It has been make or break for many organisations over the last few years and the pressure has been on sales professionals to bring in the business. Are sales professionals being rewarded for their efforts or are they ready to jump ship? Alison Goodman, Director at Hays Sales, the leading recruiting expert, offers insight into findings from a new survey examining commission structure and satisfaction for employees across all sales functions in the UK.
The new research should set alarm bells ringing among employers. It shows one quarter of employees are planning on moving jobs within the next three months, just under a third are unsure how long they will remain in their current post, and only 12 per cent predict they will remain in post for the next three years. With the UK sales market currently quite buoyant and many start-up and European companies looking to break into the UK for the first time and capitalise on experienced UK sales professionals, employers clearly need to do more to hang on to their top sales professionals.
So what are organisations doing when it comes to bonuses? Interestingly, the survey finds a surprisingly large proportion, around a third of those questioned, state that they do not receive a bonus. In the sales profession, where targets and revenue generated are key and many professionals are financially motivated, the lack of a bonus seems to go against the grain.
In fact recent research, from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), echoes the importance of reward in retaining and attracting talent. It finds the prospect of better pay and benefits has overtaken job satisfaction as the main reason for moving to another job, so clearly there is a need for employers to assess what they are offering in a bid to attract, retain and motivate their sales staff.
It is important to define the sales bonus package to attract staff but also ensure that employees are targeted to deliver profitable revenue at a reasonable cost to the organisation. Organisations also need to be as transparent as possible when communicating such rewards. Doing so will help employers compete in the ‘war for talent’.
The report also looked into how often professionals are awarded a bonus, and how they are targeted. Other key findings include:
Bonus
- One quarter of those who receive a bonus are awarded it on an annual basis.
- Over half (56%) of those within IT & Telecoms receive their bonus on a monthly or quarterly basis.
- 60% of those working within FMCG have a limited bonus, compared to only 17% in professional services and 20% in telecoms.
KPIs
- The majority of KPIs set by organisations are revenue generated (58%).
- Only one quarter of sales professionals indicate that their KPIs focus on customer service.
- Just under one third of professionals say they are rewarded on company performance – this rises to 44% for those earning over £75,000.
For a copy of the full report please visit hays.co.uk/sales.
