The Great Retention: How to Attract and Retain Top Sales Talent

The time of the ‘great resignation’ is upon us. In April of 2021 alone, 2.7 million workers quit their jobs–a spike in resignation that hasn’t been seen in more than two decades. By July, 10.9 million jobs were open with companies scrambling to attract new hires. But keeping them around seems to be the real challenge for companies across a broad industry spectrum. The COVID-19 pandemic has posed all sorts of challenges, but it has certainly caused a breaking point for many employees, causing companies to rethink the whole concept of employment, and why retaining their talent must be a priority. To combat this time of resignation, your business should develop strategies to support the ‘Great Retention’ so that it’s able to attract and retain its sales pros.

Flipping the Script on the Great Resignation

Don’t think you need to prioritize strategies to prevent your sales talent from resigning? There’s an irreverent saying for you, but we’ll use the slightly less irreverent one: mess around and find out. Not only do top sales professionals and other business pros want more money to invest their time and talent in a company; they want more flexible working hours and conditions, improved business culture, and more reasons to feel engaged in their career and motivated to come to work each day. If you aren’t interested in these demands, you may be about to experience what so many companies are facing: a resignation windfall. 

Develop a Retention Program

Today’s top sales pros want more from employers, ultimately, because they want to be happy. America is finally sick and tired of dreading Mondays and living for weekends. “Okay, you guys can wear jeans on Fridays.” That’s cute. That, however, and similar ‘perks’ do not constitute a sophisticated employee retention program. To ensure that you’re meeting the current (and likely future) needs of your talent, it’s crucial to develop retention strategies such as:

• Understand that retention begins with recruitment strategies (find the best people, keep the best people)
• Offer competitive salary and benefits packages (naturally)
• Create flexible work options (yes, you can!)
• Offer professional development
• Create clear paths for advancement
• Insist upon–and develop–a positive workplace culture
• Engage your team to keep them motivated
• Ensure they have the tools and resources to succeed in their roles
• Be a mentor–not a monitor!

Today’s sales professionals are invested in their lives–not only their careers. They don’t want to work for companies they perceive to be ‘dead ends’ on multiple levels. Time is valuable and life–all too short as we see time and again during these pandemic months. You can transform the resignation script for your company by developing strategies that will attract employees that share your vision and will persuade them to invest their time and talent with your business for the long term.