Recently I was doing research regarding turnover rates for inside sales representatives and I came across an interesting quote from Trish Bertuzzi, President of The Bridge Group, Inc. Trish was replying to a question about how long you should expect an inside sales representative to stay in the position. She explained, “Our 2010 LeadGen Metrics & Compensation report has the average tenure as 2.1 years. Subtract from that the 3.2 months it takes to ramp them and you really need to consider how to get the most out of this investment.” Although it’s been a couple of years since this report was released, it still falls in line with what we are seeing today for inside sales positions.
I got to thinking about how beneficial it can be for companies to have an outsourced teleprospecting team supporting their inside team and the ability to scale when they experience unexpected turnover. As an inside sales manager, it’s an awful feeling when a top performer approaches you with “I am giving my two weeks’ notice”. Instantly, panic mode sets in and uneasy thoughts about how you are going to maintain the volume of activities and qualified sales opportunities fills your mind. If you are anything like a lot of my clients, you can’t afford to see a slowdown in productivity when one of your reps leaves. Below I’ve identified the three most common benefits I hear from clients as to why they love partnering with an outsourced firm when they experience unexpected turnover internally:
There’s no longer a need to rush through the interview process when hiring a new rep. If your rep only gives you two weeks, you often want to rush through the interview process so you can fill the position as soon as possible. If you take a risk and hire someone too quickly, they may not be the best fit, setting yourself back even further when you find out two months down the road. If you work with an outsourced firm, they can scale and add a resource for a couple of months while you take your time in determining the best person to hire.
There’s better management of territory coverage. Some inside sales managers use an existing rep to cover accounts from the inside rep who is leaving while they wait for someone new to come on board. The problem with this is that often times the reps see this as more of a burden. They would rather focus on their own accounts in their territories, so these added accounts carry a lower priority. With an outsourced firm who can quickly scale to cover a territory, you won’t run into this and you’ll have a dedicated resource for that territory up and running within a one week timeframe. You might be thinking “A week?! I don’t think so.”, but the best outsourced firms already have the training programs in place and have the resources ready and available.
There’s no dip in your pipeline. As Trish stated, it takes 3.2 months to ramp a new hire. You can imagine the effects on your team’s pipeline numbers, which I’m sure many of you have experienced. When your pipeline reports are suffering, it leads to some very tough conversations with upper management. Remember, a good outsourced firm can have an additional resource up and running within one week, which means your pipeline doesn’t dry up and you avoid those difficult conversations.
Anyone in a sales management role dreads the day when a top performers informs you of their intentions to leave, and gives their two weeks’ notice. While it is an unfortunate event, it is going to happen. People move on to the next step in their careers and there’s not too much you can do when they’ve already made up their mind. What you can do, however, is plan ahead and partner with an outsourced firm so you are fully equipped to handle this situation in the future.
