Where Are the Salespeople?

The following quote from the Harvard Business Review may have a familiar ring to it:

“More than 35 years ago, the insurance industry embarked on an intensive program to solve the problem of costly, wasteful turnover among it’s agents. ….

After expenditure of millions of dollars and 35 years of research, the turnover in the insurance industry remains (as it was)….What accounts for this expensive inefficiency? Basically this: Companies have simply not known what makes one person sell and another not.”