As offices start to wind down for the Christmas holidays, we thought you would enjoy this festive poem. It’s a little out of date now, but still has a great message for salespeople:

Twas the Recession before Christmas, and all down the hall 
The Sales Manager was yelling, “Just make one more call”. 
The reports were hung on the manager’s door with despair 
And all hoped that in the new year their jobs would still be there... 

You can read the full poem at: http://blog.meetingtowin.com/2009/11/17/twas-the-recession-before-christmas.

We hope that you have had a successful year and enjoy your time off.


A recent survey by Hays has found that small businesses may be losing out on the most talented employees due to concerns among jobseekers around pay and benefits.

A number of concerns about working for small businesses were expressed by respondents. 49% of those surveyed believed salaries are not as competitive within small companies as they are within larger companies and 55% believed smaller businesses are not able to offer as many benefits. 52% expressed concerns about the stability of smaller organisations.

However, the results did have some good news for small businesses, with 74% of people reporting a positive experience of working in smaller businesses. Benefits of working for a small business include a more hands-on experience, greater responsibility and a greater understanding of the business as a whole. There are more opportunities to work closely with senior staff, who are also more likely to recognise hard work.

Our experience at Hays shows that many salespeople are as motivated by the challenge of their job as they are by the money, and in some cases they consider the challenge and job satisfaction to be more important. Respondents felt that job satisfaction and interesting work can be found in both large and small organisations. 

We believe that it is important for small businesses to combat the stereotypes and sell the advantages their companies can offer in order to attract and retain the top talent. Do you think that stereotypes are harming small companies?


In the current climate, everyone is trying to reduce costs. We have spoken to many companies who plan to reduce their sales teams in order to cut costs. In particular, many are considering replacing field salespeople with telesales staff. However, we believe that while this may temporarily reduce costs, it can seriously harm the company prospects in the long term.

There may be a place for telesales in a lot of companies. If a telesales campaign is well-planned with a good script, a good list of numbers to call and well-trained staff, it can be very effective and you can reach a lot of potential clients very quickly. Furthermore, it could be argued that a good salesperson should be able to show their ability whether they are talking over the phone or face to face. Good telesales people can generate profits.
However, a good field salesperson can be an invaluable asset for any company. There is no better way to find out a client’s needs and build a relationship than by meeting face to face. It helps to build a level of trust and customer service that cannot be replicated over the phone and ensures that you develop repeat business. By reducing the number of field salespeople, a company is lowering its chances of making much greater profit in future.
Does your company recognise the value of field salespeople? 


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