Category: Retention Strategy

Posted on in Retention Strategy

I’m a huge fan of Simon Sinek. If you don’t follow him, I highly recommend you do. He has one of the top viewed Ted Talks on how great leaders create inspired action. The talk is an excerpt from his book Start With Why, which is one of the best books you can read as you think about building a team. At the risk of spoiling the Ted Talk or book, Sinek makes the powerful statement that “People Don’t Buy What You Do, They Buy Why You Do it.”  Let that simmer for a minute. Think about this from the candidate or employee perspective. If you were clear, and I mean crystal clear, on why your company does what it does, can you see how that powerful purpose would enable you to speak a different language that resonates with the right types of candidates and employees?  I would argue that […]

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I love what I do. My days are spent working with leaders at organizations ranging from tech startups to consulting firms to consumer packaged goods companies, and everything in between. While my clients are diverse, one thing is consistent among them: They are on a mission to constantly improve how they attract, recruit, and retain talent. For them, becoming better isn’t something they just pay lip service to. We push the envelope on how to best engage with talent, and we also have some fun along the way. Speaking of fun, the next blog series is focused on just that. Pillar #7 of the talent continuum is Reward where we will discuss how acknowledging and recognizing your team is a critical culture builder and leads to a higher level of engagement (which spurs innovation and growth). How does your company reward and recognize team members? I’m always looking to add great stories […]

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I hope this post doesn’t turn into a complete rant (or maybe I do).  I just can’t edit myself or hold back any longer. I talk to countless people every week…CEOs, other consultants, hiring managers, job seekers in every industry, geography, stage of life, and any other demographic you can think of.  Over the last few weeks, the conversations keep coming back to the same thing: When it comes to attracting, recruiting, developing, and retaining talent THIS SHIT ISN’T HARD!  Really.  I promise you it’s not.  Okay, let me reel myself back in and tie this post to the topic at hand…developing your people.  We set out to focus the last few blog posts on “developing” your sales talent. For one, increased sales never hurt. Two, many companies make the biggest investments in their sales teams.  And three, I wanted to introduce my friend Bill Morrow, who is a rockstar sales consultant, to my inner circle. If […]

Posted on in Retention Strategy

I’ve had countless conversations with CEOs who believe in order to achieve top-line revenue growth, all they need to do is train their sales team more.  More training means more sales. More sales means more growth.  Easy peasy. Wouldn’t it be great if that’s all we had to do? Developing salespeople to achieve their full potential requires you to invest in them in ways you likely haven’t, at least yet.  It’s about learning who they are as a person at their core, to understand their preferences, motivators and mindset. For those of you who are onboard with this, don’t think “Awesome.  Let me call someone in HR to find some touchy-feely assessment we can throw on top of sales training and we’ll be sure to see sales results.”  Not quite. The key to achieving the growth you want for your company requires you to develop every member of your organization in this way, […]

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Sales can be tough.  It’s often an easy profession to get into, but one that quickly eats up and spits out new graduates, career changers, and even some of the most experienced sales pros. Many sales professionals work hard and become “good enough”, but very few become great.  You know what I’m talking about.  You have one or two salespeople that are standouts, but many are simply “good enough.” Yes, they understand the product and market position.  Yes, they know how to sell value, not features and benefits.  And, yes, they always make their quota.   Of course they do.  Why?  Because most sales training programs are turnkey “how to” courses focused on product and process. We train people on the specifics of our product or service, show them what our sales process is, and tell them that if they master these two things and generate the right amount of activity (“Just […]

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Being a CEO is tough. Being a new CEO is even tougher. There are lessons to learn, often complicated by your own team members. I was having lunch with a recently appointed CEO of a small manufacturing company and I asked “How are sales?” The answer in a nutshell – “Not good.” She explained that sales were flat and no matter what she did, she couldn’t get results from the team. One sales person was a time waster and spent a lot of time wanting to chat through everything. Another sales person didn’t communicate enough and often made decisions that effected delivery and made the operations team upset. The CEO had gone so far as to insert herself into many of the big opportunities, just to be sure things got done. To say she was “stressed out” would have been an understatement. The problem was that she wasn’t understanding who […]

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Control what you can control. That’s kind of a motto around here.  In a world where things change frequently and quickly, we must seek opportunities to influence outcomes whenever possible.  Let’s consider how this applies to a CEO’s agenda. Study after study shows that talent attraction and retention is the first or second concern that keeps most CEOs up at night.  So, as the leader of the organization, why would any CEO leave those activities that improve talent attraction and retention to chance?  We know that one of the most impactful things a CEO can do to ensure higher productivity, engagement and retention of their employees is to take an active role in the onboarding process. During our onboarding series, we highlighted the difference between orientation and onboarding and offered up a few easy things any CEO can do to be involved in the process.  We also tried to have a little fun, […]

Posted on in Retention Strategy

Your business strategy and market position may not be all that different from your competitors. What makes your company unique is not “what” you do, rather it’s “how” you achieve your business results. And you get those results through your people. When we talk to CEOs about their new hire onboarding process, most describe a one-day program run by their HR department. They’ll often mention some level of involvement of other staff such as IT or Operations, but generally won’t have a lot of additional details. When you think about it, why should they?  I mean…is bringing on the newest team members who are charged with executing the business vision every day really all that important? I hope you sense my sarcasm here. Onboarding MUST be on CEOs’ agendas. I’m not suggesting you roll up your sleeves and run the program (although one of our clients does), but it is […]

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Your candidate has signed on the dotted line and everyone is excited for the new hire to start. The job of recruiting and hiring is done. Or is it? Smart companies know that engagement must continue after an offer is extended and accepted, and they create structured onboarding programs as a continuation of the experience new hires have throughout the recruitment process. The onboarding period marks the transition point where individuals become immersed in your culture, trained on your policies and programs, and assimilated with your team. It is not a one-time event, it begins the moment they accept the position and extends throughout their first year. What happens when you don’t do this? Disaster ensues. Below are eight real stories from the field that demonstrate exactly what bad onboarding looks like. Brace yourself, it gets ugly. “After I accepted, I didn’t hear from anyone for 2 weeks. I awkwardly followed up with the HR […]

Posted on in Retention Strategy

The recruiting process is one that takes a considerable investment of time and resources for many in your company. Once the candidate signs on the dotted line, most companies believe that the engagement process has come to an end. Unfortunately, many don’t realize it’s just beginning. Retaining your employees begins the moment they accept the position with your company. Hopefully, you’ve provided your new employee with a great candidate experience and it’s critical their onboarding experience is equally exceptional. The most effective onboarding programs begin the moment someone accepts and continue throughout the employee’s first year, as onboarding should be approached as a series of experiences, not a one time event. Research by Urbanbound supports our methodology, as they’ve found companies with formalized onboarding enjoy 50% higher retention as well as a 54% increase in new hire productivity. That’s a pretty strong business case. Over the next few weeks, we […]