Turnover, specifically sales rep turnover hurts your business. How do I know this? I’ve worked with clients who have suffered some devastating losses because of sales rep turnover.
One company had a great sales rep retire and because he was managing a multi-million dollar account on his own, that client didn’t have any other relationships within the organization. After he retired, he was replaced by a great sales rep, but the customer no longer felt any loyalty. They ended up working with another sales organization shortly after. Another customer of ours is desperately trying to win back a piece of business that they lost years ago because that company has said, “Your turnover is too high. I’m sick of having a different person every single month doing business with us.”
Both of these companies are finding that they’re not accelerating their growth fast enough because their sales rep turnover is a problem. However, some don’t view this as a problem. There are companies that are trying to hire thousands of sales reps worldwide since they believe that turnover is just part of the sales process.
[bctt tweet=”Recruiting new sales reps won’t solve your turnover problem.” username=”EngageColleen”]
We always need to be recruiting sales reps, but you need to also address your culture if you want to get to the root of your turnover problem. Are you creating a culture where people want to work with your organization for a long time? Salespeople don’t just leave because they’re not making enough money. They leave because they don’t feel like their contributions are being valued or because they don’t see a career path at an organization.
If you have a turnover rate that’s higher than 20% inside your organization, you need to address the culture problem. Recruiting isn’t going to be enough because your customers will notice the turnover rate and leave.
Don’t let your best customers leave because of your unstable business practices.