Day 5 | Series 4 of 9 | Talent Strategy - Recruitment & Retention

How I Would Hire, Deploy, and Retain Cruise Sales Talent Talent Strategy - Recruitment & Retention

A couple of weeks ago, during a call, someone asked me:

“How did you increase sales by 790% in just ten months for ONE’s flagship product?”

I paused. Honestly, I had done it so naturally that I’d never really stopped to unpack it. It came down to building the right structure, support, empowerment, training, incentives, and one crucial element, building a recruitment and retention platform from scratch.

From the very first interview to training and onboarding, every step had clear criteria designed to attract, develop, and retain top talent. The result was a high-performing team and record-breaking growth that spoke for itself.

When it comes to Global Cruise Sales, I don’t believe in a single sales profile. Onboard and shoreside eco-systems are fundamentally different, hiring the wrong profile is one of the fastest ways to hurt performance and accelerate turnover.Talent Strategy - Recruitment & Retention

For onboard cruise sales, I hire for high emotional intelligence, work ethic, and coachability. Sales skills will tune in with the right mindset. The onboard environment is an intense, closed ecosystem where teams live with and in the guest experience every day. Success depends on ethical selling, cultural adaptability, and guest-centric behavior. 

These teams must be able to socialize naturally, build trust quickly, and sell with integrity, knowing that today’s guest is tomorrow’s repeat cruiser.

For shoreside cruise sales, the profile shifts. Here, I focus on strategic account management capability, market intelligence, and commercial acumen, combined with a strong long-term relationship mindset. 

Whether working with key consortia, travel advisors, or direct channels, shoreside teams must understand booking behavior, market maturity, and how to influence demand over longer planning horizons.

What I’ve learned is that these profiles are not interchangeable. Hiring with intention is the first step in building a sales organization that performs consistently and retains its best people.

Reducing turnover starts with clarity and consistency. I focus on defining roles clearly, setting realistic targets, align incentives, and ensuring leadership behaves predictably and consistently across markets and channels. As a leader, I partner with teams, seeing complex challenges in real time and coaching where it matters most. 

I also invest in career progression pathways. Recognition goes beyond revenue numbers, I celebrate behaviors that reinforce the culture, guest experience, and ethical selling mindset, not just the deals closed.

The goal is simple and measurable: keep voluntary turnover below 15% annually. Achieving this isn’t about making promises, it’s about building an environment where talented people want to stay, thrive, and contribute to sustained business results. 

When turnover is reduced, forecasting becomes reliable, and teams perform consistently.

Global Cruise Sales Architecture Intro to a 9 day series

Day 2 | Series 1 of 9 | Sales Architecture

Day 3 | Series 2 of 9 | Sales Structure Design

Day 4 | Series 3 of 9 | FINANCIAL ARCHITECTURE: BUDGETING & FORECASTING