26% of B2B #sales reps changed jobs last year! I learned that last week in a Rob Jeppsen presentation at Sales Hacker, Inc.  Or did I? 

Rather than "learn" I think  I was "reminded." 

I can't throw a rock here on LinkedIn without hitting someone's post about how "sales is all about relationships." How it's all about "human interaction." About how buyers will "always need salespeople."  Really? How can our customers have "relationships" with the Merry-Go-Round of Reps we call our #B2B sales teams? 

Years ago I worked selling photo-copiers D2D - it was a geo-territory & it was SMB customers.  Every machine shop, or travel agency or dentist office in every office park I prospected in had a single thing in common.

Each receptionist had a "graveyard" of tens & sometimes hundreds of "business cards" from copier reps from ALL the manufacturers and dealers in the area.  They took my card  & pinned on the cork-board right next to all the Xerox reps that came before me.

Ooops. They had one more thing in common...they all laughed when I said "I'm really interested building a relationship and becoming a valued partner." 

20 years later...are salespeople ANY better off?  Numbers say NO.  What can we do?