Fastholdelse af salgspersonale i detailbranchen

Abstract

This master thesis seeks to explain and examine the difficulties of retention amongst the sales personnel in the retail business. Through analysis of interviews with former sales personnel, current sales personnel, and leaders within the business, I try to show what factors companies in the business need to focus on to better retain their sales personnel. Furthermore, I examine which of these factors are most important and need to be the center of attention. The assignment has a methodological approach which is solely qualitative, as it consists of five different interviews with former and current sales personnel in the business and a leader in the business. The interviews are done as semi-structured interviews, to get an understanding of the experiences and attitudes towards the business and the current retention strategies or lack of the same. The collected data, and the result of an examination of this is compared to specific theories, selected to fit this thesis. The purpose was to analyze whether the data was in consistency with the theories, so that these theories were applicable in this business to get a better retention rate. As a result of the analysis and the discussion, the thesis was able to conclude that there are different explanations as to why the retention rate is as low as it is. However, there were a lot of consistent things as well, which seems to be the factors that companies in the business should focus on. The former and current sales personnel pointed out that they needed a higher salary, better bonus systems, more recognition and better or clearer career paths as well as better and more communication. The recommendation would be first of for companies to communicate better and more often, to ensure a psychological contract that they are able to comply with. Secondly, they would need to offer a higher salary, and a lower but more obtainable bonus, and enhance their recognition of the sales personnel. The final recommendation is for companies to offer a clear career path, through a career model, that sales personnel can follow.