Avoiding attrition in sales teams

One of the main areas I see overlooked in Sales Planning is attrition. As Sales Managers, yes there is always that person we may want to leave the team to avoid a confrontational meeting but what about everyone else? How happy are your team? Are they performing at their maximum? And do they really want to work for you? Cause here's the thing I believe in Sales - employees leave bad Managers, not companies. Attrition can kill your chances as a leader of hitting target with the loss of sales days, finding the right replacement and ramp up time.

This is always a controversial subject - most Sales Managers I have worked with felt they were the best but none really knew the truth of their team. In my own sales career, my performance was directly impacted by poor management and grown by great management. I was lucky to work for two inspirational men in my career, Ray Gerber and Keith Roberts. Both made reviews exciting. They led. After each meeting I could have walked through a wall. They made me feel empowered and most important of all, valued. The last point is the most important for me as the recruitment market is buoyant.

Here's the thing, great managers have the grounded belief that they work for their team. Bad managers think the team work for them. Now all Sales professionals are different so let me give you my generic top 5 tips for keeping your team motivated.

1. Make sure their skills remain current. Everyone wants an edge, so investing in sales training will keep the team motivated and with new skills to win the sales game. On a personal level, the employee will feel they are being invested in too. This world is changing, buyer personas are changing and staying ahead by investing in the latest strategies will ensure your team stay motivated and hit their goals.
2. They need to be listened to. The sales review is a critical time to make the sales person feel understood. She may have had a hard client and just wants to talk things through. It's vital that your review structure has a place to understand the current situation and let them talk. This is a time as well to ensure they are on track with their own career goals. The review must feel collaborative and not a numbers inspection with YOU taking the lead to help set advancement activities. Shared ownership goes a long way.
3. Compensation. As Jerry Maguire says 'show me the moneeeeyyyyy'. A great compensation plan goes a massive long way to keeping the team together. I liked to work through the comp plans with each team member and identify how they were going to hit their accelerators.
4. Have a plan for everyone. Each salesperson is different. Ensure you have a plan on how to manage each one. Simple things like holding a commission planning session with the team to help them see their target (as described above) is a practice I rarely see yet makes the biggest impact. Understand their personas, their pressures and the people they are. The more they feel understood, the better the relationship.
5. Up your own game! How can you be a better leader? What is your strategy to motivate the team? I rarely see leaders taking training on a regular basis. And I'm not talking about management retreats, just investing in their own skills around leadership. What was the last book you read? What was the last podcast you listened too? What was the last leadership forum you attended? Investing in yourself as a leader is the key to greatness!!

There are loads more I could mention but I wanted to pick ones to make you think. This is a critical time in sales, with opportunities everywhere as the economy grows again after the pandemic. For me, it's vital to stabilize your team and have them focused on sales.

About the author

Julian Reading is a Sales Coach with over 16 years experience following on from a successful career in Sales and Sales Leadership. He holds a masters in Behavioural Science, NLP and is a MEDDPICC Specialist. Julian is the owner of Sales Journey. Please contact him at [email protected] for further help or advice.