SBI Predicts Perfect Storm for CEOs and Business Leaders in 2022

• Findings of Continued Talent Attrition, Exploding Commercial Technology Landscape, and Increased Pressure to Accelerate Growth

SBI, a Go-to-Market Growth Advisory, announced new research findings indicating that the “Great Resignation” will continue to present an issue for growth leaders in 2022. Despite rising attrition rates and open headcount, most CEOs represented shared expectations for accelerated growth.

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“Deal volume and valuations rose through 2021, and publicly held companies consistently beat analyst expectations, which has caused heightened growth expectations for 2022. This has contributed to a trifecta for CEOs and commercial leadership teams that are expected to ride the commercial tech wave to deliver ever growing ROI despite the talent challenges their organizations may face,” summarized SBI’s Head of Research, Martha Mathers. “Our team of experts has developed the following data-driven recommendations for overcoming these challenges,” she added.

1. Do not assume the Great Resignation is over: SBI’s recent A-Player Retention Study shows that a full 56% of in-seat sellers are actively job searching, with 57% of A-Players doing so. Furthermore, SBI data finds a startling 44% of satisfied A-Players – i.e., those who exceeded their 2021 on-target earnings – are also shopping for their next opportunity.
2. Do not rely on increased compensation: CEOs and commercial leaders are boosting on-target earnings (OTE) to retain their sales teams by between 5-10% in 2022, according to SBI research. But the data shows that compensation is much less impactful on seller intent-to-stay than other factors such as career growth, short-term success path, and broad executive advocacy for sales, which each have a factor impact of 29%, 18% and 23%, respectively.
3. Build for resilience and support the talent you have: SBI’s latest data shows high-growth organizations plan to increase their investments in go-to-market functions more than G&A functions (for example, marketing will see an approximately 10% boost) in 2022. With scarce talent, marketing and sales need to prioritize building their teams over buying them, partnering with HR to define the competencies required and advancing their talent development plans.

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“The key take-away from our research is that people are continuing to leave in search of jobs that offer career growth potential. To meet rising growth demands, organizations must rethink how they support their sellers, prioritizing enablement, investing in building strong sales managers, and creating compelling career paths for long-term growth,” explained SBI Chief Operating Officer Mike Hoffman. “High growth organizations enable the sales team by developing and actively managing new products and services to support accelerated development and skill acquisition for sellers, frontline managers, and entry-level roles.”

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