There is a common belief that sales force turnover is always a bad thing. I’ve even read several articles supporting this point of view.
Well, I am here to say that some sales force turnover is a good thing. Anytime someone leaves, it affords you the opportunity to upgrade your talent. I suppose most employers look at it differently, though, if they don’t have a predictive tool to hire salespeople correctly. And, the negative statistics are staggering.
- 90% of hiring decisions are made in the interview
- But traditional interviewing is only 14% accurate
- As many as 30 million people have secured a job by lying on their resume
The worst part of all is that the cost to the company of making a mistake and hiring the wrong salesperson is between three times and five times that individual’s annual compensation. No wonder employers hang on to bad salespeople way too long.
I am here to tell you that if you want to reach the highest level possible, you must embrace sales force turnover,set high expectation – raise the bar if you will – and eliminate tolerance for mediocrity. And then follow these easy steps to hiring right.
- Write a killer ad that is descriptive and specific: What do you need the candidate to demonstrate they can do well?
- Use a predictive assessment to get an objective read of the candidate.
- Follow a disciplined, scripted process for interviewing
What do you think? Do you believe some sales force turnover is a good thing?
At Braveheart Sales Performance, we use the Objective Management Group battery of assessments because they are the only assessments on the market that are predictive and valid for salespeople. These assessments are followed by a disciplined approach for initial interviews – consistent scorecards and question templates. Finally, Braveheart helps create clear-cut and comprehensive onboarding programs to give the new hire the best chance for success.If you want to know how you can embrace sales force turnover and upgrade your sales team contact us at ggordon@braveheartsales.com or at 614-641-0600.
Gretchen Gordon, President of Braveheart Sales Performance, leads a team of consultants who solve sales problems for clients. She is an award-winning Sales Management blogger and has been recognized as a Top 50 Sales Influencer. She is a dynamic speaker at conferences and events and contributes sales articles to a variety of publications focused on effective sales leadership including Selling Power. Gretchen is an avid golfer and is a student of performance psychology. She loves to explore the parallels between sport and sales performance.
