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How to make competitive salary offers for sales and marketing roles.
The market for obtaining and retaining top talent in sales and marketing has become fiercely competitive. According to Reed.co.uk, the biggest challenge for recruiters is in 2017 is obtaining quality candidates. Seven out of ten recruiters surveyed highlighted that the most important metric they will focus on in 2017 is candidate quality. Similarly, Bullhorn’s 2017 Recruitment Trends Report revealed that ‘talent shortage’ is the most cited obstacle for businesses in 2017 – with 70% of survey respondents ranking it in their top three challenges.
With both the retention and acquisition of high-quality candidates becoming more and more difficult in 2017, what can employers offer to attract the best sales and marketing talent? Therefore, to provide employers with insight into the current sales and marketing space in 2017, The De Grouchy Partnership – ecruit’s sister company – conducted a salary survey of sales and marketing roles in the UK. The survey not only provides employers with the means to benchmark their salary offers against the wider marketplace, but also gives candidates comprehensive insight into the industry and current trends.
So, the question is: are you being paid – or paying –the right amount? View the Salary Survey here.
Arising trends in Marketing and Sales
According to the De Grouchy Partnership’s 2015 Salary Survey, the average salary for a Trade Marketing Manager was £41,000. In the De Grouchy Partnership's 2017 Salary Surveyhowever, that figure has increased from £41,000 to £53,000 – an exponential increase. On the other hand, the average salary for a Category Manager has only risen £2,000, whilst a Senior Brand Manager’s has only increased by about £1,000.
The main point here is, if you are looking at skills in demand, the popularity is clearly in trade marketing; a role which involves a mixture of sales and marketing activities. Over the last few years, sales and marketing coming together as one function has become extremely popular, with businesses pumping large amounts of money and resources into sales and marketing alignment.
In the digital-first world we live in, if you are selling something, you need an amazing strategy to attract people and persuade them to buy it. Too often sales and marketing are seen as separate functions. Marketing did the attraction, while Sales did the conversion.
However, by combining both marketing and sales into one role, the Trade Marketing Manager, businesses have the means to simplify and unify the process – attracting and converting with ease – and provide a more strategic way of selling. Look at P&G for example!
Junior roles
Another key focus for businesses is hiring great, polished sales people. Junior sales roles are fiercely competitive, and average salaries sit at £36,000.
However, candidates have a misconception that sales is an unattractive area of the business to work in. The truth is, sales is where the profit is at – and good sales people are exciting and working at the tight end of the funnel – where the conversions are! Sure, marketing does the job, but you must see the two working together.
Therefore, in order to retain the top sales talent and demonstrate how exciting sales can be, businesses should nurture these individuals – after all, you can’t just walk into a company blind and succeed at sales. They need to be prepared to work junior sales people hard; helping them to learn, understand the mechanics of the business, and grow over time.
By hiring great sales people that can work at a junior level, as well as offering them a competitive salary and nurturing them, businesses can train candidates to meet their requirements. Unfortunately, potential junior candidates don’t necessarily gravitate towards sales, or see it as an enticing role. As a result, the cost of a junior role has increased.
Having the competitive edge
Most likely, salaries are going to stagnate over the next 12 months - businesses can’t compete on salaries all the time. If you want top talent, you need to compete on other aspects as well. If you are competing on price alone, you are most likely lacking in other areas.
Rather than compete on price, you need to create a holistic offer to attract top talent, an offer that includes: bonuses, company cars, health schemes and flexible working options.
Lastly, company culture and brand reputation are important elements to consider, too. Companies that are great and pay less almost always get the better candidate, people don’t just want a wage, they want somewhere exciting to work!
To view the full results of the salary survey, click here. If you'd like to discover more about how to recruit without using an agency, take a look at our eBook.
