As more and more companies are signaling a desire to spend more money on good and services, the employees responsible for winning the business for your company may not be there when you need them.
According to CareerBuilder.com, 43 percent of sales professionals will be actively looking for a better job. The biggest reason is not too surprising: They want more money. Half of the survey respondents did not receive a bonus in 2003, and although 42 percent received a raise, nearly half of those recipients said the raise did not meet their expectations. Some 57 percent were given a salary increase of 5 percent or less, 33 percent were given a 6 to 10 percent increase, and 11 percent received a boost of 11 percent or more.
The next most mentioned reasons for looking for a new job were to advance their careers, to find a more rewarding work experience, and to start their own businesses. Nearly one in five said they were overlooked for a promotion in 2003, and 44 percent are dissatisfied with opportunities to move up within their organizations.
One-third of sales professionals said their workloads are too heavy, half claimed they work in excess of 40 hours per week to meet quota, and one-quarter are unhappy with their work/life balance.
This is not exactly an abrupt change of heart for many of the survey participants; 1 in 10 sales professionals, it turns out, say they look for another job daily.