The 7 Barriers to Sales Productivity -- and what you can do about it

Barriers to Sales Productivity – and what you can do about it7The

A Infographic sponsored by Pramata®

1. SALESPEOPLE SPEND TOO MUCH TIME ON NON-SELLING ACTIVITIES

CHALLENGE: 65% of salespeople’s time is spent on non-selling activities

RESEARCH: Sirius Decisions

SOLUTION: Minimize the time sales professionals spend doing research and chasing data – provide them with more and better information about their customer relationships.

65%


2. SELLERS ARE POORLY PREPARED FOR CUSTOMER CONVERSATIONS

CHALLENGE: 58% of buyers say that salespeople can’t answer their questions effectively.

RESEARCH: Cahner’s Research

SOLUTION: Ensure salespeople have complete, accurate and up-to-date information to prepare for and engage in meaningful conversations. Timing is key: salespeople need the right information at the right moment and the right stage of the customer conversation.

58%


3. SALES REPS’ FORECASTS ARE CHRONICALLY OVERSTATED

CHALLENGE: Only 45.7% of forecasted deals close

RESEARCH: CSO Insights

SOLUTION: Arm your sales team with accurate and up-to-date information about what the customer has purchased and paid for, renewal dates, T’s & C’s to improve forecast reliability.

45.7%


4. MORE BUYERS SELF-EDUCATE

CHALLENGE: By 2020 just 15% of the interactions between businesses will involve humans

RESEARCH: Gartner Group

SOLUTION: Create a two-part strategy: One, invest in technologies that help buyers get the information they need to make informed decisions. Two, invest in solutions that ensure your sales team has complete, accurate and up-to-date information about every dimension and facet of the customer relationship.

15%


5. LOW RETENTION LOWERS PRODUCTIVITY

CHALLENGE: A five percent increase in customer churn can impact your profitability as much as 75 %

RESEARCH: Bain & Company

SOLUTION: Identify, monitor and manage the metrics that drive customer satisfaction and retention. Rethink how you engage current customers and improve user adoption.

75%


6. SALES GROWTH DEPENDS ON DEVELOPING THE SWEET SPOT WITHIN

YOUR CUSTOMER BASE

CHALLENGE: 80% of your company’s future revenue will come from 20% of your existing customers.

RESEARCH: Gartner Group

SOLUTION: Track the top 20% of your customer base and build programs to deepen your connections and expand your relationships within these high revenue generating accounts.

80%


7. FOCUSING ON NEW CUSTOMERS AT THE EXPENSE OF CURRENT CUSTOMERS CAN LOWER PRODUCTIVITY

CHALLENGE: It requires more sales resources and costs 5x to acquire a new customer than to keep a current customer.

RESEARCH: Lee Resource Inc.

SOLUTION: Help your sales team be more productive and retain more customers by providing them with a 360-degree view of the customer and the tools to engage her.

5x


The 7 Barriers to Sales Productivity -- and what you can do about it

Sales

Transcript of The 7 Barriers to Sales Productivity -- and what you can do about it