When did 40%+ voluntary turnover rates become acceptable in sales?

When did 40%+ voluntary turnover rates become acceptable in sales?

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Senior leaders at two very large SDR orgs this month shared that their voluntary turnover rates are 40%+

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This is a MAJOR problem because:

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1) It's expensive to hire and onboard

2) You're not building a bench of future AEs

3) Puts too much pipegen pressure on marketing/AEs

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From our vantage point at Outbound Squad, here's what we're seeing contributing to high voluntary turnover rates (plus what you can do):

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⛔️ 1) Lack of everboarding

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Enablement invests a TON in building world-class onboarding programs.

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They're using the slickest tech and the content is great.

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But the stats don't lie: reps forget 70%+ of what they learn within a month (Gartner).

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You need to develop a clear learning path to fully ramp reps and keep them around:

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- Shorten the path to booking their first meeting

- Develop 200 and 300-level content (AKA what does mastery look like?)

- Enable front-line leaders to reinforce/coach everything

- Objective assessment of rep skills Onboarding is the START of the rep journey, not the destination.

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⛔️ 2) No promotion path

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It's not 2022 anymore.

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SDRs should expect to be in seat for 1-2 years before an AE promotion.

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You need creative ways to keep them in the organization.

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Here are some ideas our best clients use to retain top talent:

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- Belt system: Create tiers of SDRs. SDR 1, SDR 2, SDR 3, etc. Each tier comes with an upgrade in pay, responsibility, career development, and title.

- Create an SDR to AE pathway program

- Find the SDR a new home elsewhere in the org (enablement, CS, account management, etc)

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⛔️ 3) Lack of coaching

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I can't tell you how many SDR Managers spend ZERO hours every week call coaching.

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They don't listen to a single cold call.

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Your reps are spending more than half their time dialing and leaving voicemails.

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Pro tip: Create a "call coaching" KPI for every manager.

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You can track this in most sales engagement platforms now.

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You'll see a big pattern in managers who coach consistently and the results on their team.

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And don't get me started on the lack of coaching for front-line leaders.

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Managers must be taught how to run effective 1:1s, team meetings, deliver coaching, etc.

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What has your org found effective to reduce voluntary turnover?