30 Reasons Why Your Salespeople Are Leaving

It is no secret that the turnover rate for salespeople is high. In fact, it is higher than most other industries.

In fact, the sales business has the second highest turnover rate of any industry in the entire world: A whopping 12.6% of salespeople leave their jobs.

And for you, as a Sales Manager, turnover in your company feels like a never-ending struggle.

But, it does not have to be.

If you are able to get into the heads of your salespeople and understand why it is that they are leaving, you hold the key to learning how to make them stay.

There are numerous assessment tools for salespeople, including the all-important sales aptitude test that can give you a telling perspective into the individuals on your team.

Here are the top reasons your salespeople are saying “sayonara” to your company and looking for opportunities elsewhere.

Here’s Why Your Salespeople are Leaving

1. Not Enough Money

This appears to be, across the board, the top reason why salespeople leave their job. If reps feel they are not being properly compensated for their work, it gives them little incentive to stay.

It is important to note, however, that compensation does not come just in the form of their paychecks or commission. While those things are certainly of great importance to your salespeople, so is ample opportunity for bonuses, raises and promotions once they have proven their worth and success.

2. Poor Training

Having a good training program in place is undeniably integral to the success of your salespeople. If they get off on the wrong foot in your company, they will be highly likely to leave.

The key to ensuring your sales training program is solid is to follow these 13 tips to improve your training today.

3. They Are a Bad Fit for the Job

A salesperson may leave simply because they were not good at their job. The harsh reality of this is something you can avoid, with the introduction of a sales aptitude test in your hiring process.

For sales managers, a sales aptitude test is a must. It is your way to weed out those who are not fit to sell and highlight the ones capable of long-term success with you and your company.

4. Too Much Time Wasted on Non-Sales Work

Studies show nearly 65% of your sales reps’ time is focused not on sales, but rather on other non-money-making duties? These duties include meetings, CRM data entering and more.

Your reps may be getting frustrated if they are not able to spend their time and their skill doing what they came here to do: sell.

5. Bad Company Culture

Top companies in the United States, such as Google, put a great deal of time, money and effort into building a company culture that employees can love and thrive in.

While you are not expected to compete with one of the top companies in the world for great company culture, it is important you create an environment where your employees feel recognized, appreciated and also challenged.

6. Lousy Colleagues

If your salespeople do not enjoy each other’s company and are stuck sitting in an office with each other for hours every day, it is only a matter of time before they get their fill and leave.

Prevent this from happening by focusing on the implementation of an internal referral program that will utilize the connections of your top sellers to bring in other top sellers with whom they will enjoy working.

7. Lack of Opportunity for Professional Development

The best way for top salespeople to continue to thrive in their work is if they have a thirst for new information. The most successful salespeople are always looking for ways to learn more and, as a Sales Manager, you need to provide them with those opportunities.

Without the chance to participate in workshops, classes, conferences and more, your salespeople will move on to a company that will provide them with that opportunity.

8. Poorly Defined Roles

Hunters and farmers are two completely different types of salespeople, and you need both of them on your team.

The best way to determine whether a potential hire is a hunter or a farmer is via a sales aptitude test.

And, once you have determined the role each new hire will hold, ensure you stick to it. Each salesperson in your company — new or seasoned — needs to understand their specific role and play it.

9. Burnout

Sales work is hard work. And if you are overworking your employees, they will burn out quicker than you can say “prospect.”

In fact, employees who are overworked are 31% more apt to start looking for jobs elsewhere than their coworkers whose workloads are normal.

Give your salespeople the right amount of work that gives your company the results it needs, without sacrificing the happiness of your employees.

10. Minimal or Non-Existent Coaching

Your sales reps do not know it all — they need help from their sales managers to continue progressing and reaching goals.

Thus, it is up to you to play the role of an effective coach. By doing this, you will see productivity increase, morale boosts, improved sales and more.

11. Lack of Recognition

Recognition is of greater importance to salespeople than possibly any other job. And reps who feel they are not getting the acknowledgment they deserve are 11% more likely to leave.

So search for ways to show your reps you value them, and they will continue to value you as a manager.

12. Lack of Challenge

Salespeople thrive off of challenge — it is in their nature to have Drive, which is made up of three non-teachable traits:

• Need for Achievement
• Competitiveness
• Optimism

Without that second component, Competitiveness, your salespeople will get bored and sales will tank.

13. You, the Sales Manager

Though harsh, it is possible your salespeople are leaving because of you.

If you tend to micro-manage and are overbearing to your salespeople, they are going to hurry out the door. Conversely, if you are bad at communicating with your salespeople, that can also send them running.

Find a balance between being too involved in your reps’ work and not involved enough.

14. Company Not Handling Dead Weight

Few things can frustrate a top salesperson quicker than a colleague who is not pulling their weight.

And, this frustration can turn into quitting the company if you do not figure out a way to either train, reassign or let go of the poor-performing rep.

15. Outdated Sales Tools

With technology advancing as quickly as it is today, you need to be on top of keeping your sales tools updated, especially when it comes to selling via mobile.

According to a survey done by CSO Insights, 88% of salespeople struggle with being able to properly utilize their phones to conduct business.

So update and upgrade your sales tools to keep your salespeople motivated and successful.

16. No Playbook to Guide Them

A playbook is a key tool to helping salespeople get to know their prospects and how they can move the sales process along.

Buyer personas are a major part of playbooks and without them, your reps will struggle to really get into the mindset of the buyer and truly connect to make a sale.

17.  Lack of Faith in Leadership

Having a CEO or someone in a leadership position who inspires your salespeople to reach their goals is a must.

If your reps do not have faith in the leading roles of the company, what motivation do they have to do their best work beyond compensation? None.

18. Questions About Company Stability

No one wants to work for a company who is at risk of going belly-up.

When layoffs and other questionable actions are happening in the company, your reps will undoubtedly question the stability of the company and begin their hunt for a more solid job elsewhere.

19. Other Companies Offer Better Opportunities

Unfortunately, this is something that oftentimes is out of your control.

However, if a salesperson does leave because there are greater opportunities at another company, it is within your control to see what that company is offering that you are not. In doing this, you can re-evaluate what you are doing and hopefully find a way to give reps things they want, that you currently do not provide.

20. Not Monitoring Your Team’s Progress

“Success” is a loosely-defined term — it can mean something different for everyone.

Thus, as a Sales Manager, it is your job to define what you deem to be a success and construct a plan on how to help your team arrive at that point.

However, it is key that you not only focus on the end goal of closing a deal but also that you focus on the progress and the process it took to get there. This will help your team reach peak performance and is a big part of what will keep your reps at your company.

21. Unrealistic Quotas

Though, as mentioned above, salespeople love to be challenged, they do not love an unrealistic challenge in the form of a quota that is impossible for them to fill.

Keep your quotas challenging for your reps, but not unattainable.

22. Lowering Commission Rates on Big Deals

Many reps see companies lower commission rates as they work their way up to close bigger deals. And this could not possibly be a bigger deterrent for a hard-working salesperson. Why would they work as hard as possible to close big clients, only to be punished with a lower commission?

Be fair with the commission you give your reps, and they are more likely to stick by your side.

23. No Autonomy

In every company, there is a certain way decision-making is done, and the people at the top are usually the ones to make the big decisions.

This does not mean, however, that your sales reps want all decisions to be governed by someone else.

In fact, employees who felt they had no say in the way their jobs were done were 28% more likely to find a new company that allowed them more autonomy.

24. Overly Complex Sales Process

We would be lying if we said that selling was easy. However, the sales process does not have to be as complicated as many companies make it.

The simpler the process is at your company, the more likely your employees are to stick around and successfully navigate the route.

25.  Untimely Payments

Satisfaction with payment plans in a company is a big concern for salespeople. After all, they have done the work and deserve to get paid for it.

If your company takes too long to pay reps, you are at risk of losing some of your top performers.

26. No Administrative Support

It is the job of the salesperson to sell. However, doing that successfully requires administrative support to fulfill the other duties involved with sales, such as CRM.

For your reps to reach the success both they and you want, they need the administrative support to get there.

27. Lack of Team Goals

Every salesperson will come into a job with personal goals, and that is something you should support.

But you do not want those personal goals to get in the way of, or replace team goals. At the end of the day, your sales team is exactly that: a team. So, set up collaborate goals and watch the teamwork soar.

28. Wrongful Promotion

As a team player, salespeople will support their colleagues getting promoted — when that promotion is warranted.

Wrongfully promoting a rep who is a friend, needs a favor or for some other reason which is unclear to fellow reps will cause some major problems.

Avoid that by making every promotion within your company unambiguous and transparent for everyone.

29. Jumbled Systems between Departments

The sales team is just one part of your company. There are numerous other moving parts and in order for the company to truly be successful, everyone needs to work together.

How your salespeople interact with and are treated by managers, colleagues, staff and other employees will affect how they view the company as a whole, and whether they want to be a part of it.

30. No Long-Term Incentives

Creating motivation in the short-term is very important in the world of sales.

Just make sure that you are not neglecting long-term incentives because that is what will keep your salespeople around.

Things such as yearly bonuses, annual promotions and more keep your sales reps’ sights on the longer game, which is where you want it to be.

Final Thoughts

Some of the reasons salespeople leave your company are out of your control, but as you can see, there are 30 reasons why your salespeople are leaving and 30 ways you can make sure that does not happen to you.

Incorporating SalesDrive’s DriveTest® assessment into your hiring process is a great way to start things off on the right foot, and make sure your salespeople are ones who plan to be with you for a long time and who will do their best during their tenure.

Experience the power of The DriveTest® today by signing up for a free sales aptitude test and see how it can help you keep your turnover rates at an all-time low.