Happy National Thirsty Thursday! It’s Friday Jr. and every salesperson’s 2nd favorite day of the work week. 🍻 

In today’s Follow Up:

• The 3 things salespeople actually care about 🎤 

• Sales in the news 🗞️

• Sales tools 🛠️

• Sales jobs for closers 💰

Sales Fact of The Day

What really matters to Salespeople

We love a good trend. And we’re not talking about air fryers or TikTok dances.

We’re talkin’ business.

Earlier this year, Michael Page interviewed over 69,000 white-collar workers across 37 markets. The survey covers workers across 13 different job functions including marketing, engineering, and most importantly: sales.

The 50-page report covers all things talent related, from how much your boss makes, to how unhappy your coworker is.

The Follow Up is squeezing out all the juice and sprinkling in some sugar to keep it short and sweet like your local lemonade stand.

Salespeople looking for new jobs:

Sales is a high-turnover position. The pressure’s high, reps are always chasing higher pay, and markets are constantly changing.

However, the great employee migration may be worse than people think. The Michael Page study shows:

• 90% of salespeople are open to new job opportunities.

• 45% of salespeople are more likely to look for a new job in a bad economy.

• 80% of all respondents (not just sales) that started a new job in the past year said they were open to new opportunities.

Two main takeaways:

• Retaining your top employees is hard, but it’s still just as (if not more) important as attracting & hiring them in the first place.

• If you’re hiring, reach out to top performers at other companies, (even if it seems like they're happy in their current role).

Now, how do you keep your employees from leaving your company?

Top 3 things Salespeople want from an employer:

A lot of employers and managers don’t actually understand what employees want. We’ve all had the manager who thinks a pizza party or company happy hour is the recipe for keeping employees happy.

According to this study, those things don’t matter. What does matter is work-life balance.

74% of salespeople report “work life balance” as the most important factor in their job satisfaction.

If you want to keep your top employees let them have a life outside of work and read the next 3 things salespeople want from an employer:

1. Pay

43% of respondents chose pay as their #1 priority in job satisfaction. This isn’t a surprise, since most people get into sales for the opportunity to make a lot of money.

But there’s one issue…63% of employers report that matching salary expectations is their biggest recruitment challenge.

Why this matters: You gotta keep your salaries competitive if you want top talent. Use pay studies and databases to keep a pulse on what your competitors are paying their employees.

2. Flexibility

Flexibility goes hand in hand with “work-life balance.”

57% of participants said they would reject a promotion if it had a negative effect on their well-being/flexibility. The rise of hybrid and remote work has made this factor even more important.

Why this matters: If you require 5 days in the office, you’ll likely lose out on top talent. Hybrid work models are a great way to attract top talent if you want the best of both worlds.

3. Career progression

“If you are not moving forward, you are moving backward.” - Mikhail Gorbachev

Everyone wants higher status and more money. We’ve all met someone who cares more about their title than their paycheck.

The report shows that one of the top reasons salespeople job hop is to move into a higher position.

Why this matters: To keep your best employees, you need to give them the opportunity to grow at your company or figure out what motivates them. Create clear career progression pathways for top performers and understand the needs of people who don’t find status as important.

Sales Tip of The Day

A word from our LinkedIn Influencers:

Keep that mental strong fellow sales Kings & Queens 🫡 

Sales Meme of the Day

And that’s a wrap!

Reply to this email and let us know what you think of today’s topics.