Women in Sales
The statistics are challenging — Women comprise only 39% of the global salesforce. Currently, finding qualified, career-stable candidates (of both genders) for in-demand sales roles is difficult, expensive, and a statistical crapshoot.
A recent demographics report published by CSO Insights found that while over 90% of organizations are growing or maintaining their sales organizations this year, the average turnover rate for salespeople is 22% (10% of reps leave voluntarily, and 12% are terminated). Additionally, the average tenure of a salesperson runs anywhere from 2.5 years (at the top end) to less than 12 months (at the low end).
The takeaway: The ability to retain top talent is slipping, and companies are facing each year with the knowledge that they will lose at least ⅕ of their sales force, in even the best of scenarios.
Pipeliner CRM Is Helping to Get More Women into Sales
Pipeliner CRM is aligned with the goals of Women Salespros®, a consortium committed to helping all professional salespeople increase revenues in their organizations. We support new thinking in sales hiring* and are actively looking to add salespeople to our growing workforce. Our team has committed to working with Women SalesPros® to find ways to boost the role of women in vital sales roles.
Women SalesPros has created a shared place of knowledge and insight — a group of top women sales experts who inspire, educate, and develop salespeople and sales teams. Members are renowned women B2B sales experts, keynote speakers, breakout speakers, bloggers, authors, consultants, trainers, and coaches in B2B sales. Lori Richardson (Founder of Score More Sales) is the President of Women Sales Pros®.
We’re very optimistic about working with Pipeliner to tap into this under-represented population, It’s time to marshall the women.
– Lori Richardson
Laura Fisher, Pipeliner CRM’s head of sales, thinks that the strategy of actively seeking out more women for sales roles makes sense.
The Technology Industry has a great opportunity to meet their sales hiring goals by focusing on women for sales and sales leadership positions. Women excel with their natural abilities to multi-task, be empathetic, and problem solve with their customers — which makes them well suited for sales. In our sales division, we have several open positions, and plan to fill them with the support of Women SalesPros® and other vendors who plan to play a key role in encouraging more women to join sales.
– Laura Fisher
Smart people in the tech space know that the solution to the gender imbalance won’t come overnight, but a higher percentage of women are graduating from college and earning degrees than ever — which means there should be a larger pool of qualified women entering the job market.
Women Salespros® is an extraordinary consortium is a Who’s Who of the top women in sales — many of whom triumphed over gender bias, prejudice, and double standards to achieve their goals. We think together we can work to tap the untold power of women, encourage them, educate them, and open up the floodgates of talent for our sales team and others. We believe that there are ways to maximize hiring success in all sales candidates, and particularly to encourage women to get involved in sales careers.
Hiring Techniques
Hiring techniques in sales have not adapted to the time’s new strategies and tactics are required. New thinking in sales hiring focuses on:
- Education, in particular, a better understanding of the sales process itself
- Enhanced profiles of sales jobs and qualifications — far beyond the simple job description
- Encouraging the addition of SDR (sales development reps) and Assistant roles to sales organizations to free salespeople for selling activities
- Development of non-traditional career paths supported by mentoring and coaching
- Awareness of a CRM-centric culture, supported by new tools and thinking
- Explanation of sales roles that are “different” rather than “better” — roles that clearly communicate advantages beyond compensation
Other companies who are interested in exploring the collaboration aimed at helping women thrive in the global sales landscape, please contact us.
Learn More about Women SalesPros on their website, Twitter, Google+, and through their LinkedIn Group. They will host a Sales Leader Summit (RevItUp) on October 1st in Chicago.
