Good Help is Hard to Find

Good Help is Hard to Find

We're having a bitch of a time lately hiring good sales people.  We're growing like crazy this year and are trying to invest more in our salesforce, but it's not easy.  And we're a good catch.  Good brand, healthy company, good comp and benefits, charming CEO, the works.

I just traded emails with a friend who is CEO of another online marketing services firm who said the same thing, with the exact same explanation I have:

I have been so unimpressed with everyone from our space (weak links drop out, mediocrity churns from company to company, and true talent is retained).

Anyway, we have gotten very lucky with a few key hires the past few months -- and we certainly work like mad to retain the talent we have (or at least we try hard!) -- but the reality is that it's a good year for Internet businesses, and it's hard to get people to jump ship when they have an established book of business and good commission check flow. 

Most of the people I know who are doing well with sales recruiting in our space these days, including ourselves, are mostly pulling people out of adjacent industries or even out of clients.  I'd ask my general readership for advice, but I assume if you have the secret sauce here, you'll hoard it for yourself!

Comments

[Dave]

Stumbled on this post after following links from the announcement on Feedburner (congrats) that you were added to their board...

I bet that many CEOs would say also that good board members are hard to find, and vice versa...In my experience, many board members and CEOs of Internet companies have never been a bag-carrying sales rep and know little about the unique pressures and skills found in selling unproven products/technologies to retail customers other than VCs. That puts them at a possible disadvantage for understanding the motivations of this important class of - ah hem - 'Help'.

Sales Professionals who are making their numbers are less likely to leave, but they will jump ship for the following reasons, and mediocrity may have nothing to do with it:

1. Their deal flow is drying up for reasons within/without their control - such as under investment in technology or marketing
2. The opportunity to work with a certain manager or colleague
3. The Big Options Play/The NEXT BIG THING
4. Territory being reassigned arbitrarily
5. They are bored or unchallenged
6. Company Management lacks integrity, 'Sucks', 'Clueless'

Many people who are successful selling in, for example, the email marketing industry, leave because they have tired of selling services that are largely undifferentiated and commodity priced. Their skills wither in that transactional environment. So they leave.

These people can be attracted to something new that can reinvigorate them and their careers. Enlightened management that will ask more of them than the number of phone calls they have made today is also attractive.

The point is, The best sales people are not necessarily the ones who are staying (or retained) and the worst are not the ones who 'churn'. See Siebel, PSFT, DCLK, and many other acquired companies that have shed their sales staff.

Companies need to clue in that the best sales people may not be interested in working for a company that does not inspire or development them beyond (merely) their revenue development potential. If you can offer personal development as well as a good base and a chance to meet/exceed their numbers, you will have to turn away candidates.