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A critical factor in the maintenance of a high performance sales force is an organization\u2019s talent management system: the people, tools, systems and processes that give it the ability to attract, hire, develop, reward, and ultimately retain talent.<\/span><\/p>\n Responsible for its development and execution, today\u2019s human resource leader faces unique challenges and increased pressure as the demands from interdepartmental stakeholders rise.<\/span><\/p>\n For many HR executives, the greatest talent management challenges come from their counterparts in sales. <\/span><\/p>\n Beyond Hiring: An Integrated Approach to Talent Management<\/span> argues that hiring is just one component of a 5-part approach to managing talent, with a healthy talent culture as the capstone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In this article we\u2019ll examine three areas where human resource leaders can work with sales leaders to build an integrated approach to sales talent management \u2014 one that goes beyond talent acquisition\u00a0\u2014 employee engagement, performance management, and leadership development.\u00a0We\u2019ll also highlight emerging and established technology platforms that have helped HR gain leverage in these efforts.<\/p>\n Once talent leaders usher an A-player through the door, they must invest in that employee\u2019s engagement in a number of ways to keep them highly productive and fulfilled. This also contributes to the all-important work of long-term employee retention, which has material implications: a <\/span>Salesforce<\/span><\/a> analysis reports that companies can lose up to $1 million in lost revenue, productivity, and replacement of a single core sales rep.<\/span><\/p>\n An effective onboarding process is one of the first places HR can make an impact after hiring. (In fact, candidate B2B sales teams with excellent onboarding programs get their new hires to reach peak productivity 3.4 faster than those with ineffective onboarding programs and show a correlation with a 10% higher sales growth rate, according to research from <\/span>The Sales Management Association<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Another key area of employee engagement is to invest in robust sales trainings and continued learning. The quality of training has a direct impact on an entire organization\u2019s performance, and <\/span>companies that are <\/span>not <\/span><\/i>investing in training suffer from <\/span>higher turnover and lower productivity<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n HR professionals should develop and support a structured, repeatable, sustainable training program that is aligned with the requirements and efforts of the sales organization. Sales leadership legend Brian Tracy tells us that the highest-performing sales organizations train every week. <\/span>\u201cOne of my clients, the sales manager of a division of a multinational company, told me that he started a weekly sales training program that consisted of playing one sales video per week, followed by discussion. Within one year, this division was turning in the highest levels of sales and profitability in the worldwide organization. He said that the day after the sales training day was the highest sales day of the week.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Some of the industry\u2019s top sales training firms\u00a0include:<\/p>\n HR leaders are harnessing technology to inform their employee engagement strategies, predict and counteract employee attrition, and get the most out of their new hires. <\/span><\/p>\n Companies leverage tools<\/span><\/a> such as:<\/span><\/p>\n Finally, the best HR leaders work hand-in-hand with sales managers to track these <\/span>8 key human capital metrics<\/span><\/a> to measure the effectiveness of their onboarding, training, and engagement programs.<\/span><\/p>\n The second key focus area for HR and sales leaders to collaborate on is conducting structured performance evaluation and management systems. <\/span>According to Frank V. Cespedes and Steve Maughan<\/span><\/a>, the most under-utilized lever for improving sales is the performance review. \u201cBusy sales managers tend to treat reviews as cursory, drive-by conversations that are mainly about compensation, not evaluation and development.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n HR teams can work with sales managers to introduce rigorous structure and regular cadence to this practice, which is arguably more important in the sales function than in any other department due to the influence these discussions have on sales behavior and activity levels. In addition to quarterly and monthly check-ins, managers can meet with reps weekly or daily when needed \u2013 with HR providing managers structured meeting templates to ensure performance management standards are in compliance. <\/span><\/p>\n An important part of sales performance management is a rigorous set of standards, with specific deadlines for quantifiable g<\/span>oals and discrete metrics, such as:<\/span><\/p>\n HR and sales leaders should also work together to craft <\/span>clearly defined compensation packages<\/span><\/a> that incentivize the aforementioned behaviors. Typical sales compensation ratios for non-leadership roles include 50 percent base pay (for stability) and 50 percent commission (for incentive to reach higher). You can also tailor your company\u2019s compensation plan to support the business model and the <\/span>type<\/span><\/i> of growth you want to see (for example, HubSpot sales head Mark Roberge customized compensation for <\/span>different stages of HubSpot\u2019s evolution<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n Technology platforms to manage performance reviews, goals, and rewards include:<\/p>\n HR leaders should be forward-looking and create a promising talent pipeline for the sales leadership team. <\/span>Few companies <\/span><\/a>are happy with their leadership pipeline, with only 22 percent of executives reporting that they view their own pipeline as promising. Another survey reported that leadership development was executives\u2019 number-one concern.<\/span><\/p>\n As growth organizations scale and established players refresh their sales teams, the need for critical front-line and regional management talent is essential for sustained revenue growth. <\/span><\/p>\n Why? <\/span><\/p>\n Here\u2019s what <\/span>one sales leader said<\/span><\/a> \u2013 <\/span>\u201cWe need them to be great with our customers, we need them to be great with their teams and we need them to be great business minds. What we expect from our first-line managers today is so complex, varied and unstructured that we don\u2019t even try to make sense of it anymore.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Does your organization fall into this camp?<\/span><\/p>\n If so, investing in leadership development that focuses on the core leadership skills and competencies is crucial. Creating career paths for top salespeople to allow them to stay as individual contributors or switch to managerial roles, based on their skillset, is a channel that needs to be capitalized on but approached with caution since <\/span>top salespeople are not always great managers<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Technology platforms to manage to plan for succession management and aging workforces include:<\/span><\/p>\n Human resources leaders don\u2019t stop when they\u2019ve filled their headcount requirements. They stay alongside them as they deliver sales and reach new heights.<\/span><\/p>\n This is why it\u2019s so important for HR to deeply understand the operational needs of sales, while sales managers must consider talent management a core responsibility. Strengthening ties between HR and sales supports the creation of a powerful talent management system that stretches beyond recruiting, to engagement, performance management, leadership, and beyond. When HR and sales objectives are coordinated in a deep way, your company\u2019s revenue will reflect it.<\/span><\/p>\n relpost-thumb-wrapper<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n close relpost-thumb-wrapper<\/p>\nTaking an integrated view of talent management is essential:<\/span><\/h3>\n
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Employee engagement<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n
Onboarding:<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
onboarding should start <\/span>when you extend an offer<\/span><\/a>.) Accelerating the initial performance gap can have a direct impact on revenue, with the average sales rep spending 20% to 40% of their time at the company in a less than optimally productive state. One <\/span>study<\/span><\/a> shows the average ramp-up time for new reps is 5.3 months with an average tenure is 26 months, while a <\/span>B2B-focused study<\/span> shows that reps onboard over 10 months with 24 months of average tenure, leaving approximately 14 months to achieve ROI.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/a>For support in creating an onboarding program, see our free eBook <\/span>The First 90 Days \u2013 Your Guide to Making New Sales Hires Produce Fast<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nSales Training:<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
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Technological Tools:<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
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Performance management<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n
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\n<\/a>For more information on the compensation packages you should be offering your team, <\/span>download our 2017 Sales Compensation Study here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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Leadership development<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n
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Strengthen ties between HR and Sales<\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n\nRelated posts<\/h3>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\nDon\u2019t Make These 7 Offer Stage Mistakes<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n4 Ways to Ensure Your Compensation Planning is Driving Sales<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\nHandling Counter Offers when Sales Recruiting<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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