One of your staff resigns today.
You were either surprised or expecting it.
So how do you gracefully accept the resignation and then ease the transition of another change?
Because all eyes are on you and how you respond.
You don’t want to lose any momentum or motivation, which has been known to happen when someone resigns.
Change isn’t easy for your sales reps and each resignation has a profound effect on them – as strange as that may seem.
See they are wondering and even worrying… what’s this mean to me? Am I next? Will I be asked to pick up their workload? How are we going to achieve team quota now that we’re down a person? How long will the territory be open?
Plan to quickly communicate to your team.
- Before the resigning rep leaves your office, decide if their resignation needs to be kept under wraps for the time being. There are instances where it’s appropriate to request they hold off the information. If this is the case, immediately strategize with the resigning rep on the announcement plan.
- Besides planning when and who will be announcing, carefully plan to answer any of the unasked questions your team is thinking about.
The transition plan with the resigning rep is important.
You have a general idea about their territory, but it’s often hard to know the history, background, and current state of each and every client and prospect. The CRM program will help, and that’s dependent on how thorough the rep was in using it.
Schedule one or more one-on-ones to learn the details and include several key sales reps who may be taking the lead until a replacement is found.
What is the lesson learned from the resignation?
Is there a pattern? Am I losing good people? Why? Based on your discovery… what changes are to be considered?
Whatever the case, all eyes are on you. You set the tone for what happens after the resignation and the effect it has on all employees across the company for the short and long term.
Alice Kemper, sales training expert and founder of Sales Training Werks mobilizes sales reps to crush their monthly quota. Check out the 6 Killer Hacks to Perfect Sales Training. Motivate a team of top performers today!
