Sales Reps Say These Workplace Factors Are More Important Than Money
Money-hungry and sales-driven: These two terms are frequently used to describe competitive sales representatives. Because of these stereotypes, many recruiters focus on salary and bonus/commission structures to entice top sales talent.
If this is your technique, it’s time for a drastic strategy update.
The “2018 Medical Sales Salary Report” from my team here at MedReps surveyed 2,793 medical sales reps, and respondents largely agreed it’s time for recruiters to look beyond money and start diving deeper into their motivations. Here are three workplace factors you need to emphasize in your sales recruitment efforts today:
1. Work/Life Balance
Sales representatives are no strangers to long hours, greasy fast-food, and extended car rides. While longer hours and more customers mean a higher paycheck, work/life balance is impossible without support from leaders.
This is a benefit most sales reps are not willing to live without. In fact, 60 percent of survey respondents said work/life balance is more important than money. It’s crucial that sales talent knows your company respects work/life balance, or else they’ll have no desire to join your talent funnel.
Prove your company supports work/life balance by sharing expectations in job descriptions. For example, note that employees are expected to turn their work phones off by 6:30 p.m. on Fridays or that everyone — including leaders — walks out of the office every day no later than 5:30 p.m.
2. Career Growth and Development
The most successful sales representatives have deep passion for their careers. In fact, their determination and willpower drive their sales numbers. If your career site and job descriptions promise help hitting sales numbers, it still won’t be enough to attract the sales reps your team needs, as 46 percent of survey respondents said career development is more important than money.
Show candidates your company wants to help future-proof their careers. As new technologies change the already competitive sales market, it’s crucial you prove the company is interested in candidates’ professional well-being for the long haul.
Using social media, celebrate current employees who continue their education, develop their skills, and move up in their careers. Ask a few employees currently developing their careers to take fun photos and videos to document their journeys. Then, post them on your company pages and social media accounts to create personal connections with candidates dreaming of advancing their careers.
3. Job Satisfaction
Ensuring sales reps are satisfied in their roles is an exceptional challenge. Because sales reps frequently operate outside of the office, leaders are less likely to see signs of employee discontent.
Our survey found a lack of job satisfaction could result in trouble attracting and retaining sales talent, as 44 percent of respondents reported job satisfaction is more important than money.
Unfortunately, proving your company has a high rate of employee satisfaction isn’t easy. What makes each candidate happy at work is usually a unique combination of factors, so there is no one-size-fits-all way to showcase job satisfaction. The best option is to share a wide variety of employee testimonials and employee survey results with candidates in order to paint a broad picture of why people are happy at your company.
Karyn Mullins is president of MedReps.com. Connect with Karyn on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.