1.Situation

As a commercial team manager I can say that sales team supervision is one of the most complicated and important responsibilities.

In MYPRODUCT7 I detailed the implementation of a correct evaluation system and in MYPRODUCT28 I explored the target-bonus system, those representing essential vectors in a sales team management.

2.Task

As a commercial manager how do you react if you find (directly or indirectly) that somebody from your team is actively looking for a new job? Applying to jobs, going to interviews?

3.Action

Generally, an employee is looking for a new job due to the following reasons:

-is not well paid or wishes to earn more

-is not promoted or company does not offer strong evolution perspectives

-is not appreciated by the superior, general manager, owner

-lack of professional challenges

-is not trusted by the superiors

-is not involved in company development projects

– performs routine work without clear, measurable and achievable objectives

-no professionalization (courses, trainings)

-too much workload, prolonged schedule, unpaid overtime

-lack of internal equity regarding benefits – responsibilities – work

-harmful atmosphere (superiors, colleagues)

-unqualified manager, nothing to learn from him

-uncertainty of working place

There are probably other causes that are based on more or less specific reasons.

Bottom line, if somebody is looking for a new job, I think all of the above arguments are reduced to two dimensions.

The positive dimension in which the reason for departure is related to the natural desire for professional development.

As a manager and colleague I always encouraged people to evolve, to look for new professional challenges, to try to advance on new hierarchical positions, to access new responsibilities and obviously to be better paid.

If the company they are working for is not able to fulfil these natural expectations, it is normal for people to look for new jobs.

Because of my open and transparent approach, team members have shown openness too by telling me when they were involved in recruitment processes, even asking me for advice regarding their opportunity to go to company X in position Y.

The negative dimension in which motivation for departure is determined by a harmful component within the organization. In this situation, as a manager, it is imperative to understand the real reasons for which somebody from your team wants to leave and act immediately to remedy these faulty circumstances.

Probably the problem also implies faulty management from manager, because when somebody wants to leave due to harmful internal causes, this decision is the implicit result of the lack of understanding, interest, involvement, competence of the hierarchical superior.

4.Results

Looking back, in the teams where I acted as manager, in general people chose to work together and did not go to jobs in other companies. It is a finding, it is not a praise.

Exceptions are punctual as follows:

– a sales rep recruited by me left for a job of a veterinarian in England

-a regional manager left the company for own business development

-a sales rep decided to leave the company when I was appointed as a commercial manager in order to support his own business; after few years he returned in my team as sales rep

– a salesperson recruited by me from the human pharmacy industry did not get accommodated with the veterinary industry and in two months he returned back in the human pharmacy industry

– I evaluated the activity and professional performance of a key account manager as being in line with the level of a sales representative, reason why that person decided to leave the company

-a sales rep left the company as a result of a disciplinary investigation

-the exit from pet food business implied restructuration of this division, some of the people being transferred to the veterinary medical division, another part finding new jobs.

5.Key Learnings

I recommend to constant encourage the professional evolution of the people, to support their desire to gain more, to have more responsibilities, to advance in the career.

If, in the end, your colleague decided that for his professional future, it is better to go to a job in another company, grab his hand, thank him for his involvement and wish him success.

It is the civilized way of concluding a professional partnership and leaving open doors for the future.

Notification: MYPRODUCT reflects my real professional experience and expertise as well as my subjectivity. I do have a profound respect for all the companies I collaborated to and for all the people I worked with. It is not my intention to approach any sensitive, confidential or offending information related to companies, projects or people. If you the reader deduct or recognise companies, projects or people in my examples, I kindly ask you to respect MYPRODUCT and my professional and ethic approach and to not share any detail, information, situation, name, company.