Sales Retention: Will You Be Able to Keep Your Superstars In The Future?
Money and incentives matter, but they are only part of the sales retention story.
The pace of transformation and continual shifting conditions in the business environment over the past few years have made us all feel like we’re on a roller coaster ride — and you can be sure there will be many more ups and downs and twists and turns ahead. For salespeople in particular, a combination of economic factors, whiplash change and an ever-evolving, increasingly complex selling landscape have added new pressures to an already demanding profession. No wonder so many are feeling burned out and overwhelmed.
In any business environment, retaining your best sales producers is a top priority. Today, amid market volatility, changing customer expectations and heightened competition, it’s more important than ever. At the same time, there are now a whole host of factors that could be pushing your top sales talent out the door, and money and incentives won’t be enough to retain them.
Technology, for example, is intended to make the sales process more efficient and help salespeople be more productive, but in practice, it’s a bit more complicated than that. Research shows that 49% of salespeople are feeling overwhelmed by the number of technologies needed to do the job. These kinds of issues are directing impacting the business — the same research shows 43% of reps who feel overwhelmed are less likely to meet quota.
Between the growing stresses of the job, the rise of digital interactions and lengthening sales cycles, many are wondering whether they even want to be in sales at all anymore. The warning lights are flashing. Unless you take steps to address the underlying issues at play, sales retention and turnover could be one of the biggest barriers to growth your business faces going forward.
Importance Of Retaining Sales Talent
How vulnerable is your organization to sales retention issues? The pandemic-era “Great Resignation” isn’t exactly behind us. Recent surveys show half of U.S. employees are either watching for or actively seeking a new job — the highest level since 2015. Especially in a tight job market, talented salespeople are one of your biggest competitive differentiators. While companies have been laser-focused on building customer loyalty, they won’t be able to maintain those relationships without a loyal, engaged workforce.
The connection between employee experience and customer experience has been well-established, and the context of that experience has widened as remote working and selling have become more entrenched. Even with all the tools and technology available to us now, it’s all too easy for today’s salespeople to lose a sense of purpose, connection and loyalty to the company, especially when there’s a lack of clarity and support from leadership.
There’s no doubt about it: Compensation matters. It will always be a factor. But it’s far from THE only factor at play when it comes to retaining your best salespeople. High-producing salespeople are driven by a broader purpose than selling a product. They want to know that their contribution matters. A strong purpose is what helps them get through the tough times, achieve more and enjoy what they’re doing every day. If they’re feeling isolated and overwhelmed, it can be hard to stay in the game. The job becomes transactional and demotivating. Their confidence and drive will fade. They and their clients will suffer as a result.
Don’t think your top sales talent is going to stick around in a job they barely tolerate or actively dislike. The salespeople who have been pivotal in carrying their organizations through in the tough times are now weighing their options. They might even be headed to your biggest competitors. How are you going to keep them engaged and motivated, make sure they know they’re valued, and help them continually grow to meet tomorrow’s challenges?
Keys To Sales Retention
Here are three steps that will help improve sales retention and develop your sales talent:
1. Equip Salespeople for Today’s Selling Environment
There’s a common tendency to think top performers are self-sufficient. They don’t need — or want — additional training and development. But research simply does not back up that assertion. Most employees value professional development and career advancement opportunities, and when they have these opportunities, they’re more engaged and more likely to stay.
There’s another aspect to this that’s particularly relevant to sales. Many successful salespeople have struggled to adapt to the world of virtual sales. While the same selling fundamentals apply, there are some very specific and important differences. But sales leaders often assume the star players can figure it out — that they don’t need the extra support.
The problem is, once confidence wavers, it starts to chip away at their belief in their own success. Their morale and engagement drop, and things tend to spiral from there. In this instance, your superstars may not leave for a competitor. Rather, they might not feel they are not able to perform like they used to.
This isn’t all on them. Mindset and beliefs play a critical role in sales performance — and these factors are often overlooked or underestimated, especially when it comes to sales training. Selling skills, techniques and product knowledge are important, but negative beliefs and mindset issues can override it all. Salespeople have conversations with themselves all day long about what they’re capable of achieving, what it means to be in sales and whether they have what it takes to keep up as the dynamics of selling continually change. Those inner conversations are powerful. They affect how a salesperson feels about their role and, ultimately, whether they can be successful in it. It can turn into a potentially self-defeating cycle that will inevitably lead to disengagement, burnout and turnover.
In our own research on the factors that impact sales performance, 84% of sales leaders told us that beliefs (mindset) and values (a general desire to create value for the customer) are at least as important as selling skills and product knowledge. Yet the same research project found that only 26% of sales leaders rated their organization as effective at developing these factors in their salespeople. Sound familiar? Take a fresh look at your sales training strategies and make sure they’re updated for today’s business environment. At a minimum, they should address these unconscious barriers to success along with other common traps of virtual selling.
2. Coach for Sales Success
Employee surveys continue to demonstrate the outsize impact managers have on employee retention, and we see this again and again in the sales profession: Salespeople at all levels want to work for leaders who are committed to their development and helping them grow in their careers. If they can’t find that where they are, they’ll look elsewhere.
This means your managers’ dedication to coaching is just as important as the sales training you provide. Sales coaching is one way of demonstrating a belief in the salesperson’s ability to push beyond their own boundaries. While sales pros must have a strong belief in their own abilities, a manager’s belief in them is also pivotal, because when the manager sees potential, a promising salesperson will rise to the occasion. It fuels their inner drive to achieve more — and take the necessary steps to reach their goals. Likewise, regular and effective coaching helps top salespeople continue to break through plateaus and reach new heights. It also shows them you value them and have a stake in their success.
Most sales managers will tell you that they agree coaching is an important factor in a salesperson’s performance. It is also paramount for sales retention. However, awareness doesn’t mean it’s happening. The vast majority of managers either aren’t doing it regularly, aren’t doing it effectively or aren’t doing it at all. Without a clear definition of what sales coaching is and what it entails, along with the accountability to do it and the confidence to do it well, most managers will continue to fall short in this area — and potentially lose great talent as a result.
What about your managers? Is coaching a priority, or are they “too busy” for it? Do they even understand what coaching really is? Here’s a quick 10-question assessment to find out and determine what gaps you might need to fill.
3. Create an Irresistible Sales Culture
Of course sales people care about financial rewards. But just as you would tell your sales force, “competing on price” is rarely an effective or sustainable long-term strategy.
People want to work where there’s a connection between their personal values and what the company stands for. They want to be able to see that their contributions matter and that the effort they’re putting in is making a difference. They also want their managers to believe in them, value them and help them accomplish more, for their customers, for the company and for themselves personally.
Sales is always going to be a job filled with ups and downs. Dealing with rejection, delays and external factors that are out of your control comes with the territory. But companies with magnetic sales cultures consistently keep their teams motivated, energized and on track. They do it by staying relentlessly focused on building and maintaining an employee experience that matches their high bar for customer experience.
Time and again, these are the companies that have made it a priority to develop a customer-centric culture rooted in integrity. By fueling a greater sense of purpose, accomplishment and job satisfaction and fulfillment, they’re able to retain top salespeople who, in turn, create more trusted and value-driven customer relationships.
More disruptions and challenges are sure to be around the corner. That’s just the reality of business and life. But when your salespeople can see the value in what they provide to customers, they’ll be more motivated and will have more meaningful and differentiating conversations. They’ll be more loyal, and so will their customers. All told, an irresistible sales culture can become your biggest competitive advantage.
Sales Retention Is Ongoing
Implementing practices that reinforce sales retention is smart business. If you want to stay ahead of change, not to mention your competitors, they need to be incorporated into your overarching strategy as a part of how you do business. Because if you take your eye off the ball, you could lose your star players.
Focus on these three steps and you’ll not only retain your top salespeople, you’ll also help everyone build the mindset, beliefs and inner drive to go beyond their preconceived limitations and achieve more. You’ll build a culture where everyone is engaged, energized and purpose-driven, creating more value that makes a difference for your customers. Now that’s a formula for success in any business environment.
Who will YOUR superstars be in 2025 and beyond? Our new Sales Coaching eBook offers a comprehensive look at the business case for sales coaching, common barriers to sales coaching, how to take action in your organization and much more. Be sure to download a copy today. And contact us to discuss how sales coaching can be the linchpin to greater sales retention and performance.
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