With Hiring at Record Highs, Now Is the Time to Create a Highly Representative Workforce Inclusive of More Women, LGBTQ and People of Different Races, Cultures and Generations
SAN FRANCISCO — November 15, 2018 — SalesLoft, the leading sales engagement platform, today released the results of a new survey which looked at diversity in the sales profession. It uncovered a near-unanimous desire among sales professionals for a more representative workforce, inclusive of more women, LGBTQ people, people of different races and cultures and people from different generations. According to recent reporting from the U.S. Labor Department, employment hiring is at the highest levels since the Great Recession. Now is the ideal time for employers to work toward building a more diverse team of employees within their organizations.
The survey, of more than 400 professional buyers and sellers, was conducted by Propeller Insights on behalf of SalesLoft in August 2018. It revealed the following:
Buyers and Sellers in Favor of More Diversity
The vast majority of sellers — and, crucially, buyers — would like to see more diversity in the sales profession.
- 91 percent would like to see more women in sales
- 91 percent would like to see more racial diversity
- 88 percent would like to see a greater generational diversity
- 74 percent of salespeople and 69 percent of buyers would like to see more LGBTQ representation
Of Course, Biases Remain
While the call for greater diversity should not be ignored, when asked who would be most likely to get a sale from them, survey respondents were not entirely equal opportunity buyers.
- 34 percent admitted to favoring heterosexuals
- 31 percent admitted to favoring Caucasians
- 26 percent admitted to favoring women
“Sales as a profession is about creative problem solving, and research has established that diverse teams are much better at it,” said Sydney Sloan, CMO of SalesLoft. “The current job market has provided the perfect opportunity for employers to create more inclusive and diverse work environments. In their efforts to attract, motivate and retain a top sales team, they should be mindful of not just appealing to people of one generation, gender, cultural background or sexuality.”
About SalesLoft
SalesLoft is the leading sales engagement platform, helping sales organizations to deliver a better sales experience for their customers. More than 2,000 customers, including Square, MuleSoft, Alteryx and Dell, use the company’s category-leading sales engagement platform to engage in more relevant, authentic and sincere ways. Based in Atlanta, and with additional offices in San Francisco and New York, SalesLoft has more than 300 employees and was recognized as the No. 1 best place to work in Atlanta. The company was also named the seventh fastest-growing technology company in North America on Deloitte’s “Fast 500” ranking. For more information on SalesLoft and how to deliver a better sales experience, visit https://www.salesloft.com.
