The instability of sales teams represents a significant cost for companies.
The replacement cost of a sales representative is between 1.5 and 3 times his/her annual salary and can be broken down as follows:
- The cost of hiring,
- The cost of onbaording and training,
- The cost of learning is measured in terms of the time it takes for the newcomer to be able to achieve goals similar to those of more senior colleagues,
- The cost of lost productivity.
There are many reasons for this instability (on average 18% of teams per year):
- Sales people are often hired on the basis of technical or functional knowledge and not on the basis of qualities that are intrinsically linked to the sales function,
- Coaching and mentoring on the part of managers must be a state of mind and not a one-off activity.
- A sales manager must manage sales and lead his teams. The notion of leadership, so fundamental, is often absent.
- The sales person can only rely on his own resources to stay motivated, aligned and focused throughout the year,
- The commissioning plan must give the opportunity to taste what selling more would represent.
Important decisions need to be made from time to time. Not at any cost.
