b"Your Sales Unicorn Does Not ExistTheres a lot of pressure on AEs to perform. Adding to that pres-surearethemanydifferentdi-rectionsanddistractionsthey endure,andthemanydifferent hatstheyreaskedtowear from lead generation expert, to closer, to account manager.Withsuchafocusonperfor-manceandmundanenon-sales tasks,itseasytoseewhyAEs would leave. One way to combat these challenges is to focus on AE development. If youre recruiting and hiring top talent,youregoingtolookfor people with strong internal and externalmotivators.Theywill rank high in Achiever and Com-petition. High achieving and com- The problem most petitive people crave opportuni-ties and challenges. They want toorganizations face is there climb up the ladder. Change Your Salesisnt a ladder to climb.StructureCreate a Ladder The next rung is the true AEtolearnaboutyourAEs'short role,thosepositionshandleandlong-termgoals.Askthem The problem most organizationsdiscovery meetings, advisingwhere they see themselves in a faceisthereisntaladdertotheclientonthebestsolu- year,fiveyears,tenyears,and climb. tion,andclosingthebusi- helpthembuildaplantoget What if sales leaders could devel- ness. there.op a ladder and, at the same timeAnd finally, an account man- While you must be focused on take some of those more mun- agerrole,someonewhoisperformance, you can also look dane tasks off their AEs' plates? responsible for renewing andbeyondthatwiththepeople The first rung works on leadgrowing the business.that work for you. This will be a generation for AEs. They helpIfyoucantchangeyoursalesvaluableinvestmentandquite identifythemostqualifiedstructure to create a ladder, thenpossiblycouldsaveyouthou-prospectsthenconnectandstart with a Growth Guide andsands if not millions of dollars as hand off. build from there. Invest the timea sales leader.101"