It is well known that the costs of hiring, training, coaching, and compensating new employees are high. According to our 2010 Sales and Training benchmarks, companies spend on average USD 3,400 per year on training reps. However, due to poor talent acquisition strategies, the return on this investment is not always realized, as some employees choose to leave before they are fully on-boarded.
Finding new talent is expensive and time consuming, as new hires receive on average 149 hours of training per year (three times more than experienced reps). Therefore, it is important that sales organizations not only maintain high retention rates, but also hire the right people from the start.
SEC recently analyzed data from the Corporate Leadership Council’s global panel survey, which studied trends in employee engagement, job satisfaction, and recruiting from the last quarter. When we looked at survey responses from sales reps across the globe, we uncovered two interesting trends:
- Challenger reps claim to be “actively” looking for new jobs at a higher rate than non-Challenger reps, including other non-Challenger high performers, and core reps.
- Core reps and non-Challenger reps hunt for new jobs by sending out their information and calling organizations regarding openings. In contrast, Challenger reps indicate they are looking for other jobs, but tend to not be the individuals who will actively pick up the phone and call your organization inquiring about opportunities available.
Thus, the high-potential employees that your organization wants to attract, are most likely not the ones making themselves available to you. This means that you have to actively seek these individuals out, and engage them whenever possible.
Across 2013, SEC will follow this trend and study which sales environments and culture attract and retain Challenger reps. SEC members, read more about how to hire the right people for your organization and download the interview guide for hiring Challenger reps.
