How to Retain the Best Renewal Specialists

Did you know that the average tenure for a renewal specialist is just over 2 years? So, after on-boarding a new employee, which takes just over 5 months to become proficient, you only have 7, maybe 8, quarters before they move on to another organization.

Why the fast turnover? Typically one of the biggest reasons renewal specialists leave is that they experience burn-out due to a combination of high workload and repetitive work. However, there are several ways you can improve the working environment for these valuable team members and maximise staff retention.

Just to set the scene, this blogger is not an HR person, so if you’re looking for tips on how to motivate employees check out https://hbr.org or “Drive” by Daniel Pink. If you want to create a better working environment that encourages your best renewal reps to stay, here’s three key tips:

1. Be transparent

This applies to both your internal teams and channel partners. If people know how they are performing and contributing to the company’s goal they will feel much more engaged. While some sales people are motivated by competition with peers, not everyone is. Many high performers feel rewarded by seeing an improvement in their numbers alone. So share both your team’s and each individual’s accomplishments - be it daily, weekly or monthly.

I recently started a Reseller Report for my distribution company. Every month we distribute the latest iasset.com™ index and close rate for each VAR and their ranking against others. Being transparent drives activity, highlights positive performance and enhances the team spirit.

2. Reduce the data administrative burden

Much of the overwhelming workload for renewals specialists is data administration. Before discovering iasset.com, my Inside Sales teams were re-quoting up to 4 or 5 times. This repetitive requoting was a massive waste of time and negatively impacted all our staff. Making sure the quote is right first time is essential, but all that re-quoting signalled to me that there were serious issues with the data and/or process. Solving the data accuracy issues removes many of the daily, boring administrative issues your team faces.

You can easily remove much of the requoting burden with an automated quoting tool, such as iasset.com. While it doesn’t completely eliminate the need to re-quote when customers (or vendors) change their minds, it will significantly reduce it. After all, you really want your team’s focused on engaging with customers not data administration or reconciliation.

3. Share the load

You have a channel for a good reason. If you’re finding that your team is spending all the time doing the sales transactional work, then perhaps you could be better empowering your channel to do more. Having a robust system that your channel partners can access and use to process quotes and renewals makes them more valuable to your business AND improves your internal team’s workload.

In summary, your renewals specialists are the lifeblood of your renewal organization, but to retain them longer than the average two years, you need to make their jobs more efficient and more enjoyable! Don’t give your competitors the benefit of hiring all your well trained staff.

As my final plug (well at least with this blog!), iasset.com manages renewals processes that automate these administrative and routine tasks, ensuring your renewal team is more focused on customers not data - and stays with you for more than the average 2 years!