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In a recent Gartner survey of over 900 B2B sellers, 89% reported feeling burned out and 54% were actively seeking a new job. Sellers say they feel disconnected from their companies and from their coworkers, not to mention uncertainty as to whether there is any growth potential in their jobs.
And they feel that their bosses are disconnected from them, too – 67% of participants said that management is both too optimistic and disconnected from the reality of their employees.This burnout is leading sellers all over the country and across every industry to quiet quit, aka mentally check out of their jobs and stop making much of an effort.
So, how can employers quell the quiet quitting?
Motivation consists of two forces: drive and drag. Drive is inspiration to do work, drag is disinclination to work. When a seller is driven, they are engaged, take initiative, and go above and beyond at work. When they are feeling drag, they procrastinate, avoid working at all, and lose focus quickly.
“To motivate sellers in today’s environment, it’s critical to understand drag as well as drive, but the dynamics are complex,” said Colleen Giblin, Principal Researcher at Gartner. “For many sellers, these opposing forces present themselves simultaneously in various aspects of day-to-day work. They are not extremes on a single spectrum.”
Giblin explains that focusing on preventing drag is more important than increasing drive. According to Gartner, 76% of sellers are highly driven towards their work. It’s drag that’s the silent killer. She and her team uncovered two main culprits for the prevalence of drag in the sales industry.
Lack of development opportunities
When sellers can’t envision a long-term career with their current company, they are up to 35% less likely to attain quota and up to 51% more likely to be actively job-seeking. The career ladder in sales up until now has been very traditional – usually workers move up to larger accounts, segments, or goals, then into management.
But this can feel restrictive for employees who want to use a wide range of skills in their work. Listening to workers about what they want their career in sales to look like and helping them work toward those goals increases the chance that they will stay motivated at work and stay with the company longer. In fact, Gartner’s research shows that when sellers feel confident and secure in their career’s upward direction, it has a direct impact on quota attainment.
Feeling like a cog in a machine
56% of sellers expressed feeling like a cog in a machine, and 76% felt sales leadership micromanages how they do their jobs. This is a surefire recipe for people underperforming and looking for new employment. The antidote? Empowering workers to independently problem solve, streamline processes they feel need updating, and use their discretion in tricky situations.
When employers trust people and give them genuine responsibility, salespeople are more likely to be invested in their jobs.
Alright, now 54% percent of you can get back to looking for new jobs and 46% of you can get back to work (or non-work, if you’re quiet-quitting as we speak).
