You're Not Doing Reps a Favor by Hiring Them. It's a Business Deal. Act Like It.

I'm of the opinion that FAR too many biz owners around here have an unhealthy elitist mentality that believes they're doing sales reps a favor by hiring them.

Of course, you could argue there's an element of that. You're giving somebody an opportunity to provide for their family. I won't take that away from you.

But if you actually THINK that way? Your head is the size of Pluto and it's currently located somewhere it shouldn't be.

We need to remember that you are partnering, yes, PARTNERING, not "employing," a 1099 contractor. It's a business deal. It's a transaction. Two parties providing services to each other.

You provide a service to your reps of, at its very basic root: "closeable leads." And you work with a salesperson to provide a service to you: "closing said closeable leads." You pay for that service. They deliver that service. That's it.

Just because your resource investment is "larger" on an apples-to-apples basis doesn't mean your contribution is more valuable. You have to look at this on a relative playing field. You're providing a service. They're providing a service. Two business entities. One deal. Keep your shirt on and let's keep going.

When you operate from the "I'm doing them a favor" mentality, what happens is you inevitably stop seeing the partnership as a two-way street. And when that happens, your end of the deal starts slipping... slowly but surely.

Lead quality drops and you don't fix it. Lead volume dips and you shrug it off. Systems break and you don't rebuild them. The market demands an upgrade and you dig your heels.

You stop asking "what do you need from me to close more?" and start asking "why aren't you closing more?"

You flip the accountability onto the rep for problems that started upstream... with you.

Because, and here is where the dots connect, in your mind, they already owe you just for letting them in the door. It's entitlement. And entitlement is acting in bad faith. And bad faith never ends well in a partnership.

It's part of the reason turnover is 85% in this space. Simply put, it's business owners not taking accountability for the service they are supposed to be providing to their contractors.

Here's the other thing people forget: You know how when you sell a client on working with you, you can't just sell them once? How you have to KEEP selling them on the backend, through delivery, through results, through experience, or you're staring down a loaded barrel of chargebacks?

It's the SAME thing with contracted sales reps. You have to sell them on the front end, why this is an advantageous move for their career and their business. THEN you have to KEEP selling them on why they should stay. Every. Single. Day.

Not with rah-rah motivational BS. With results. With leads. With a system that actually allows them to earn. You know, the stuff you contractually agreed to do for them in exchange for their capacity to close for you? Yeah, that stuff.

Are you counting others as more significant than yourself? Or are you living with this holier-than-thou attitude that makes people resent you?

Now, you might think your current approach "works" because people still show up. But people need money. They'll put up with a lot for the sake of a paycheck. They care more about putting food on the table than they do NOT putting up with your arrogant approach.

BUT, the moment that paycheck becomes unreliable? That's when things fall apart.

People don't quit because they're ungrateful. People quit because they can't make money. The #1 and #2 reasons reps leave are lead quality and lead quantity, BOTH having to do with their ability to turn a check.

So if you're sitting there wondering why you can't keep closers... maybe stop acting like you're the gift.

Start practicing gratitude that someone is giving you their most precious resource, their time. And time is the one thing that's EQUAL across the board. Nobody's time is more inherently valuable than anyone else's. Not yours. Not theirs.

The difference is what you do with it. So start acting like a business partner worth giving it to.