Since the pandemic hit in 2020, the topic of employee burnout and sales force turnover became a big conversation piece, especially in the post-acute care industry. These issues were happening way before Covid-19. However, because of the pandemic, it encouraged organizations to finally address how turnover and burnout are affecting their employees and bottom line.
As you read through this article, keep in mind the ideas and examples mentioned so you can help reduce employee turnover and burnout in your sales and marketing teams.
How Employee Turnover is Affecting Your Organization
Did you know?
Two-thirds of sales reps said they were close to being burned out
According to Forbes magazine, during a recent study – two-thirds of sales reps said they were close to being burned out, 57 percent stated their workload was overwhelming, and 67 percent reported working more than they are paid to.
So, with that statistic in mind, how can you – as a sales leader – ensure your team is protecting their time, health, and energy?
One effective way to help your reps is to have check-ins with them during your one-on-one meetings to see how they are doing – professionally and personally – and if they are experiencing any form of burnout or stress.
Below are examples of questions you can utilize to see how your reps are feeling and if you can help:
- Do they lack motivation and energy?
- Do they look forward to work at the start of each day?
- Do they have energy for their personal interests/family/friends after work?
- Do they have colleagues they can turn to for help or advice?
- Do you know how they like to be motivated/recognized/rewarded?
While bringing in new customers and increasing your ROI are pivotal to your organization, your reps need to have the ability to have the time and energy to do the things they love after work as well.
Having a work-life balance can help reduce the potential for your reps to burn out and will more than likely help them feel refreshed and motivated to tackle their territories, create impactful relationships, and increase revenue. Having the right crm tool can help you support your sales team and reduce employee burnout.
Are they feeling burned out?
- Help address the root cause(s) of their burnout
- Is it caused by areas they/you can control or are other aspects of life affecting their burnout?
If some of your reps are burned out, you must figure out what is causing it and tackle it immediately – especially if it’s an issue you can control – such as being overwhelmed, or their workload is too much.
Communicate with them, encourage breaks/time off, and see what you can do to reduce stress.
Do they feel supported?
- Are they getting support already?
- What type of support do they need?
- Are you asking them for feedback?
Does your sales team feel like they can come to you when they are overwhelmed, stressed, anxious, or when they’re having a bad day?
It’s important to have open communication with your team and ensure that they have your trust, and they can come to you for anything. Providing support and understanding what they need to succeed is pivotal in preventing your team from experiencing severe employee burnout or worse – sales force turnover.
Do they have proper training?
- Do they have the right tools and resources to do their job?
- Do they need more training?
- Are they asking for help articulating the value of your product?
It’s essential for your sales team to have proper training and tools to do their job efficiently and effectively. According to HubSpot, companies that automate lead management see a 10 percent or greater increase in revenue in 6 – 9 months.
Having tools such as a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, a physician talk track, and high-quality market data will not only increase sales rep productivity but can help them feel empowered while making meaningful connections with referrals.
The Impact of Burnout and Turnover on Your Sales Team
Sometimes, sales reps can become so burned out to the point they want to leave, which can lead to sales force turnover. When sales force turnover occurs with multiple reps on your team, it can be chaotic trying to onboard new hires and keep customers happy and loyal.
Below are a few areas in which burnout and turnover can affect your sales team:
Recruiting time and training
A severely impacted area by sales force turnover and burnout is recruitment time and training. The average turnover cost once recruiting, training costs, and closed loss sales are added up equals to –
Depending on your organizational structure, you may be the only one onboarding a new sales rep. Not only does this cost money, but also takes time away from coaching and providing support to the rest of your team. You may not be able to get that time back until you start to see the consequences such as lost admissions and market share (which we will cover later). Unfortunately, it can also lead to other reps on your team not feeling supported and wanting to leave for new opportunities.
Time, money, effort, and culture are at risk with high sales turnover and burnout.
Therefore, it’s so important to communicate with your team and be open to communicating with them if they are starting to feel burned out or thinking about leaving.
Loss in Market Share, Patient Admittance, and Revenue
When there are vacancies present in your sales team, and your customers aren’t feeling the love – this can open a big opportunity for your competitors to swoop in and steal shares on your referral sources.
This can lead to a loss in patient admittance and revenue. Consequently, you and your team may end up at square one reaching out to referral sources and earning their trust back.
The key here is to be proactive. Engage with your key accounts often – well before any potential disruption. Plus, it is best practice to keep a direct line open and let your accounts know they have support from a management level.
In the next section, we will discuss some strategies to ensure there is no downtime if a rep vacancy occurs.
How is Employee Turnover Impacting Your Customers?
Starting over with a customer is one of the hardest-felt impacts of sales force turnover.
When they hear about turnover, customers might be thinking:
- Is this agency stable?
- Should I follow the rep to their new agency?
- Do I have to reteach everything to someone else?
- Will I still get updates on my patients?
- Will the referral process change?
It can be hard for the new sales rep to understand the wants and needs of your customer, thus making the customer reteach everything to the new rep – which may cause the relationship to deteriorate.
Your customers may be uncertain and anxious if your team doesn’t have the right tools implemented to document conversations and interactions with them, thus making them feel like they are training the new hire.
Utilize the Right Tools to Tackle Turnover and Burnout
Mobile CRM
When turnover occurs, how do you know where the previous rep left off? Do you have their calls documented? Do you know their meeting cadence for a particular referral?
Having a tool like a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform allows extensive and detailed documentation about the customer to help the new rep catch up on the customer’s wants, and needs, and ensure the relationship stays intact. These documented notes also help a sales leader to bridge the communication gap and ensure these accounts do not go untouched during the reassignment process.
With a mobile CRM, reps can stay focused – this type of focus can lead to a feeling of fulfillment and enjoyment on the job – and they don’t feel like they are doing the same tasks over and over with no results.
Sales reps can see their progress, track outcomes, record detailed notes on the go, access previous documentation, and be coached in their book of business.
Physician Talk Track
As you know, sales reps want to protect their time and avoid feeling burned out. So, it’s important to have a tool implemented in place that can help your sales reps find the information they need and relay it in a way that referral sources will understand.
By implementing a physician talk track with your CRM, sales reps can see important information and talking points before meeting with a high-value referral source and follow up with notes after the meeting.
The talk track helps reps stay organized and empowers them with the right data to confidently communicate why you should be the top referral destination.
How to Avoid Severe Burnout and Sales Force Turnover in 2023
One of the best ways to reduce employee turnover and burnout is to create a winning environment for your team. As a sales leader, it’s important to set good habits with your sales reps as soon as they finish onboarding.
With 2023 approaching quickly, it’s crucial to have weekly and monthly check-ins with your employees to support and assure them if they need help you are there for them as their leader. Get to know each rep personally and professionally and find out what motivates them; how they like to receive coaching/support.
Want to learn more about how to reduce employee turnover and burnout for your organization? Click HERE to watch the “Protect Referral Source Relationships Through Sales Turnover” webinar featuring Jess Chew, Kara Justis, and Josh Price!
Are you ready for 2023?
Correctly set your sales team up for success in 2023 check out Trella’s CRM and market insights solution.
