{"id":38396,"date":"2020-02-06T12:10:19","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T20:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=38396"},"modified":"2020-02-06T12:10:23","modified_gmt":"2020-02-06T20:10:23","slug":"money-equals-happiness-the-art-of-maintaining-superstar-account-reps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/feature-articles\/2020\/02\/money-equals-happiness-the-art-of-maintaining-superstar-account-reps\/","title":{"rendered":"Money Equals Happiness: The Art of Maintaining Superstar Account Reps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We welcome February with this month\u2019s state of the industry focus on finding and maintaining quality employees\u2014long viewed as one of the most vexing challenges for not only the office dealer ecosystem but all businesses. As unemployment levels hover at historic lows across the country, the ability to recruit candidates\u2014particularly for technical and sales-oriented positions\u2014becomes more essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As does maintaining your existing staff. And no one area of\na dealer\u2019s operation is more susceptible to turnover than the sales team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how do dealers ply their star account representatives?\nLet\u2019s turn to our panel of dealers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Rebecca Graham, Novatech<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Rebecca Graham, HR manager for Nashville, Tennessee-based\nNovatech, doesn\u2019t believe a one-size-fits-all approach can be applied across\nthe board. Account representatives value having autonomy in their roles and\nappreciate having supportive and knowledgeable leaders at their disposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMonthly and quarterly promotional programs have been successful for Novatech sales professionals,\u201d Graham said. \u201cWe also have an Employee of the Quarter that entails financial and paid time off perks, as well as a Circle of Excellence award, an annual, all-expenses-paid trip for the employee and a guest. That\u2019s a nice motivator.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lauren Christman, Fraser AIS<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

For Fraser AIS of West Reading, Pennsylvania, employees can\nsee and feel the contribution their work makes in the direction the company is\ngrowing, notes Lauren Christman, HR generalist. Beyond an excellent total rewards\npackage and compensation structure, Fraser AIS offers internal incentive\nbonuses including President\u2019s Club trips, tickets to Eagles and Flyers games in\nPhiladelphia, an annual awards banquet and achievable sales promotions each\nquarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing able to impact the trajectory of an innovative company while being compensated and recognized for your efforts and having the resources and support to be successful is how we are able to attract and maintain our top team members,\u201d Christman said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flexibility Perks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having a highly-competitive compensation plan is a good starting point, but Kevin Fries, human resources manager for Eakes Office Solutions of Grand Island, Nebraska, notes that representatives also place a high value on a flexible work environment and having time to take care of personal matters. Small perks, seemingly insignificant on their own merit, tend to carry considerable weight for sales reps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Kevin Fries, Eakes<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Fries notes that\nfinding quality reps from the field of available candidates has become more\ndifficult in the past two years. That prompted the dealer to change its\napproach. Rather than seeking experienced reps to indoctrinate into Eakes\u2019 system,\nthe dealer now looks for a good cultural fir, first and foremost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe look for the\ndesire, the underlying skills,\u201d Fries said. \u201cWe use a lot of pre-employment\ntesting to see what their motivators are, along with personality and behavior\ntests. Now we\u2019ll find a good candidate and just teach them the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Josh Britton, imageOne<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

While imageOne of\nOak Park, Michigan, boasts employees with tenure ranging from five to 25 years,\ncultivating long-term sales reps is a process that\u2019s difficult to \u201cfigure out\nand replicate,\u201d according to Josh Britton, vice president of operations.\nIt\u2019s a process of seeing what works and what doesn\u2019t, but also offloading\nnon-revenue generating activities from their plate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe all have activities that sap you of energy, and others that energize you,\u201d Britton said. \u201cIt\u2019s understanding what the makeup is of each person. The more things that give them energy in the sales space, the more productive they\u2019re going to be and how happy they will be in doing it. The most important thing is to make sure that we throw in every support possible for them to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Constant Engagement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Matteo Recanatini, Offix<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

An aggressive bonus and commission structure that is highly\nexponential has been critical in keeping representatives engaged, according to\nMatteo Recanatini, director of marketing for Offix of Gainesville, Virginia.\nThe dealer sets challenging but achievable goals which are \u201cdialed up or down\u201d\ndepending on their performance. But they tend to become easily bored when not\nchallenged, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cContinuous education is important, and working for a\ncompany that is prestigious helps,\u201d Recanatini said. \u201cAs a company, we enter to\nwin a lot of awards and recognitions, so that when the reps share their\nbusiness card, they do it with pride.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arming reps with the necessary tools to be successful is\nessential, and Offix recently switched to Salesforce and built a tailored\ncustomer relationship management platform based on feedback from the representatives.\n\u201cWe\u2019re trying to make what they consider the most boring part of their job easy\nas possible so they\u2019ll use it well and become more successful.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We welcome February with this month\u2019s state of the industry focus on finding and maintaining quality employees\u2014long viewed as one of the most vexing challenges for not only the office dealer ecosystem but all businesses. As unemployment levels hover at historic lows across the country, the ability to recruit candidates\u2014particularly for technical and sales-oriented positions\u2014becomes more essential. As does maintaining your existing staff. And no one area of a dealer\u2019s operation is more susceptible to turnover than the sales team. So how do dealers ply their star account representatives? Let\u2019s turn to our panel of dealers. Rebecca Graham, HR manager for Nashville, Tennessee-based Novatech, doesn\u2019t believe a one-size-fits-all approach can be applied across the board. Account representatives value having autonomy in their roles and appreciate having supportive and knowledgeable leaders at their disposal. \u201cMonthly and quarterly promotional programs have been successful for Novatech sales professionals,\u201d Graham said. \u201cWe also have an Employee of the Quarter that entails financial and paid time off perks, as well as a Circle of Excellence award, an annual, all-expenses-paid trip for the employee and a guest. That\u2019s a nice motivator.\u201d For Fraser AIS of West Reading, Pennsylvania, employees can see and feel the contribution their work makes in the direction the company is growing, notes Lauren Christman, HR generalist. Beyond an excellent total rewards package and compensation structure, Fraser AIS offers internal incentive bonuses including President\u2019s Club trips, tickets to Eagles and Flyers games in Philadelphia, an annual awards banquet and achievable sales promotions each quarter. \u201cBeing able to impact the trajectory of an innovative company while being compensated and recognized for your efforts and having the resources and support to be successful is how we are able to attract and maintain our top team members,\u201d Christman said. Flexibility Perks Having a highly-competitive compensation plan is a good starting point, but Kevin Fries, human resources manager for Eakes Office Solutions of Grand Island, Nebraska, notes that representatives also place a high value on a flexible work environment and having time to take care of personal matters. Small perks, seemingly insignificant on their own merit, tend to carry considerable weight for sales reps. Fries notes that finding quality reps from the field of available candidates has become more difficult in the past two years. That prompted the dealer to change its approach. Rather than seeking experienced reps to indoctrinate into Eakes\u2019 system, the dealer now looks for a good cultural fir, first and foremost. \u201cWe look for the desire, the underlying skills,\u201d Fries said. \u201cWe use a lot of pre-employment testing to see what their motivators are, along with personality and behavior tests. Now we\u2019ll find a good candidate and just teach them the rest.\u201d While imageOne of Oak Park, Michigan, boasts employees with tenure ranging from five to 25 years, cultivating long-term sales reps is a process that\u2019s difficult to \u201cfigure out and replicate,\u201d according to Josh Britton, vice president of operations. It\u2019s a process of seeing what works and what doesn\u2019t, but also offloading non-revenue generating activities from their plate. \u201cWe all have activities that sap you of energy, and others that energize you,\u201d Britton said. \u201cIt\u2019s understanding what the makeup is of each person. The more things that give them energy in the sales space, the more productive they\u2019re going to be and how happy they will be in doing it. The most important thing is to make sure that we throw in every support possible for them to be successful.\u201d Constant Engagement An aggressive bonus and commission structure that is highly exponential has been critical in keeping representatives engaged, according to Matteo Recanatini, director of marketing for Offix of Gainesville, Virginia. The dealer sets challenging but achievable goals which are \u201cdialed up or down\u201d depending on their performance. But they tend to become easily bored when not challenged, he said. \u201cContinuous education is important, and working for a company that is prestigious helps,\u201d Recanatini said. \u201cAs a company, we enter to win a lot of awards and recognitions, so that when the reps share their business card, they do it with pride.\u201d Arming reps with the necessary tools to be successful is essential, and Offix recently switched to Salesforce and built a tailored customer relationship management platform based on feedback from the representatives. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to make what they consider the most boring part of their job easy as possible so they\u2019ll use it well and become more successful.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":38397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1650,82,87,1638],"tags":[2020,191,3764,3410],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38396"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38396"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38398,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38396\/revisions\/38398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}