Unfortunately, unexpected turnover amongst inside sales teams is inevitable - reps move on to other opportunities to seek the next step in their career, and although it puts you in a tough spot as an inside sales manager, it is what it is and your job is to make the transition as smooth as possible. Your role is to transition one rep out, and bring on a new rep to satisfy the needs of your sales organization as soon as possible, so that you don’t lose momentum in terms of revenue that you’re bringing in. 
Since taking on an inside sales management role, managing turnover has been one of the most difficult things for me to adapt to because it can be pretty unexpected, and it is tough to shift gears to solve this issue when it happens. I have learned a few things along the way to help me manage the process in terms of making the transition as smooth as possible and here’s how:
Always keep your eye out for potential candidates, even when you might not have an immediate need to hire someone. Whether I am networking at an event or receiving emails on LinkedIn, I often get asked if my organization has any open positions. Even though I might not be aware of any immediate openings, I always suggest they send me their resume to keep on file. I used to think that when people said this, they were just trying to brush me off nicely. I have now learned that this is not the case at all, and that odds are that these resumes will come in handy once faced with unexpected turnover. If you don’t have a folder called “Resumes for Potential Candidates” in your inbox already, I strongly suggest it!
Act fast and determine who is going to cover the inside sales rep’s territory or project in the short term while you figure out how soon you will be able to hire someone to take their place. In most cases, you have two weeks to figure out who is going to cover this position. The key is not to wait the entire two weeks to transition the rep’s accounts. The best thing to do during this two week period is to cross train another rep on everything from their accounts, contacts, interested pipeline, etc., so that you don’t lose any momentum. If you cross train another rep (I suggest a senior inside sales rep that can handle the extra work load), you won’t have to worry about losing any momentum. The senior rep will also be a huge help from a training standpoint once you determine the best long term approach to servicing this territory or project.
Stay positive. I think when someone gives their two weeks notice, it is easy to get in a bit of a funk - and you might even take their resignation personally – at least I have felt this way at one point or another. The key is to remain positive and instead of being down about it, think about how you are going to manage them leaving and stay focused on what your job is, which is to manage an inside team as best as you can, while bringing in as much revenue for your organization as possible.
Although it would be nice to keep your inside sales reps on your team forever, this isn’t realistic. Based on my experience so far, the best thing you can do as an inside sales manager is to react appropriately when turnover does happen, and put a plan in place so that you don’t lose momentum once faced with the news. What other advice can you offer when it comes to unexpected turnover?
Laney Dowling is the Director of Customer Success at AG Salesworks. Laney's responsibilities include managing daily client engagements, inside sales team oversight, reporting, training, and ongoing contact list development and refinement. To read more of Laney's articles, click here.
