This article was shared from Promotional Consultant Today
It’s not you … says your top salesperson as she walks out of the office to go work for your competitor. You think about the trade show she went to last month. You knew that all of your competitors would be there, just waiting to snatch her up.
If that’s really why you think talent is walking out the door, think again. Promotional Consultant Today shares the real-time scenarios that could be causing you to lose talent.
If that’s really why you think talent is walking out the door, think again. Promotional Consultant Today shares the real-time scenarios that could be causing you to lose talent.
Scenario 1: What you heard was the salesperson left for more money—here’s what really happened.
There is a lack of trust. The salesperson sold something with huge quality issues. He was asked to sell a new product that is not ready to go to market yet. She was given an unrealistic goal since she seems to crush her goal every year anyway. He made a large sale and when he received his paycheck, he was informed the compensation plan had changed. She made a large and profitable sale and no one in the organization recognized her success.
Scenario 2: What you heard was the salesperson left for a better opportunity—here’s what really happened.
There is a lack of confidence in the product or business. The salesperson saw quality changes for the worse, poor service communication and lack of new innovative products in the pipeline. Also there were no new sales tools, poor marketing and no qualified leads. There was a feeling of being disconnected, alone in the market and unable to share all the quality issues that are hurting the achievement of sales results because it is not politically safe, so the salesperson moved on to a more secure environment with better commissions.
Scenario 3: What you heard was that the sales superstar got a great offer he or she could not refuse … here’s what really happened.
Favoritism for under-performing sales associates. The salesperson saw that poor results from other associates were not addressed, under-performance was ignored and political correctness was rewarded. The sales superstar was financially affected by the poor performance of the under-performing team members. The group’s sales numbers were down so everyone suffered. Also, your compensation plan was weighted to drive new product sales and the new product you launched was poorly designed, late and had numerous quality issues so the sales star failed to hit compensation levels. The launch was late but the sales goal by month stayed the same. Your sales superstar wanted to be with a winning team, not one where team members are not held accountable for poor performance or poor product management.
As you can see, a sales superstar does not just wake up one day and decide to leave. As a matter of fact sales superstars are actively recruited on a frequent basis because they are so good. They stay when they trust you and your company, and feel their extra effort is appreciated. Focus on what you can do to keep your top performers intact.
Source: Mark Allen Roberts is the author of the blog No Smoke and Mirrors , which provides practical advice for business leaders and owners. He writes about what he’s learned and applied in his 25-year career helping companies experience explosive growth in sales revenues, market share and market leadership. He is the author of Branding Backwards, and has served companies from start ups to Fortune 500’s.
There is a lack of trust. The salesperson sold something with huge quality issues. He was asked to sell a new product that is not ready to go to market yet. She was given an unrealistic goal since she seems to crush her goal every year anyway. He made a large sale and when he received his paycheck, he was informed the compensation plan had changed. She made a large and profitable sale and no one in the organization recognized her success.
Scenario 2: What you heard was the salesperson left for a better opportunity—here’s what really happened.
There is a lack of confidence in the product or business. The salesperson saw quality changes for the worse, poor service communication and lack of new innovative products in the pipeline. Also there were no new sales tools, poor marketing and no qualified leads. There was a feeling of being disconnected, alone in the market and unable to share all the quality issues that are hurting the achievement of sales results because it is not politically safe, so the salesperson moved on to a more secure environment with better commissions.
Scenario 3: What you heard was that the sales superstar got a great offer he or she could not refuse … here’s what really happened.
Favoritism for under-performing sales associates. The salesperson saw that poor results from other associates were not addressed, under-performance was ignored and political correctness was rewarded. The sales superstar was financially affected by the poor performance of the under-performing team members. The group’s sales numbers were down so everyone suffered. Also, your compensation plan was weighted to drive new product sales and the new product you launched was poorly designed, late and had numerous quality issues so the sales star failed to hit compensation levels. The launch was late but the sales goal by month stayed the same. Your sales superstar wanted to be with a winning team, not one where team members are not held accountable for poor performance or poor product management.
As you can see, a sales superstar does not just wake up one day and decide to leave. As a matter of fact sales superstars are actively recruited on a frequent basis because they are so good. They stay when they trust you and your company, and feel their extra effort is appreciated. Focus on what you can do to keep your top performers intact.
Source: Mark Allen Roberts is the author of the blog No Smoke and Mirrors , which provides practical advice for business leaders and owners. He writes about what he’s learned and applied in his 25-year career helping companies experience explosive growth in sales revenues, market share and market leadership. He is the author of Branding Backwards, and has served companies from start ups to Fortune 500’s.