If there is one constant in sales, it is high attrition. Turnover in the industry is notorious, and most sales managers chalk it up to the cost of doing business. However, enterprise software sales companies shouldn’t settle for high employee churn. The truth is, with a strategic approach to hiring, you can improve your retention rates and build a team of strong performers who are highly engaged in their work.
Why You Should Care About High Attrition Rates in Sales
Your company’s reputation has a direct impact on your ability to recruit top sales talent and your reputation is about more than your products and services. Thanks to sites like Indeed and Glassdoor, former employees can post reviews of your company from an employee’s perspective. If your training and onboarding practices are lacking, if your compensation structure is poor, or if your training and development initiatives are nonexistent, you can be sure that ex-employees will write about it somewhere online. Once bad reviews are out there, they are difficult to manage, and those reviews can impact your ability to attract the type of sales talent you want and need.
Breaking the Cycle of High Turnover
If your software sales department is a revolving door of professionals, managers should take steps immediately to break the cycle:
- Allow talented salespeople to focus on their strengths. Strong “hunters” should focus on new business development and strong “farmers” should focus more on growing existing customers.
- Develop a process to provide ongoing training for the entire team.
- Learn the professional goals of each salesperson and give them the tools to reach those goals.
- Have “coaching sessions” with each team member once per week where you provide feedback on what they are doing right, as well as areas for improvement. Develop a plan to help them overcome their current obstacles and recognize them when they get over those humps.
Investing in the success of sales people can pay dividends. Employees see the interest and the investment that the company is making in them which fosters a sense of loyalty. They will want to work harder and achieve their goals when they know that company leadership is rooting for their success.
Retention Begins With Recruiting
The most effective way to improve retention rates and break the cycle of high attrition in sales is to recruit the right people. Many HR teams don’t know what to look for when it comes to building a sales team because they aren’t versed in the industry. A strong professional track record is critical, but is not the only factor that should be considered. In order for a salesperson to be happy and engaged, they must like where they work. Assessing personality and cultural fit are essential when hiring for a sales team, and behavioral interviews are required to help identify salespeople who have the hard and the soft skills to succeed.
Internal HR and hiring teams are often stretched to their limits, and they don’t have the time, the resources or the industry-specific expertise to conduct thorough sales searches. If you want to improve hiring processes and reduce attrition, the best course of action is to pursue a partnership with a niche recruiting firm. At Strategic Search Solutions, we focus solely on the enterprise software sales sector, and we have the experience and the expertise to connect you with top sales talent that will drive your business forward. If you want to break the cycle of turnover and build a team of rock stars, contact the recruiters at Strategic Search Solutions today to start a conversation.