A productive and effective sales team is critical to the success of enterprise software sales organizations. Unfortunately, however, sales is often the department with the highest turnover. To fill those openings, many hiring teams choose entry-level staff because inexperienced professionals don’t cost as much as experienced sales people. Most hiring managers know that entry-level salespeople are often not a good fit and are almost always the team’s lowest producers, and therefore, the cycle of turnover persists.
How can you break the cycle? By letting go of dependence upon entry-level sales reps and instead seeking seasoned reps to fill openings. Hiring senior sales talent will require a bigger investment, but it’s a far stronger investment than entry-level talent that will show real and measurable returns.
Senior Sales Pros Onboard Quickly
Experienced sales professionals will not require extensive sales training. While they will need to learn the product inside and out, and they will have to learn your systems and processes, they won’t need to be taught the ins and outs of sales. Entry-level recruits, on the other hand, need to be taught everything from soup to nuts. Senior reps can be up and running in a matter of days, rather than weeks or even months. This not only saves training time and resources, but helps to keep the sales funnel full.
Built-In Confidence
New salespeople lack the confidence it takes to be successful right out of the gate. Some catch on quickly, but true confidence comes only with experience. Senior reps have spent enough time in the field to know what it takes to close a deal. They don’t require the daily feedback that entry-level reps require to help them build up confidence, and they already know how to handle rejection.
Reduced Turnover and Downtime
High turnover leads to downtime. Downtime leads to missed opportunities. In order to reduce downtime and turnover, hiring managers must fill openings with qualified salespeople who know what they are doing, rather than new reps who have to be coached and taught over a period of months. Senior reps can hit the ground running, while entry-level reps require training wheels. New recruits also have to overcome the psychological hurdles that come with rejection and the abysmal closing ratios that plague all green salespeople, and often drive them to abandon their jobs once they are taken off of their training salaries.
Experience is invaluable, especially when it comes to sales. Instead of getting caught up in a cycle of high turnover, hiring managers should try something different and recruit senior sales reps to fill their open positions. Instead of training and coaching, with senior reps on board, sales managers can focus on meeting and exceeding their team’s goals.
If your enterprise software sales organization is looking for a way to stop turnover, and you’re interested in locating seasoned sales reps with experience in your niche, Strategic Search Solutions can help. As a niche firm, we work exclusively in the enterprise software space. We understand trends in the job market and we have cultivated a strong network of sales talent that is ready to help move your business forward. We work closely with each and every client to learn as much as we can about their business so that we can make the best recommendations for both immediate and long-term hiring and retention strategies. For more information please contact us today.