The Wall Street Journal Says: “Even with good pay, people are turning away from the sales profession.”
Their title in the July 14, 2021 article?
The Pay Is High and Jobs Are Plentiful, but Few Want to Go Into Sales
Read all about it!
I opened up my LinkedIn notifications this morning and was blasted by this lead on a blog post by Kelli Nguyen, editor at LinkedIn News:
Open sales roles are on the rise as companies emerge from the pandemic, but firms are struggling to find new hires. The field can’t seem to shake its bad reputation for “pressure-cooker environments,” The Wall Street Journal reports, and it’s deterring job candidates despite recent industry changes and higher pay. — The Wall Street Journal, July 14, 2021
Kelli ought to know. LinkedIn is a sales-hiring and recruiting place and she edits their news.
Her comments center around her “Editors’ Pick” post yesterday, highlighting a message from sales Guru Lisa Earle McLeod, author of Selling With a Noble Purpose and many other well-known works, as well as noted convention speaker.
Kelli’s title? A brilliant headline: Sales Jobs? They’re a Hard Sell.
In her article, Lisa begins her post, centered around the Wall Street Journal article that came out yesterday, with these emotional words: “This breaks my heart…”
Lisa then goes on to state: “We are experiencing a reset like never before… teams are being called upon to innovate, reinventing what they sell and how they sell on a daily basis.” (Emphases mine).
SO much good reading here.
I linked these all below, including a great interview with Chris Kaufield, Chief Revenue Officer at Alitheon. Chris talked about the revolution in sales and how the new sales cultures emerging are different from the older sales cultures. Chris is mentioned in the Wall Street Journal article that caused all the furor yesterday:
Chris Kaufield, chief revenue officer at Bellevue, Wash.-based software company Alitheon, Inc., plans to triple his sales staff this year. Clients like to do their own research about the products they buy, which means sales representatives have to flex their soft skills rather than read a script, Mr. Kaufield says. “The new template for a salesperson is not about cold-calling. It’s not mechanical,” he says. “You have to be empathetic and deeply curious” about clients’ businesses. — WSJ 7-14-21
I got busy and found other things Chris has said and have linked them all in my own LinkedIn posts. Some great reading there, especially if you are in pain over not being able to find enough sales candidates!
Wall Street Journal and Kelli Nguyen article links
Kaufield Interview on “Buyer First” sales culture and the importance of the right kind of Onboarding
As you may know, I am writing a series of blog posts on how to use sales assessments to find the right kind of sales candidates and to get the outcomes you really need for your sales team. You can read the first of the series (they are linked to each other), if interested, here.
Keep checking this blog for more. This is a live topic and we are writing!
— Alan Eason, Marketing Director, Sales Manage Solutions
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