13 sales force indicators that the sales are going to fall soon

1. Increasing trend in Sales Rep vacancies :  Only vacancies due to promotions are good but otherwise they show turnover and difficulties in recruitment. 
2. Decreasing trend in virtual bench quantity and quality :  This is good only if the could only if the people on th bench are taken out and deployed in new territories or to replace retirees otherwise they show increasing attrition and / or Sales Managers being oo busy in on-boarding new recruits and not paying attention to building bench quantity and quality.
3. Increasing trend in Sales Reps being active on LinkedIn - not with prospects or customers :  This means they are trying to become more marketable. Look for updates and network connections. 
4. Decreasing trend in employee satisfaction and increase in employee complaints :  a spike in complaints in periodic engagement survey - particularly in complaints about management and compensation.
5. Recent induction of outsiders in senior sales management (VP) :  The reps may fear that the new managers may start with a "cleaning house" mentality and start bringing in their old colleagues and may leave even before the new leader truly gets started.
6. Decrease in customer satisfaction and increase of customer complaints : Look for spikes in customer dissatisfaction and complaints which happens when Sales Reps are disengaged because they know they are moving on and the new Sales Reps haven't had enough time to resolve those complaints.
7. Recent change to compensationpeople  or sales territories : Newly released compensation plan or territory redesign is a trigger for exodus of talent.  
8. A general decrease in deal quality (deals being sold at very low margin/with high discount) : This indicates Sales Reps going for short-term opportunities to make their numbers and may soon fly to greener pastures especially if changes are made that would disallow this activity.
9. Decreasing trend in CRM activity :  may mean that some Sales Reps don't fear the consequences of not logging in the CRM activity or they don't want to share any of "their" contacts - but take them with them to the competitor.
10. A rash of Sales Reps taking vacations  : Of course, your company's "use it or lose it" vacation policy may create a spike when the deadline comes near but otherwise you may be seeing reps take vacation before they leave. 
11. A new sales channel has been added : If the sales organization has recently added new external channels for sales, your sales reps may not want to tolerate the potential cannibalization of their sales - depending on how the channel is implemented.
12. A general drop in sales rep performance : This could be due to an overall drop in morale or a recently-imposed quota that just isn't realistic. But watch out - it could also be related to a seasonal cycle, a commoditization, a competitor increase of market share, or other reasons that may not indicate attrition issues.
13. Recent introduction of sales-related roles like Inside Sales Rep, Associate Rep, or Lead Development Rep :  Has your company recently implemented new sales roles? New "junior" sales reps and even inside sales reps may encroach on accounts that the legacy sales reps usually handled. This is a threat to potential earnings from a territory, so Reps may decide to leave.  If a Lead Development program has been implemented, the Sales Rep may not want to relinquish the prospecting activities that he or she has become proficient at - and therefore leave for another firm.

The key to improving your sales force productivity

(Hiring the right type of persons is the first key) and providing the right coaching is the second key and in this blog post I am talking about the second key. 

It has been found that ONLY 3+ hours per month of coaching can

• improve quota attainment by 22%
• improve close rate over 14%
• decrease sales rep turnover up to 12%.

I am giving below the 3 Tactics of coaching which are :

1. Grab the moment for coaching as it occurs. Do it without wasting time. A great situation suitable for coaching can happen anywhere, anytime, anyplace.  This informal coaching can be personal or even on telephone. But 89 % of all coaching happens on the job and not in the class room.  
2. Coaching works best when the sales rep trusts you to have his best interest in your heart. You must demonstrate this by pointing out your positive experiences first. Research shows that the brain can listen and accept constructive criticism only when you can establish the ‘trust’ by citing examples of good and positive behavior. The reps' defense  and fear of rejection drop when they actually listen more to the criticism in a constructive manner.  BUT, the positive feedback must be sincere. Telling someone they look good today is not a positive comment.
3. Be as specific as possible and this needs your interacting closely. Example : when you tell someone they need to work on their questioning skills, give a specific example. Otherwise your coaching will remain in the cloud. To make it real and actionable, you must cite specific details of when you OBSERVED this behavior.  Actually coaching requires details. And the more specific, the better. And use reports and aids to help you. Show them how a daily (or some other report) can be used. It is not possible to be specific without seeing, hearing and listening to a sales rep. You need to interact every week with either a field ride to a customer or a one on one meeting.  These are the moments you observe. These are the times when you coach.  And these are the specifics that allow you to provide the feedback necessary to improve results.