I Love You, Man!

Being the leader of your organization seems tougher than it used to be, doesn’t it?  Not only do you have the day-to-day work of your business to get done, but you also have to plan ahead, solve the unforeseen problems that pop up, and manage, motivate, teach and guide your employees.  It’s this last group of responsibilities that is the most challenging for most business leaders.  And lately, it seems as though one of the precursors to even getting the chance to lead a team, is the challenge of finding good employees in the first place.

So all the more reason that we should be paying a lot of attention to not only how to find the right people in our businesses, but more importantly, how to retain them.  Losing people costs money.  Tons of studies have been done on this, and although various statistics are reported, it seems safe to say that turnover costs your business around 30% of each employee’s salary who leaves.  So if you are focused on cost reduction in your business, think about reducing the cost of turnover, and keeping that 30% in your pocket!

But how do I do that, you might ask.  After all, you can’t control your employee’s aspirations, or make them like their job, or prevent their spouse from getting a job out of state, right?  Well, true...  But do you know the #1 reason why people leave businesses?  It is because of lack of appreciation.  That’s it.  Simple.  How much time can it take to say “thank you” once in awhile?  How about a pat on the back for solving a problem, or getting a new customer, or high quality work?  Would it kill you to write a short hand-written note saying congratulations and thanks for a work anniversary?  I’ll bet you could do it if you thought of it as a cost reduction measure.  And guess what… it is!

It turns out that the reasons people change jobs has less to do with the outside influences in their lives, and more to do with what is happening in the workplace.  And most often it has to do with how they are led.  So that means you do have control if you are the leader of your business.  How you lead determines how loyal your team will be.  It’s up to you.

What are some of the other reasons people leave businesses?

•     No one listened to their needs.
•     A chance to learn new skills.
•     They have too little time away from work.
•     The workplace is perceived as unsafe.
•     Their work is not challenging enough.

We as leaders can control all of these factors to a large degree.  We just have to focus on our own responsibility to actually act like a leader and create the environment for our employees to gladly follow us.  Start with saying "Thank You".

Another Kind of Sales Reluctance

In an earlier blog, I posted about the reluctance of many in business to learn good sales techniques because of a general feeling many people have that sales is not “their thing”.  But there is another kind of sales reluctance that we encounter which puzzles me greatly.  I’m talking about the reluctance of people to pursue sales careers, and in particular, commission-based sales jobs.

A year or so ago, I saw a Manpower, Inc. study that listed the hardest professions in which to acquire employees.  If I remember it correctly, Sales was ranked third hardest.  And this was not just pertinent to the United States, but worldwide!  There is a shortage of people with sales skills and experience, and this seems to be borne out by challenges I’ve encountered among clients striving to build stronger sales teams or replace retiring sales people.

The challenge is bad enough when sales positions are largely salary-based, but when we throw in a commission-based pay program, the reluctance shows itself even more.

Sales is the lifeblood of any company.  Without it, nothing happens, no matter how good we think our product or service might be.  If we don’t sell, we go broke, period.  So arguably, sales is the most valuable function and job category in business.  Proof of that is often seen in looking at sales compensation charts, where sales positions are often at the top, or near the top of non-executive positions across the board.  Because of that, one would think that Sales would be seen as a most attractive career path, and that sales openings would be swamped with applicants.  But just the opposite is true.  Recently a client of mine advertised for a clerical position, and received nearly 50 applications within a week.  That same client then posted a commission-based sales job with the high likelihood of four times the pay of the clerical job, and has received only one application in a two week period.

Here are some thoughts on possible causes of this conundrum:

·        Sales is not taught in schools at any level.  In very few universities can one get a degree in Sales.  Every other business function has a college major available, but not Sales.  We aren’t “growing” sales people.

·        We think Sales is a personality trait, and not a learned skill.  Few people think they have the Sales trait, and thus convince themselves they can’t sell.

·        People fear commission-based pay programs of any sort.  We have become a society that is risk-averse when it comes to our careers.  We will go bungee jumping and skydiving, abuse drugs and alcohol, and engage in other high risk behaviors, but God forbid we should take a job where we might earn a little less if we have a bad sales month.

And yet, with most commission-based pay programs, there is no ceiling on earning potential.  The more the sales team earns in commission, the more the company makes.  It is win-win, and can lead to high pay for the sales professional.

Sales is somewhat similar to entrepreneurship.  The money is made due to the effort of the entrepreneur or sales person.  One would think that the allure of success in a selling career would be similar to the allure that drives people to start their own businesses, but without the investment required as a business owner.  So where are the sales people?