How Hard Working are UK Sales Professionals? – Sales Survey 2014

Aaron Wallis has recently undertaken the largest sales survey of its type which explores changing trends within the industry as well as a powerful insight into the minds of sales professionals.

With 62 questions answered by 726 completely anonymous sales professionals we have captured some impressive results helping us promote professional sales, raise awareness and gain a firmer understanding on how to succeed in sales teams.

To receive a full free copy of the 2014 UK Sales Survey please follow this link – 2014 UK Sales Survey Report

Stress Less – How Hardworking are UK Sales Professionals?

We have all, in sales, experienced ‘surprises’ that raise the blood pressure and get your heart pumping a lot more than it should! It often disallows the sales expert to ‘switch off’ and whilst some people wonder about whether they’ve remembered to lock the front door or turned off the oven at night, people who have had a hard day in the sales department are juggling ideas around in their head about whether they did enough, will they reach their target or what they could do to improve their current performance.

The severity of stress falls under three categories, each displaying physical and emotional symptoms:

• Mild
• Moderate
• High

Sometimes it is inevitable to carry on working or think about sending a quick email whilst you’re away from the office, forgetting the entire definition of the verb ‘relax’. Other work addicts involve their work on their ‘day(s) off’ and type away whilst being in the comfort of their own home; that isn’t taking a break - that is telecommuting!

Sales workers often find they are so prone to using their vocal chords that they prefer to take the occasional work call on their mobiles rather than relax! Shockingly, almost the same number of people surveyed also favour checking their emails daily too; this implies the immediate pressure on their jobs, as well as themselves, for achieving higher.

Stress levels amongst Sales professionals:

• 5% experience low stress, more workers (8%) experience a high level of stress
• 14% of workers in sales suffer from low-medium stress.
• 36% experience medium stress, feeling quite tense and anxious, and;
• An even higher 38% has medium-high levels of stress.

This shows that sales can be very stressful. The hectic role can also enable the workers into taking their work into their leisure time, making their mood worse as well as heightening stress levels further.

In conclusion, to this, the studies of September 2013 found:

• Under 30 hours were performed by only 3% of those surveyed.
• 30-40 hours were consumed by 15%
• 40-50 hours were spent at work by the majority of employees (35%)
• 50-60 hours were performed by a large 30% of the sales professionals.
• 60-70 hours were completed by 13%
• 70-80 long time-consuming hours were taken out by 3% of people.
• Only 1% exceeded the 80 hours per week.

Subsequently:

• 20% never work weekends
• 61% work a couple of hours in order to get on top of admin/paperwork
• 12% work one day of the weekend
• 7% usually work most weekends.

Furthermore, the nights spent far from home due to work can have consequences on your mood and health. It’s never great to spend too much time away from home for working reasons, unless it’s to escape the annoying husband for a night! The survey discovered that each month:

• 29% didn’t have to spend any nights away from home due to work.
• 23% spent less than two nights away from home per month.
• 28% of people spent 2-4 nights away from home due to their job.
• 13% stayed a lengthy 4-8 nights from home.
• 8% stopped more than eight nights from home per month due to their occupation.

Written by Liam Oakes

Liam is the Office Manager at Aaron Wallis and has been with the company for 3 years after having a career with the RAF; Liam has helped hundreds of Sales Professionals secure a new Sales role and ensures that Aaron Wallis runs smoothly.

Liam.oakes@aaronwallis.co.uk

www.aaronwallis.co.uk

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Sales Performance & Pay Rises – Sales Survey 2014

Having gone through the results of the 2014 Sales Survey, both sales performance & pay rises were of keen interest. They both reflect the current state of the UK economy and how it continues to grow with pay rises on the up and more people up on target.

To receive a full free copy of the 2014 UK Sales Survey please follow this link – 2014 UK Sales Survey Report

How Are We Performing?

It’s no secret that sales workers are ambitious and very persuasive and perhaps this is why more reported that they’d received a pay rise in the last year than what the media regularly reports.

The study wanted to highlight pay rises from 2007 to 2013 and an impressive 40% of sales professionals were awarded a pay rise during 2013 compared to just 15% that received a rise in the previous year.

Only 4% of workers received a pay rise during 2007, and 5% were awarded in 2008, which looks quite coincidental as the flickering flame of recession we know now had its roots in 2007. A pitiful 2% received a bonus in 2009, which is perhaps understanding bearing in mind the state of the UK and global economy at the time. It does seem that sales work is becoming a bloodthirsty and aggressive sport, fighting the battle to achieve their targets. The sales professionals were asked about their current performance and were instructed to answer honestly as they didn’t want a full 726 opting for the ‘I am up on target’ option (and being in denial) or lying to gain a cheeky ego boost!

However:

• 31% were up on target.
• 20% were down on target.
• 26% believed they were merely touching their target.
• 23% were not in a targeted role so this question didn’t apply to them.

More people were up on target, which correlates nicely with the outstanding pay raise rates of 2013.

Although a pay rise and ‘being on the ball’ may be a measure of success to some, not everyone feels ‘a pat on the back’ is enough recognition for their hard and time-consuming graft. The 2014 study was curious to find out how individual’s measured their success:

 

• 14% of people measured their own performance by receiving formal recognition from their bosses and peers.  As well as being noticed from awards, certificates and league tables
• 18% of people measured performance by gaining client recommendations and feedback.
• 35% of people measured their performance on targets.
• 18% of people measured their personal growth as a key to their performance.
• 8% of respondents measured performance by the size of their commission cheque and;
• A further 8% strongly measured their performance by material wealth.

In conclusion, it appears that the ‘T word’ really is the boss of success, and targets are a great way to keep sales teams motivated and focused on the job.

Written by Liam Oakes

Liam is the Office Manager at Aaron Wallis and has been with the company for 3 years after having a career with the RAF; Liam has helped hundreds of Sales Professionals secure a new Sales role and ensures that Aaron Wallis runs smoothly.

Liam.oakes@aaronwallis.co.uk

www.aaronwallis.co.uk

Twitter - https://twitter.com/aaronwallisliam

Google+ - https://plus.google.com/+LiamOakes

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AaronWallisSalesRecruitment

LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/pub/liam-oakes/4b/536/403

Education & Training – Sales Survey 2014

Aaron Wallis has recently undertaken the largest sales survey of its type which explores changing trends within the industry as well as a powerful insight into the minds of sales professionals.

With 62 questions answered by 726 completely anonymous sales professionals we have captured some impressive results helping us promote professional sales, raise awareness and gain a firmer understanding on how to succeed in sales teams.

Here we look at results regarding Education & Training. To receive a full free copy of the 2014 UK Sales Survey please follow this link – 2014 UK Sales Survey Report

Gaining a qualification to show your expertise is important and significant as it increases your chances of becoming more marketable and is a prerequisite in many industry sectors, such as engineering, to gain credibility with target clients. 

Unsurprisingly there was a correlation between education and higher earnings which we will cover in the remuneration section.

This survey demonstrated that the majority of sales workers had some form of qualifications to state their expertise in their chosen field with 71% staying in education beyond secondary school.

The participants who took this survey were various ages; in today’s society, the minimum age for leaving school is 16 whereas in the 1950s, the minimum age was 15.

In 1950, merely 30% of 15 year olds, 14% of 16 year olds and only 7% of 17 year olds were still in full-time education whereas;

In 2010, 88% of 16 year olds and 17% of 17 year olds were still studying full-time.

This survey indicated:      

• 29% of workers had some form of qualifications from their Secondary school.
• 27% of workers had received a HND or HNC qualification
• 25% had earned a Bachelor's Degree.
• 10% has a Master's Degree.
• 1% had a Doctorate.
• 8% had professional qualifications.

Few  people went to universities in the 1950s, in fact, a measly 2% attended, while others left their full-time education to work in offices, factories and other laborious jobs. In modern day’s society, education is more crucial as employers as looking for outstanding degrees that will turn their heads and let’s face it; job positions are becoming more competitive so the better the qualification, the better chance of employment.

Unlike elephants, people forget things. Even if you have an outstanding degree, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll remember everything about the subject; it is very much like a job, if you don’t practice your skills, you’re more likely to neglect your potential performance.

Training days are mental aerobic sessions for your mind; the courses are designed to keep your brain healthy, focused and active, inevitably enhancing your work’s performance. They say ignorance is bliss, which is why in sales, you rarely see a happy worker!

• However, a quite staggering 36% of workers do not get any training days in their current role.
• 18% had a maximum of 2 days training.
• 9% received 3 days of training.
• 11% were given 4-5 days for training.
• 6% received between 6-7 training days per annum, and;
• 20% received more than eight training days in the last year.

From this, only 341 people (47%) felt they received enough training for their job while a staggering 385 people (53%) disagreed and felt more training was needed.

This and previous surveys showed that the greater the worker’s training, the higher the performance and the longer length of service within their employer.  So, it could  be argued from this data that training retains staff and they then perform to a greater level than those that do not receive the training.

Interestingly though, the UK has more opportunity training compared to workers in Ireland. Only 10% in Ireland compared to a larger 14% of the professionals in UK received more than eight days of training per annum. The more training that is taken, the higher the probability of reaching those frustrating targets. Additionally, those who do not get the training privilege, it is the DIY approach as it’s the only way forward. Although it is putting those employees in the deep end, they either keep referring to what they know without learning anything new and either ‘sink’ or take the initiative to better themselves and ‘swim’. The best self-help method is always the one that’s been going for donkey’s years, which is reading. Good old-fashioned reading about how to improve your sales ability will, in fact, benefit some people; it’s the whole rigmarole of being bothered in the first place!

Written by Liam Oakes

Liam is the Office Manager at Aaron Wallis and has been with the company for 3 years after having a career with the RAF; Liam has helped hundreds of Sales Professionals secure a new Sales role and ensures that Aaron Wallis runs smoothly.

Liam.oakes@aaronwallis.co.uk

www.aaronwallis.co.uk

Twitter - https://twitter.com/aaronwallisliam

Google+ - https://plus.google.com/+LiamOakes

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AaronWallisSalesRecruitment

LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/pub/liam-oakes/4b/536/403

Employment - Sales Survey 2014

Aaron Wallis has recently undertaken the largest sales survey of its type which explores changing trends within the industry as well as a powerful insight into the minds of sales professionals.

With 62 questions answered by 726 completely anonymous sales professionals we have captured some impressive results helping us promote professional sales, raise awareness and gain a firmer understanding on how to succeed in sales teams.

To receive a full free copy of the 2014 UK Sales Survey please follow this link – 2014 UK Sales Survey Report

There were various questions answered on employment which have shown the interesting results.

The 726 participants who took the survey were asked what ‘broad’ industry sector they were working within. The 2014 study showed:

Business to Business Services seemed to be the most popular working sector with a high quantity of 232 employees. Of course though as a largely ‘service centric' nation and the entry qualifications needed to enter business services are not as lofty as say, Science, this is perhaps not surprising. 

For the majority of people who work in sales, the study discovered that a considerable amount worked as a Sales Manager (24%), whereas fewer people (1%) worked in Telesales. 

This could perhaps be argued by the fact that the type of respondents from surveys, such as these, are likely to be further on in their careers.  The respondents fell into the following ‘broad’ Job Titles and ‘Job Types':

• 7% worked in strategic/corporate sales.
• 14% worked as a sales director.
• 5% worked in marketing.
• 13% were managing directors.
• 3% worked in internal sales.
• 17% were under field sales.
• 13% were account managers.
• 3% of respondents were non-sales employees.

Working sectors are like Russian dolls; they have sectors within sectors, and similarly, companies have various departments, which make up the whole, such as human resources (HR) and marketing.  But, which is the most influential department within organisations?

• 
  54% felt sales was the most important department within their employer.
• 14% felt marketing was the most significant and prominent division.
• 24% thought accounts and finance was by far the most imperative category.
• Only 3% felt HR was the highest-ranking and most important.
• 5% thought that the most influential department within their existing employer was the managing director’s personal assistant!

So, who should promote sales skills – is it government, education or the commercial world?  Business has the prime responsibility of promoting sales skills according to 78% of the sales workers, followed by 11% who feel it’s further and higher education centres. Additionally 7% believe schools are solely responsible and a small proportion (3%) feels it’s the government’s job.

Although more people decided the most dominant and leading department in a business was sales, they believed that it hadn’t become more influential in the last three years and that it had stayed about the same.

However, others had contrasting views but 283 people agree that sales have been somewhat influential within the last three years whereas 123 people feel it hasn’t been influential. 312 people remain decided that the sales haven’t really changed its importance.

Written by Liam Oakes

Liam is the Office Manager at Aaron Wallis and has been with the company for 3 years after having a career with the RAF; Liam has helped hundreds of Sales Professionals secure a new Sales role and ensures that Aaron Wallis runs smoothly.

Liam.oakes@aaronwallis.co.uk

www.aaronwallis.co.uk

Twitter - https://twitter.com/aaronwallisliam

Google+ - https://plus.google.com/+LiamOakes

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AaronWallisSalesRecruitment

LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/pub/liam-oakes/4b/536/403