3 Keys to Retain and Motivate Your Best Talent

Seeing a team member leave is never easy; but it can be even harder to accept when it’s one of your top sales reps who departs. The reasons an employee leaves their company are often misunderstood by managers: yet it’s an essential exercise in introspection if you want to retain and engage your top talent.

Discover the 3 main reasons why your top sales reps leave you, as well as the 3 secrets to retaining and engaging them.

Secret #1: Compensation remains a crucial criterion

While it is now understood that compensation is no longer the primary source of employee engagement, surveys do not seem to support this. In a study conducted by OpinionWay on employee loyalty to their company, compensation remains a crucial factor for 30% of respondents. A survey conducted by the David Aplin Group goes even further: the primary cause of turnover within organizations would still be… insufficient or unfairly perceived compensation.

The secret: stop believing that simply expressing your appreciation is enough to retain your employees. Your top sales reps are often aware of their worth: but are you truly? All work deserves pay; but excellent work can also justify a higher salary, if your organization’s resources allow it.

Secret #2: Your employees want an honest manager

In the same survey conducted by the David Aplin Group, a lack of honesty, integrity, and/or ethics ranks second among the reasons for turnover. Therefore, be careful about commitments you cannot keep.

The secret: play the transparency card with your team members. It’s sometimes hard to say “no,” but that will always be preferable to a “yes” that isn’t really one. Similarly, your sales reps won’t hold it against you if you reveal the difficulties your company is facing. On the contrary, you could even encourage their commitment by empowering them and highlighting the role they can play in solving the problem. Be a transparent manager!

Secret #3: Your top talent deserves your trust (and vice-versa)

Finally, the third reason cited by employees who wish to leave their company is a lack of trust in senior managers. A management disconnected from the team’s reality, an overly distant management style, can drive away excellent sales reps who have already proven themselves.

The secret: build a true relationship of trust with, and also among, your team members. According to OpinionWay, good relationships with superiors encourage 17% of employees to remain loyal to their company, while good rapport with colleagues motivates more than 30% of respondents. Foster communication and prove to your team that they can trust you—and vice versa.

And if your talent still decides to leave you, it might also be because they wish to explore new horizons: 30% of those surveyed by OpinionWay admit wanting a change of life when they leave their company. It’s up to you to accept this choice and wish them the best when they depart!

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