I thought another update is in order regarding the state of Sales Outsourcing.
Applicant volumes have steadily increased over the past month as another 3.8 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week bringing the total to
30.3 million over the past 6 weeks.
But the real number is much higher as so many are choosing not to apply for unemployment due to the wait times and bottlenecks in the claims process. What's more, the wait times are causing delays in the reporting meaning the numbers being reported now do not reflect the actual number of claims made. Expect these number to keep climbing even as businesses open back up. As for recruiting, obviously a weaker job market makes it easier but we see this as only the beginning since most laid off reps are not taking action yet believing their job may come back or that this isn't the best time to start applying. So we expect volumes to increase further as economic activity comes back.
LIke I mentioned in the last update, work habits and sales methods have changed permanently, favoring a decentralized, remote workforce, and phone sales where possible. Think about it, in many cases the argument for outside sales is because it had always been that way. Now that we have an excuse to go virtual, are we even going to go back?
On the bright side commission comp plans are again viable, at least for the moment. Whereas last year it seemed you couldn't get reps to seriously consider commission no matter what you threw at them.
Moving forward we are again accepting new projects, however favoring phone sales over outside sales and as always all sales teams are remote.