You're the Reason Your Sales Reps Quit. Here's What to Do About It. Turnover is a crushing problem for sales teams. Here's how you're contributing and what to do about it.
By David Kreiger Edited by Kara McIntyre
Key Takeaways
- Unrealistic quotas and inadequate training and support are driving salespeople into the arms of employers who train well and have realistic goals.
- Sales leaders can do the following things to tackle the high churn rate among sales teams.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Post-pandemic, the global economy has endured turbulent waters, encountering high inflation, increased turnover rates and continuously shifting employee preferences across various sectors.
The sales sector especially has struggled, with leaders battling more than ever to retain talent in an industry infamous for its high turnover. Losing trained reps every 18 months and hiring fresh blood to ramp up sales is neither cheap nor sustainable. Attrition undercuts performance and cuts deeply into revenue.
Many organizations are resigned to the reality of constant turnover and attempt to make the best of it by pushing sales professionals to produce maximum results during their brief employment. However, recent sales development reports prove otherwise: Turnover is not inescapable, and sales leaders play a huge role in reducing attrition.
Related: If Your Team Has a High Turnover Rate, It's Time to Re-Evaluate
The influence of sales leadership on turnover
Companies make sales decisions from a corporate point of view, aiming to meet growth goals and generate high returns on investment (ROI). Oftentimes, these decisions don't consider the potential negative effects on sales representatives and serve to fuel turnover.
To evolve with the times, companies must prioritize a positive working environment for their employees to build successful businesses and minimize attrition. Smart sales leaders can influence organizational culture by understanding the key factors that drive turnover and implementing changes to improve employee welfare and retention.
Unrealistic quotas: The silent killer
Unrealistic quotas instill pressure to achieve difficult results, producing chronic stress in sales professionals. Reps are compelled to work overtime in pursuit of unattainable goals, which is detrimental to their performance, as well as their physical and mental health. This leads to burnout which ultimately spreads as poor morale among your staff.
Then, there's lost income: Sales companies use an on-target earning (OTE) structure that relies on variables like quota attainment to determine employee commissions, bonuses and other compensations. Unachievable targets stop reps from earning as much as they were promised, creating an immediate crisis of income. But the damage doesn't stop there: Many reps feel failure is inevitable with these unrealistic targets, and that breeds resentment towards management among the team. Those feelings then accumulate and hinder team collaboration and performance.
My firm, SalesRoads, studied these factors specifically in sales development representatives (SDRs), a type of specialized sales rep typically focused on generating top-of-funnel opportunities. Our research revealed that 75% of reps who considered seeking new employers in the past six months did so due to dissatisfaction with their current compensation. This emphasizes the major influence of compensation on turnover. Excessively high quotas contribute to its impact.
Related: 7 Straightforward Ways to Reduce Turnover in Your Business
Inadequate training and support
About 56% of the sales reps sampled in our study stated their direct managers were solely responsible for coaching. This confirms the responsibility sales managers have to prepare reps for success during onboarding and through ongoing training.
Poor coaching skills and an overemphasis on organizational operations during training produce salespeople who are inadequately equipped for their roles. They dive into the sales process without the right tools, primed for underwhelming performances (at best).
These reps have to deal with new trends and adapt to the ever-evolving sales landscape. If their training hinges on internal processes alone, they won't build the core competencies necessary to match high performers within their industry.
Coaching reps for successful sales is only one part of the managerial relationship though. Many managers miss opportunities to address performance-based issues — which stem from professional and personal ambitions — because they end the relationship at sporadic coaching sessions.
Weak managerial support may also cause reps to struggle to define their career paths within an organization. When there's no clear avenue for growth or mentorship providing guidance for rising through the ranks, a sales rep may consider new employment opportunities in search of better opportunities for career growth
Reversing the trend: How sales leaders can tackle churn
Sales leaders must set achievable, data-driven quotas to stem turnover. Historical data, market research, team benchmarks and individual abilities should be used to create realistic targets for sales reps. They should balance sustainable business growth with realistic but motivational quotas.
Coaching, meanwhile, is a lifelong commitment and shouldn't end with the onboarding process. Managers need to establish developmental programs that hone their reps' skills, values and company culture as they work.
Prioritize core skills for career development and quota attainment. Reps who are well-equipped to crush their goals are more likely to stay with your company.
Creating mentorship opportunities also provides feedback channels for a hands-on training experience. Connect your reps to executives who started their careers in sales. This shows your reps future possibilities for their career progression, which encourages them to hone their skills.
Managers are also responsible for fostering a positive work atmosphere. Emphasize the company's values to unite reps under common goals and ambitions. Encourage respectful open communication, discuss challenges and celebrate successes as a team. Additionally, be open to constructive criticism and make adjustments where required. Fostering camaraderie within your team boosts morale, improves job satisfaction and increases retention.
Related: Staff Turnover Is Draining Your Company
Conclusion
The relationship between management, quota attainment and retention has grown closer as businesses continue to adapt to the post-COVID "normal." Bad managers can easily make terrible turnover rates worse.
To flip that script, sales leaders must use their power to drive lasting, positive change in their companies. This responsibility should compel organizations to take steps to improve sales teams' working conditions, enhance managerial capabilities and minimize sales attrition.
