This is Kate’s second blog in a series of 4. Here Kate shares her insight into how you can attract and retain the best sales talent.
Missed Kate’s first blog on the importance of sales to your business? See the blog here…. https://www.kingrecruit.com/exploring-the-importance-of-sales-to-your-business/.
How to attract and retain the best sales talent in the Southwest
Just like the other industries the sales talent market is suffering a shortage; all businesses are climbing over each other for top talent. Therefore it’s time to look at not only how we can attract top talent but how we can retain them.
While your vacancies remain unfilled Sales Managers and Directors face a unique set of challenges: With a lack of high performing sales staff or a high turnover of sales personnel, customer/client relationships are at risk as they are unable to forge relationships. There may be some confusion within your existing teams as gaps in territory need to be filled, this could cause a greater workload adding pressure on your existing team.
Finally, while the hiring teams are interviewing or onboarding new staff your Team’s direct reports are unavailable, sales targets may take a hit as decision-makers are absent.
Here King Recruit explore 5 ways to retain and attract top sales talent.
1) It’s not all about the money?
But for sales staff, it can be the main factor. What will convince your sales staff to move to your competitor? Better commission, higher base salary or uncapped commission. Top sellers tend to be driven by money, however, there are some things to consider before offering higher rates just to beat your competitors. Study your top sales performers, they can in turn help identify the effectiveness of your sales compensation structure. With a better understanding of what does and doesn’t work, you can implement a structure that will attract new talent, retain the best staff and keep your business goals on track.
2) The best BDM’s are no longer all work work work…
Long gone are the days of working all hours in the day to get ahead. Sales professionals are calling for a work-life balance, especially if they are field-based and spending long periods away from home. Look to introduce and highlight to potential employees’ incentives that help your staff maintain the work-life balance. Have you considered flexible working or target incentives that aren’t necessarily compensation, such as extra days holiday, or shopping or cinema vouchers?
3) Training, mentoring and development
There are many benefits to filling gaps in your team’s knowledge. Offering a mentoring programme or putting your staff on courses directly linked to their role increase their engagement and the value they feel within your organisation.
Offering training programmes is certainly a hook for new talent who may not be offered this in their current role. By mentoring or coaching your current employees you may discover hidden talents or desires. So when it comes to looking for candidates for new roles or promotions you may discover the perfect candidate is already in your business.
4) Ensure you are driving the right sales behaviours.
A well-designed sales compensation plan encourages positive sales behaviours and drives positive business outcomes. If your focus is on sales for the sake of sales customer satisfaction and engagement will fall and your staff will be demotivated. Having a sales structure in place that creates positive behaviours will strengthen your business. Sales need to be made in the right way, introducing simple incentives make it easier for your staff to understand what is expected of them and what they will receive in return.
5) Use a specialist recruiter so you can get back to business.
Perhaps the biggest benefit is that by using a Specialist Sales Recruiter, the headache that is recruitment is completely removed and you can get on with what you are good at. The fact is when your business does its own recruitment, every minute that you spend writing job adverts or sifting through job applications is time that could be better spent on what you do best. Having a retained recruitment partner like King Recruit facilitates this.
Contact us.
The power of a good sales team can never be underestimated. Struggling to recruit the best sales professionals? Contact Kate King – Commercial Consultant at King Recruit on 07554 403157 for a confidential discussion. kate@kingrecruit.com