This entry was posted as an answer to a Linked-In Question by Lee Levitt - an analyst for IDC
Lee's question read as follows: 'What keeps a sales person from leaving (aside from money!)?'
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As a salesperson, sales-leader, and now CEO - I think I can present a fairly broad based perspective on your question. That said, you might find my answer uncomfortable:
Staying with one company in a sales role is simply unnatural.
Successful sales people have always been and will always be in high demand. This implies continuous wage-inflation at the individual level (I am worth more every year) and company- level (sales-people cost more every year.)
A career in sales includes many possible paths – channel sales, business development, account management, etc. With all due respect, these are fungible roles that can be influenced by the intangibles referenced by other respondents (recognition, relationship with supervisor, respect, work environment, culture, passion for product/service, etc.)
Quota carrying sales professionals - those responsible for direct revenue generation - are concerned about one thing only: The relationship between their unique capacity to ask people for money and how much they will get to keep.
For these ‘Hunters' it's all about the money and an individual that represents otherwise is either better suited to a non-quota carrying role or is simply ‘gilding the lily.’
Think about it…career-path, personal-development, company's ability to execute are all enablers for…making more money. I could certainly spend time tempering this statement with an acknowledgment of family values and such but that was not the nature of your question. For those that fall outside the Hunter role, it may be easier to internalize this concept as: ‘money is the measuring stick.’
So how are employers to deal with the mercenary nature of Hunters? Realistically there are two options.
1) Don’t hire them. Seriously, true hunters make companies and CEOs nervous. They make more than everyone else; have large egos, and demonstrate no tendency to stick around in the face of a better opportunity elsewhere. We work with many companies who have simply traded slower growth for a more pleasant cultural experience – no shame in that.
2) The second option is quite simple. Get over the emotional hurdle associated with attrition. In sports, superstars don’t stick around forever…they get traded or use their free-agent status to make more money. The same holds true for A-player Hunters. They come in with great fanfare and everyone celebrates them while they are with the team…then one day they are gone. Sometimes because their scoring average drops and they lose the favor of the crowd, sometimes they get traded for five lesser but competent players, and sometimes…they just leave for more money.
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3 comments:
I've been a "hunter", or managed "hunters", for over 40 years, and I think Lee is right on. I also think that given the expense of hiring, training, and ramping up new salespeople, it's worth thinking about how to delay the inevitable for six months or a year before they leave.
I think there are two motivating factors for these salespeople that you can take advantage of:
First, hunters aren't motivated by money - they're motivated by easy money. Sales offers the opportunity to work about as hard as everyone else in the company, and make a lot more than anyone else. Anything that interferes with that will cause these people to think about moving on. My advice is, don't require any busy work from these people, streamline the sales and reporting processes as much as possible, and you'll keep these folks longer.
Second, and almost as important as the easy money, is independence - working without management interference. My advice is, stay out of the way as much as possible, let them do their work, don't put unreasonable policies in place, and they will stay around longer.
This is not to say you don't manage these people, build common sales processes, enforce pricing and contract discipline, and generally run sales like a business - just that there are a couple of tricks to managing while keeping these folks happy.
Andy's suggested a couple of good points - and as a "hunter" who's recently jumped ship at an award winning and fast growing organization, I'd agree with "some" of what he's said.
Just like sales pro's have a motivation to decrease sales cycles - org's have a motivation to keep the cost of sale low. This includes hiring, training, and ramp time (and non productivity of an "on thw way out" employee). This points to Big T's article regarding the need to have a constant flow and que of decent sales pro's in your HR funnel... and to be able to predict departure signs while keeping productivity high.
I'd also agree with his "get out of my way" mentality - or I might expand upon this to a "you are here to help me, not hinder me" mentality... but that's a pretty involved discussion.
Personally, I am motivated by multiple factors - money, recognition, power, sucess. I'll do pretty much anything as long as there's a reward that involve the above criteria. The flip side is that there's a balance point here. How much work is 100k vs 200k worth? How many hours am I willing to put in for 20k a month vs 10k a month? (again - maybe this is another conversation?)
For me - first and foremost is the money. $$ buys slack, and can help you to afford some of the otherwise unbearable attributes of the corporate world. Maybe if i had chosen a different path, the money wouldn't be as important. Negotiating trade pacts or conflict resolutions with warring factions in obscure lands might put $$ father down the list because of some social or humanistic needset that;s being tapped. In this absence - I'll choose the almighty dollar. But just like the other factors in my criteria set - $$ alone will not win me over.
I could go on and rant about the other criteria for pages and pages, but you can probably figure out 80% of what I'll say by using that cerebrum for 90 seconds. Instead - I'd like to point out why the motivations exist (peel back one more layer) to TRUE sales folks. Sales Sucks... if it didn't, more people would be good at it and we'd get paid less. 90% of your time is spent running through monotonous gates, conversation, funnel work and process. 10% of your time is spent on true, hard engagements where your brain gets turned on and your words matter more that the widget you are selling. Those challenging moments, with the success or defeat that follows provides insight into yourself, your prospect, and your organization. These are the moments where the complicated sales objection handling /Q&A/ answers/ justification/ process/ close happen. These are the sales that your company wants, and they are the reason why the company hired you. These are the sales that influence other sales, create other opportunities and give you the justification the create 90 more boring monotonous opportunities that suck.
So connect the dots... for the career sales pro - this scenario includes the Money, Recognition, Power, and Success that they are looking for. Dare I say it? "Kwan?"
Enough is enough... give me a solid product, listen to my feedback, help me when I need it, stay out of my way when i don't need you, train me, and pay me well.
BTW - I've got a new motto that i recently shared during an interview (and I got the job despite this). My interviewer's biggest concern with me was that I seemed too nice (are you laughing yet?). I shared with him a recent motto that i had heard that described me to a "T".
(LT. Colonel referred to this when speaking about a recent counterinsurgency book published for both the field and the war college referencing the ideal soldier's attitude while in Afghanistan).
Be Polite
Be Courteous
Be Prepared to Kill
Borderline sociopath-like behavior... but nonetheless effective for those who can pull it off without crossing the line
Interesting blog. I've been thinking about this "hunter" theory quite a bit since reading your post... However, I am especially interested in the reference to "Linked-In".
Seems to be quite the networking tool... and also a little intrusive. Super fun to explore. Could this be the next big internet business? I see lot's of potential. What are your thoughts on cyber-networking?
When you have time.
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