How to Retain Top Salespeople Pt 2

by Ben Lai | Sep 16, 2019

Hi, it’s Ben Lai from Sales Ethos. Today, I’m continuing the series on how to retain top salespeople. Before, I was talking about how important recognition is, giving them a sense of belonging, and making sure that they were adequately compensated for their efforts.

Today, the three criteria that I’m going to use is based on the book, Drive, by Daniel Pink. Daniel Pink has written a sales book as well as a motivational book on what it is that people want in their jobs. He’s widely considered as a thought leader in this space. In the book Drive, he points out three key areas that contributes to the willingness of a person to staying at their job.

Tip #1 to retain top salespeople: Give them a sense of purpose

The first thing is a sense of purpose. When a top sales person is working for you, you need to instill in them a greater sense of purpose. That is to say that they’re not just in that job to make money. They’re not here just to pay the salaries of the top executives in the company.

There was a really harmful saying from a leaders that I read about once who said to the entire sales team that, “Hey, let’s face it. We’re not saving the dolphins here.” That is to say that what they’re doing has no meaning. All they’re trying to do is to make money. You need to a sense of purpose in your top sales people if they are going to stay with you. You need to show them how your products and their performance is going to impact other people’s lives. After all, that’s the only thing that’s going to give them a sense of fulfillment, when they see that they are having an impact on other people, not just selling things for the sake of making commissions.

Tip #2 to retain top salespeople: Give them autonomy

The second thing that you need to do is to give them autonomy. What this means is that you must not micro manage them. You must let them do their job and do it as they see fit. That’s not to say that you must be fully hands off and not have any accountability. As a sales manager, it is your role to help them to identify what the key activities and priorities are. You need to help them with their sales strategy.

When it comes to the big picture, that is your job. Your job is to help them to understand in a big picture what it is that needs to be achieved. Leave it to them on what specific activities they need to do. Be hands off, give them full autonomy to do their job how they see fit.

Tip #3 to retain top salespeople: Give them development opportunities

The third thing that you need to do is to give them a sense of mastery. What this means is that they need to feel like they’re constantly improving. When they’re in a role and they feel like things are stagnating, even if they are a top performer, if they’re doing the same thing day in, day out, their satisfaction in their job is going to decrease. Therefore, it is important for them to get a sense of mastery. What this means is that you’re constantly coaching them to do slightly better. Put them through training courses. Help them to increase their emotional intelligence or their closing skills or their consultative skills. They might already be good at these things, but they can always improve just a little bit. If you’re constantly pushing them in this way, they will get a sense of growth and satisfaction from their job.

Now before I wrap up, quick offer. If you’re a sales manager and you’re watching this, I’m offering a complementary one-hour consultation to handle your top sales challenge. I will do what I can to help you in that session. Visit the link below and enter your details and we’ll book a time to meet.

Conclusion

To sum up, we need to give our top sales people a sense of purpose; give them autonomy, let them do their job how they want to; and help them to constantly feel like they’re growing and mastering their skills, and then you will be much more likely to retain your top sales people.

My name is Ben Lai from Sales Ethos. Remember that integrity plus skills equals success.

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