It's been a struggle to hire top salespeople in recent years and we haven't seen an employees-market like this in a long time. However, we’re seeing weakness in the economy, and this might be a sign that the tide is turning. Let’s look at both sides:
1) The hiring challenge will continue
Many companies hope to employ someone who will fit in and start delivering almost immediately. Yet there is an acute shortage of experienced salespeople and a 35% attrition rate during the first year in sales for new hires. This has made it prohibitively expensive to keep up with the huge salary demands of the experienced workforce and the compensation and training cost for new hires.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the economy will generate 11.9 million jobs by 2030, while the workforce will only expand by 8.9 million. With remaining available talent having to be enough to go around all companies, companies need to get smarter about attracting and hiring.
2) We may see more talent supply
Tesla recently joined other high-profile companies like Netflix and Carvana to announce layoffs. Carvana slashed 2500, fitness giant Peloton 2800, and Amazon aggregator market creator Thrasio, also 20% off their headcount. All this happens against the backdrop of the great resignation of 2021, where most salespeople quit their jobs with job satisfaction being one of the key reasons. The great resignation of 2021 and these layoffs show salespeople are available.
However, the top talent is still highly sought after and not really responding to your ad on indeed or another job site.
What are the smartest companies doing? A few things we’re observing:
Using this opportunity to get the cream of the talent that is becoming available – thinking differently about their recruiting process and the skills of their recruiters.
Building better training programs – if you could train your newbie to gain the experience and ability of a 3-year sales veteran in 3 months, you don’t have to go look for the highly sought after and expensive experienced hire.
Keeping their best – revamping archaic performance management systems and using data to truly know how to value and make sure they know that before they leave.
@YOSD Consulting can help with 1 and 2, and I have a great idea to look into for 3 if you’re interested.