WEEK 2
STAY PUT
High turnover among staff can kill any business, from fast food to the biggest corporations. I believe it is especially damaging to sales organizations. Believe me, I tried it both ways—jumping from job to job and staying put—and I know from experience that staying put definitely is better for me, my customers, and my company.
I have observed that most salespeople jump from company to company hoping for a better commission split or a nicer boss or better hours. I did that myself when I was younger. I changed real estate firms seven or eight times, always hoping for a better arrangement, before I finally opened my own company. I realize now how silly I was to think all that moving around would have done me any good.
It is clear to me now that the perfect boss, the perfect company, and the ideal marketplace are nothing more than seductive illusions. You make money by digging deep where you are right now and making it happen here and now. The only thing that switching from firm to firm accomplishes is to waste your time, energy, and resources and significantly damage your bottom line and the bottom line of the company whose products you have been selling.
Just imagine how much burden the departure of a skilled and experienced salesperson can place on a company. New salespeople are not nearly as productive. In addition, the company now needs to invest more resources training someone new, and the new person is much more likely to make costly mistakes. Of course, when you are a disgruntled salesperson, the damage that your departure does to the company is no concern of yours—in fact, their loss can make you feel even better about leaving.
However, when you choose to leave, you experience similar setbacks. You lose some of your business contacts and support from colleagues. You are not nearly as productive learning new products and new systems as you would be selling for a company where you already know the ropes. And in your new position, you are more likely to commit costly mistakes. Bottom line: You will have fewer transactions, and each transaction will take you longer to process, at least until you can get up to speed. One more thing to consider: There is no guarantee that you will be treated any better or have better opportunities at this new company.
In contrast, an experienced staff requires much less supervision. In auto sales, veterans often perform double the number of transactions per month as their novice counterparts, and top producers may do 30 or more transactions a month—a sale a day! Veterans also need only one hour per deal instead of the four hours a transaction typically takes a novice to process. Quite a savings for the dealership, and quite a boost in earnings potential for salespeople who stay put.
Every time I moved to a new company, I had to start over. Every time I switched real estate firms, I had to buy new business cards and let my clients know where they could find me. I had to create new stationery. I had to develop new marketing materials. Each time, I lost a lot of momentum. And, of course, I had to learn a whole new system with each new company.
Was it worth it? No, it wasn’t. In hindsight I think it’s clear that all those moves cost me more money than they made me.
Sometimes you’ll have a serious disagreement with your boss. You may have different goals for yourself than your boss does. If these disagreements are serious enough, then, yes perhaps you ought to make a move. But don’t give in to that temptation to move every time you run into a routine disappointment at the office. Instead, take some of that energy and put it into making things better where you are.
Perhaps you can negotiate a different commission split or get your boss to pay for new marketing material for you. Maybe your company will pay to get you some additional training or to send you to your industry’s annual convention. Any of these steps would make you a more professional salesperson and probably a happier person. It would ease the disappointment that was making you consider moving on.
Try it next time you’re tempted to move. What can you lose? If it doesn’t work, you can always go somewhere else. But you may find that your working conditions and/or pay improve just for the asking.
In Week 3, I show you how to develop an entrepreneurial mindset that will ultimately place you in control of your own destiny regardless of external influences, such as what your sales manager says or does or doesn’t say or do.
Ralph’s Rule: The most successful salespeople are the ones who make things happen where they are, not the ones who jump ship to new companies every year, hoping to find happiness somewhere else.