Your Sales Department Needs an Employee Value Proposition

Posted on April 02, 2019
Your Sales Department Needs an Employee Value Proposition

Attracting the right people is the most important challenge for a sales team.

Too many sales leaders, however, are not taking the crucial first step to get top talent. This step is the creation of the Employee Value Proposition, or EVP.

In today’s job market, top people can well afford to be picky about where they work. Sales teams don’t choose talent. Talent chooses them. The best people are looking for a workplace that motivates and inspires — a workplace where they are valued for the work they do.

An authentic and strategically worded EVP can get the attention of top candidates and maintain the enthusiasm of those workers once they get there. It is as much about retaining the best as it is about acquiring them. If a company can hire a top performer away from another job, they need to keep in mind that others will be after them too.

To formulate an EVP, a company needs to take stock of the current state of the company brand, the workplace environment and its people. Asking questions of employees and other stakeholders will be a revelatory process and help to set guiding principles that will inform the EVP. The statement will be an honest description of the heart of a company, what it strives for and what it means to work there.

It’s okay for an EVP to be expressive and dramatic – it is meant to inspire. Here are some lines from successful EVPs of some well-known brands:

  • Join us and you’ll do the best work of your life (Apple)
  • Grow as a person and grow your career (Starbucks)
  • Together we can do great things (L’Oreal)
  • A life-changing career (Mayo Clinic)
  • We are a passionate team of innovators and builders, dreamers and doers (call9)
  • Do innovation, transformation, and collaboration get your adrenaline pumping? (rapid7)
  • We work hard, throw Nerf darts even harder, and have a whole lot of fun (Yelp)

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The topic of this article is covered in the curriculum for the Schulich ExecEd program Masters Certificate in Sales Leadership (starting April 1, 2019). The program is designed to help managers and leaders support corporate strategy and team performance through innovative steward leadership and lead their sales teams to excellence.