An Investment You Can't Afford Not to Make: Building a High Impact Sales Force with Independent Sales Representatives

Recruiting and retaining the best sales people could be the competitive tipping point that helps your business to succeed

Finding and keeping good sales people is fundamental in the medical sales industry. According to the US DePaul Centre for Sales Leadership, DePaul University, Chicago (for salary based sales reps) the average sales staff turnover per annum is 12 to 18% - with 24% of firms reporting turnover higher than 20%. Some specialty sales areas {and for some companies} these figures can soar as high as 100%. Now consider the potential turnover of Independent Reps on commission only. Regardless of the type of rep placed, high sales rep turnover can impact the bottom-line for your company.

A company can spend $3M annually for 20 Direct Salary Sales Reps

Consider the Company's Savings of utilizing Commission Only reps versus Direct Salary Reps - Estimated total cost of a direct (Salary) Sales Rep with base salary of $50,000.00 is estimated at $150,000.00 PER REP. (Consider the cost for recruiting, hiring & training expenses, salary, variable incentive compensation, payroll taxes & 401K contribution, paid vacation, insurance & workers' comp, auto, travel, meals, computer & communications equipment, inside sales support......) 20 Reps x $150,000.00 = $3,000,000.00

Should you use your own Sales Managers to locate and align Sales Team Members?

Small Businesses may often start out utilizing key players of their team - even Principals such as Owners, VP of Sales, Regional or Territory Sales Managers. This can have a serious impact on sales as it takes significant time away from focusing on actual sales. According to DePaul: "Best estimates indicate that managers spend nearly 50% of their valuable time on recruiting, retention and rehire issues when they should be spending it helping their top performers excel and elevating the performance of the moderate performers in the sales organization."

What does it cost to recruit a Direct Salary Sales Team? Recruiting fees range from $150,000-$350,000 for 20 Direct Reps

Recruiting and retaining the best sales people could be the competitive tipping point that helps your business to succeed. Effective sales recruitment that identifies sales team members who can deliver results is critical. Fees can range all over the board depending on the variables of search agreements, candidate profiles (type of rep) - niche specialties, quantity of reps, locations, products, and more. Is the recruiting arrangement based on a contingency agreement, contract, retained ... or other creative arrangements.

Recruiting for Direct or Employee Sales staff members can range from 15-35% of the first year's salary. Let's look at some numbers for those that process better visually.

          20 Sales Reps at $50,000.00 annual base pay (Salary Reps) + Recruitment Fees = Total Investment*
(*without inclusion of other costs such as variable incentives, payroll taxes & 401K contribution, paid vacation, insurance & workers' comp, auto, travel, meals, computer & communications equipment...)                          

Successfully managing, training and compensating your sales team goes further than recruiting and are all critical elements to the success of your sales force - whether you are hiring direct salary or independent sales representatives.

Training Your Sales Team
Compensating Independent Sales Representatives
Commission Structure Variables
Managing Your Independent Sales Team

Whether “hunting” for new sales accounts or “farming” for added revenue from existing accounts, the sales environment is more complex today than ever before.