Burnout is the word of the day among sales teams looking to reduce their turnover. Business leaders believe long hours and repetitive work have their employees heading for the hills. While this definitely plays into the turnover phenomenon, managers who focus entirely on sales burnout may be missing the underlying, improvable factors that can reduce their employee turnover rate.
From compensation to validation, sales and presales employees feel they need more to stick around. While some of these issues may not be easily fixable, knowing what your employees are looking for can lead to the changes necessary to improve your team’s retention rate.
The Misconnection of Sales Burnout and Employee Turnover
Although it may be a popular topic of discussion, the truth is sales burnout is simply one piece of the puzzle when it comes to employee turnover. In some cases, it’s not even the top factor as to why both leadership and individual contributors (ICs) alike decide to leave their sales engineering positions.
In fact, based on responses in the 2024 Sales Engineering Compensation & Workload Report, a majority of individual contributors and leaders are not experiencing significant burnout symptoms.
The true causes of turnover run much deeper than just a lack of work-life balance. Your operational choices can have a direct impact on employee satisfaction. Issues like misallocated time and inefficiency create long-term frustration for individual contributors, building over time and eventually motivating them to seek better opportunities elsewhere.
Seeking Better Compensation in Greener Pastures
One of the main reasons why sales engineers in both leadership and IC positions are leaving their current companies is to seek higher compensation elsewhere. In fact, it’s the number one cause, according to the 2024 SE Report.
But the desire for higher pay isn’t the only consideration for sales reps when they make a move. Often, other factors are at play, such as advancement and leadership opportunities. Individual contributors may find it more rewarding both in pay and title to switch positions rather than wait an average of three years to be promoted from within their current organization.
To prevent talent loss, you may consider adjusting your compensation structure to focus on the benefits you provide employees.
Unsatisfied employees list improved perks and benefits as the top factor that would make staying in a position more attractive to sales engineers in the 2024 SE Report. Although it’s not always possible to simply increase compensation company-wide, your employees see their benefits as a reflection of your investment in their well-being.
Other Potential Employee Turnover Factors
While it may seem like boosted benefits could solve a majority of your employees’ misgivings, there’s more to preventing employee turnover than simply throwing money at the issue. Self-actualization and work-life improvement factors are also important to many employees looking for more from their current or future positions.
Meaningful Work
Among individual contributors surveyed in the 2024 SE Report, reducing or removing repetitive work was seen as the second best way their work life could be improved. For leaders, this was voted the top overall method.
Not only is this repetitive work a contributing factor to sales burnout, but it’s also its own larger issue that can lead to turnover. Spending hours performing repetitive tasks that digital solutions can easily handle frustrates employees, encouraging them to seek opportunities elsewhere.
Through solutions like sales demo automation, business leaders can improve the overall value of their team’s work by eliminating redundant tasks. Automation also allows leaders to reduce costs, freeing up finances that can be used to improve employee benefits.
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Valuation of Teams
For both SE leaders and individual contributors, recognizing the value of presales to the overall business is extremely important for them to feel satisfied in their current positions. In fact, both groups listed it as the third best way to improve work life. Presales team members also feel as though they are perceived as less valuable than sales, with many ranking themselves as less important as time goes on.
Keep in mind that your team is full of unique individuals with their own needs. Learning and understanding how to make each team member feel valued is just as important as the more logistical elements of your sales strategy.
Advancement Opportunities
For many employees, being able to move up the sales ladder is a key motivator for staying at their current company. If employees don’t have a clear understanding of the way up through the ranks, they may choose to seek growth elsewhere.
Waiting an industry average of three years for a promotion may be too long for some and drive them to look elsewhere, hoping to gain more responsibility, a better title, and higher pay. By finding ways to accelerate advancement, create opportunities, improve transparency, and set attainable performance goals, you may be able to retain employees for longer and build a talented internal hierarchy in the process.
Larger Companies
Some employees may also choose to leave to work at a larger company that can offer them all the benefits previously listed. Working for these companies typically means more room for growth, bigger budgets for salaries, and more opportunities to do meaningful work.
While it may be difficult to compete with the compensation offered by larger companies, that’s what makes the other factors above so important to consider. By building a more streamlined work environment that acknowledges and rewards hardworking employees, you may be able to reduce your team members’ desire to leave and minimize the acquisition of your team by larger organizations.
Uncovering Your Team’s Needs
Brands cannot afford to ignore the true causes of employee turnover. While you may have your own ideas about which benefits your employees need to stay, taking into account their direct feedback will allow you to resolve common issues before it’s too late. Not only will this change increase your employees’ satisfaction, but the conscious effort you put into making their lives better will also make them feel seen and heard by your organization.
If you want to learn more about which factors may be driving your employees to the competition, you can start by listening to what the industry has to say. Check out the 2024 Sales Engineering Compensation & Workload Report to discover industry-leading insights on what drives or hinders your team’s success and well-being so you can make the necessary changes to reinforce employee retention.
