High Performance Sales | Blog

4.6, 4.5, 4.3, 4.2, 4.1.  These may look like judges’ scores in an athletic competition, but these figures actually represent a sampling of recent US unemployment percentages, which have been steadily declining for some time.  The most recent unemployment rate of 4.1% is the lowest in 17 years.  While this is encouraging for job seekers, it is worrisome for employers seeking to attract and retain strong sales talent to hit their revenue targets.

Headlines like these…

“Employer’s Hustle to Retain Job-Hopping Workers”

“Companies Seeing a Significant Increase in Employee Turnover Rates”

“US Workforce Expected to Experience Massive Shift” (thousands of baby boomers retiring daily)

… are forcing employers to re-think their attraction and retention strategies.

For those wanting to attract employees with bachelor’s degrees or Millennials, the situation is even worse, with unemployment for college grads only at 2.0% as of October 2017, and Millennials (and now Generation Z) coming into the labor market with very different expectations regarding their jobs and careers than previous generations.

Most of our clients want to talk about growth. Very often the first place they look is external – What new channels could we sell through? What new products should we emphasize? Are there additional partners we can tap into?

That’s all well and good, but what we find more often than not is that internal factors are a much more serious constraint. These factors can run the gamut from how resources are structured and/or allocated, broken internal processes between departments that support sales and the sales function itself, or misaligned incentive compensation plans. Recently, however, we have come across many cases of territory inequities. Below are the most common situations.

One of my favorite ways to learn about a particular company and role is to ride around with a sales person, meet customers, and truly see the selling process in motion. During the hours of listening and observing, I always like to ask about what kind of feedback the sales person is getting. From my vantage point, I see two types – one quantitatively oriented, the other qualitatively oriented.

Across the years we have worked with many different clients in different industries, trying to solve a variety of their sales related challenges. Many of our clients state that they want to “improve sales effectiveness.” However, we have observed there are many variations to perceptions about what that means; improving a sales process, gaining traction on utilization of sales tools, sharpening-up recruiting, enhancing selling skills through coaching and development - You can take your pick.

It is mid-2013 and the tenuous, yet positive, economic indicators keep coming: housing prices up by highest level in 7 years, positive job growth in the private sector extends streak to 40 months, unemployment continues to fall. For many of our clients, these indicators present a double-edged sword.  First, the good - there is finally some growth and more strength and security in their business.

Do these comments sound familiar from your organization?  These are real quotes derived from interviews with sales people and other functions in various companies.

1. “All they do is sit in meetings all day”
2. “They never answer my calls and I never hear back”
3. “He/she must have a 4 handicap in golf by now”