I have a friend who is one of the steadiest guys in the world.  He is extremely talented, has worked for some large companies and has an impressive list of degrees.  However, he has been working on his career path since the moment he graduated college in 1992.

He has worked for 4-5 year stints at a few companies before joining a company now that is the realization of his chosen path.  The humorous aspect of his journey is that his employer is an old company.  Their initial review of his stellar resume was this – he is a jobhopper.  I still laugh when I think about that line applied to him.

It is all perspective, right?  He thought his 5 year stints were fairly secure while this company viewed it as risky.  He got the due to a strong recommendation despite the hiring manager’s concerns.  My friend has since started to climb up the corporate ladder with one success after another.

His story came to mind when I read this article from abcnews.com.  The article speaks to the increasing number of employees who work from home.  But tucked inside the article is this information (emphasis mine):

Having to replace a star employee who flies the coop can cost a company 150 to 200 percent of that worker’s salary, Seitel says. Considering Millennials and some of the youngest Gen X employees job-hop every one to three years, she adds, that turnover gets pretty pricey. Employers must spend time and money to hire and train new employees while sustaining losses in productivity, she said.

The hiring manager from my friend’s company would have a myocardial infarction if he read that statistic.  Every 1 to 3 years they change jobs!  The entire jobhopping definition is going to be turned on it’s ear by Gen Y.  They are looking for a career path like my friend except they are not going to be as patient.

Retention will continue to be a top priority this year and will increase with time.  Nomadism is going to be one important, low-cost tool for companies in their quest to keep their top employees.

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Salespeople are finely-tuned into the economy since it can have a direct impact on their wallet.  The fact is many salespeople who falter during an economic downturn get let go.  That is a lot of pressure to handle even for strong salespeople.

ManageSmarter.com offers up this article – Chronicles of a Sales Leader: Tough Times Call for Solid Leadership – that provides guidance to sales managers in handling salespeople who are under pressure.  The author’s first point is perfectly stated (my bold):

1. Don’t abandon the client.
As pressure to hit your numbers increases, a tendency to push the sales cycle ahead of the client’s buying cycle is a frequent mishap. Salespeople in this situation begin to focus on close dates and fail to solve what the customer is trying to fix, accomplish or avoid. This leads to clients who don’t understand your value proposition because your team is not offering up a solution. Ultimately, those in this situation end up discounting to win or losing the sale.

In challenging times, it is even more important to make sure there is rigor and diligence to uncover the root of client issues, identify key buying influences and their wins, understand how the decisions will be made and how such activities will be funded. Now is the time to make sure your team is more diligent about understanding the buying process and less concerned with trying to slam dunk sales.

Exactly.  All sales managers need to be aware of this overshift because it can have a devastating effect on your revenue.  Salespeople tend to push harder, drive faster and prematurely close when their forecast is soft.  I was working with one salesperson who had a glowing forecast filled with deals, but he was become pushy in one account.  His drive to close it was so overextended that he appeared desperate.

He was.

His forecast was smoke and he knew it.  He used the inflated forecast to buy more time.  That may have seemed like a good idea to him, but he was flushed by his sales manager.

That was an extreme case, but the subtle version of this push is damaging too.  Salespeople push prospects to the point where they either disappear or angle for deep discounts.  As a sales manager, it is important to keep a pulse on your salespeople and place an emphasis on post-call debriefs.

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