about, what does that look like? What is, what is it, what does somebody experience when they're going through your program? You know, we offer different levels of, of coaching and consulting. We do have a membership community. I'd say by and large it's insurance professionals, uh, where you get a- access to our member portal, our online training platform. We do some group live coaching there.

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We do a ton of workshops, Sam,

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so we'll often do workshops for individual sales reps who wanna grow their business or come in and do a workshop for an entire team. And then we also have a program where once your sales message is built, we can actually become your back office of building your brand authority, which is by producing LinkedIn content for you, social media content at large, and really become that strategy behind your personal brand amplification. But it all starts with that sales message. My, my, my pitch to everybody we work with is, "Listen, before you teach your producers what to do, you gotta give them a message they're convicted behi- they're confident and convicted in." That's what we're gonna help you do, whether we do that through our community, one-on-one coaching, or we actually build your brand online. once you have a clear sales message, the rest takes care of itself. And one thing I have to, my day job is

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I,

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I help organizations really refine their, their compensation program- and, and, and also their talent and career development programs. And one thing that I, often find is that, making sure that people are communicated effectively, know what to expect when they're coming into the organization, understand how they can scale through, uh, different training programs like this is, is, is essential. So, one last question here. is one leadership habit that, you would like our listeners to explore this, this next month? Put the work in when no one is watching. Here's what I mean by that. So when I look back at my career, before I got into insurance, I played college ball, played a little, uh, couple years of professional baseball in the Milwaukee Brewers organization. And as an athlete, this will resonate with them, the reason you were successful on the field is the work you put it when no one was watching, whether that be in the weight room, the, the reps, the drills, you name it. I think the same applies for leadership, Sam. What are you doing outside of work? How are you taking care of yourself? how can I go to an, an organization and deliver a, a 20% rate increase?" How can I go deliver that and tell that organization the reason their rates are going up is because their people are unhealthy if I don't look like a beacon of health? Right. And some leaders may not wanna hear this, but a leader who takes care of himself or herself, I'm gonna take more seriously. And so my, my point in making, in saying that is, as a leader, what are you doing off the field when no one is watching? What are you doing to lead yourself, to hold yourself accountable, which is gonna make it easier for you to do the same for others in between the lines? Excellent. So Andy, for, for those, uh, leaders out that are listening learning more about you, what... where should they go to find out more information? Andy Neery on LinkedIn, Complete Game Consulting. Definitely go there. We put out content every week I actually have an exclusive podcast, Sam, that I recorded specifically on the Brand Authority Blueprint, what it is, how it works. If you wanna share that link with the audience, that would be great, or you can go to completegameconsulting.com. Thank you so much, Andy, for your time today. Sam, I appreciate it. Thank you for having me. All right. For our listeners out there, please ensure that you follow, uh, People Strategy Forum, and if this conversation resonated with you, make sure that you share it with a- another leader, uh, that... and to help them attract, retain, and motivate their people. And Andy, he brought us back onto something, uh, many leaders forget. retention doesn't begin with a retention program. It starts with effective training, making sure that you, you're giving your people what they need so that they can win in their, in their organization, that they can feel like they have a place, and that they can get things done effectively. So he also reminds us that clarity is not abstract. Clarity is, is, is in- critical to ensure that people have the confidence to do an effective job, at your place. So ensure that, uh, people are communicated with effectively. But Andy, thank you so much, uh, for bringing such a, a practical and energized perspective to this conversation. I really enjoyed talking to you. Thanks, Sam. It's an honor. All right. For our listeners, uh, please, um, uh, join us next week on the People Strategy Forum, and you take care. All right? Bye everyone.