2015 Sales Challenges Survey

2015 Sales Challenges Survey

April 2015

The Sales Management Group LLC www.salesmgmtgroup.com David P. Wallace [email protected] Peter H. Helmer [email protected]

2015 Sales Challenges Survey

Contents

About The Sales Management Group ... 2

Executive Summary ... 3

Overview ... 3

Results ... 3

Sales Teams are Doing the Right Things ... 3

Four Areas that Can Drive Additional Revenue ... 4

Sales vs. Marketing Perceptions ... 4

Conclusion ... 5

Detailed Report ... 6

Purpose and Timeframe of Survey... 6

Target Population ... 6

Results and Conclusions ... 6

Overview ... 6 Strategic Focus ... 7 Organization ... 7 Territory Planning ... 7 Sales Information ... 7 Compensation Plans ... 8

Sales Enablement Tools ... 8

Training ... 8

Methodology ... 9

Detailed Survey Responses ... 10

Demographics ... 10

Sales Challenges ... 13

No portion of this report may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the authors.

About The Sales Management Group

The Sales Management Group is a privately held sales strategy, process, training and development firm. We work with clients to develop go-to-market strategies, sales programs and sales enablement tools.

David Wallace and Peter Helmer started The Sales Management Group in 2013 to address the

challenges and complexities of managing effective sales organizations. We emphasize the importance of aligning your sales strategies, goals and incentives with your company’s strategy and goals. By aligning strategies and measuring progress toward goals, your sales team drives your company’s success with your customers and in the market.

Contact The Sales Management Group at: The Sales Management Group 5 River Road, Suite 112 Wilton, CT 06897 USA

www.salesmgmtgroup.com [email protected] +1 (203) 856-9400

2015 Sales Challenges Survey

Executive Summary

Overview

In cooperation with MENG – the Marketing Executives Networking Group, during the first quarter of 2015, The Sales Management Group conducted a survey of sales, marketing and executive management professionals to gauge the extent to which they faced seven common sales challenges – strategic focus, organizational structure, territory planning, sales information, compensation design, sales enablement tools and training. The survey received 51 responses from CEOs and senior executives, representing a 10% response rate.

Results

Sales Teams are Doing the Right Things

Our survey shows that company and sales leaders agree that their sales teams are doing the right things. They have strategic plans in place and their reps understand the company strategy. Their sales

organizations are well-structured. They also have the right sales information, compensation plans, sales tools and training.

Territory Planning is an Exception

Territory planning is the area of our survey that respondents indicated was not performing as well as it could. Quotas and goals are in place and goals are tied to the company strategy. This is all good. Sales reps also have plans in place to achieve their goals.

Territory reviews are generally accepted as a strong tool which enables management to hold sales reps accountable for their performance. They are also a tool used to identify and correct underperforming strategies, plans and reps before they become serious problems.

However, the reps’ territory plans are generally not documented and sales reps may or may not follow their plans. Management also does not conduct territory plan reviews throughout the year.

Respondents are not too concerned, though. The estimated increase in revenue that companies would realize from addressing their territory planning process is the lowest of all sales challenge areas. At 6.7% revenue increase, fixing territory planning has the lowest impact, by a full percentage point, of all challenges.

Effects on Revenue

If each of the sales challenge areas were optimized, with problem areas addressed and corrected, companies estimate they could realize revenue increases ranging from 6.7% to 9.7%. The areas with the greatest impact are “strategic focus” contributing a potential revenue increase of 9.7%, “sales

Four Areas that Can Drive Additional Revenue

 Strategic Focus – Respondents estimate that their companies could increase revenue by 9.7% if they

addressed minor issues in the execution of their strategies. CEOs and executives define and communicate their market strategies. Sales reps understand and, for the most part, execute their companies’ strategies. They do a good job of selling to the right customers in their target market. Product mix is an area for improvement. Respondents feel that their sales reps are not selling the right mix of products to their customers. Further research is needed to determine why because product mix issues can be related to new product introductions, pricing, margins, competition, training, incentive plans or a number of other factors. We recommend that companies review their sales product mixes and identify causes of suboptimal performance.

 Sales Enablement Tools – On par with strategic focus, providing the right sales enablement tools

can also drive an estimated 9.7% increase in revenue. The key areas for improvement are providing online tools and ensuring that sales teams make the best use of the tools available to them. Online tools that companies should consider providing include tools to research and qualify prospects (respondents only marginally agree that these tools are available), research competition, and share best practices.

 Sales Information – Correcting sales information deficiencies could drive an estimated 9.0% more

revenue. Companies generally do not follow standardized processes for documenting sales activities and following up on opportunities. They leave these “details” to their sales reps. We believe this is a mistake. For management, sales information is a tool used for both growing the business and managing the sales team. For sales reps, sales information is a tool that can be used for managing opportunities, tracking customers and prospects, and identifying market trends.

CRM is a key sales information tool. According to our survey respondents, sales reps routinely use CRM and enter information in the system, but CRM is not viewed as a powerful tool that they rely on. CRM systems do not enable reps to track opportunities effectively and management does not use CRM to forecast sales or manage their sales reps’ activities. CRM is not viewed as a competitive advantage.

From our perspective, companies are not using CRM effectively. Effective CRM systems are built and implemented in a way that complements and enhances a company’s sales processes. Many

companies implement CRM systems with the opposite approach; they try to adapt their sales systems to work with an “out of the box” CRM implementation. With the right design and implementation, as well as training, CRM can become a competitive advantage for a sales team.

Sales vs. Marketing Perceptions

Sales and marketing both agree that sales is doing the right things. However, marketing sees more room for revenue growth if shortcomings are addressed in the areas of sales enablement tools and training. In the area of sales enablement tools, marketing estimates that revenue can increase by nearly 12% (versus 9.2% for sales respondents). In training, the estimated increase in revenue is 10.4% for

marketing versus 7.1% for sales respondents. This differential may not be surprising for many because marketing typically has major responsibilities in these two areas.

Conclusion

CEOs and sales leaders are confident that their sales teams are doing the right things to drive revenue for their companies. Despite this confidence, there is room for improvement that could drive additional revenue in the range of 6.7% - 9.7%. Primary areas to focus on for improvements are:

 Selling the right mix of products to customers

 Establishing standardized processes for documenting sales activities and following up on opportunities

 Transforming the CRM system into a powerful competitive advantage by designing the system to complement and enhance a company’s sales processes

2015 Sales Challenges Survey

Detailed Report

Purpose and Timeframe of Survey

In cooperation with MENG – the Marketing Executives Networking Group, The Sales Management Group surveyed sales, marketing and executive management professionals to gauge the extent to which they faced seven common sales challenges: strategic focus, organizational structure, territory planning, sales information, compensation design, sales enablement tools and training.

The survey was conducted during the first quarter of 2015.

Target Population

The survey was open to CEOs, presidents, and sales and marketing executives of companies engaged in business-to-business sales (B2B).

Over half of the respondents are CEOs or heads of sales for their companies. Twenty-eight percent of the respondents define their industry as “Business Services.” Another ten percent are “Software and internet.” The balance cover a broad swath of industries that include consumer services, manufacturing, computers and electronics, and financial services. Nearly two-thirds of the respondents are strictly B2B companies while one-third sell both B2B and B2C (business-to-consumer).

Respondents’ company revenues ranged from under $10 million (52%) to over $1 billion (19%). Nearly fifty-five percent of the companies in the survey have fewer than five sales representatives, while nearly nineteen percent have 100 or more sales reps.

Results and Conclusions

The number of survey responses we received (51) is not sufficient to provide statistically significant conclusions. However, based on the responses we received, we are able to provide general observations about the state of the sales market and the relationship between sales and marketing.

Overview

Generally, both sales and marketing executives indicated that they are confident that their sales teams are doing the right things. They have strategic focus; their organizations are well structured; etc. The only area where sales expressed concern was territory planning (marketing had a score for territory planning well above the 6.0 threshold for agreement).

In the area of territory planning, sales executives and CEOs did not agree that their sales reps

consistently create, document and execute territory plans that maximize revenue and opportunities. While their level of disagreement was not high, it does indicate that management believes their sales teams can do better in this area.

On the other hand, when asked how much more revenue the company could generate if the sales teams addressed the concerns about territory planning, the results were much lower (6.7% additional revenue)

than other challenge areas. For instance, addressing concerns about strategic focus (9.7%), sales information (9.0%) and sales enablement tools (9.7%) would yield much greater returns.

Not surprisingly, marketing respondents felt that the greatest revenue returns can be had by addressing sales enablement tools (11.9%), strategic focus (10.5%) and training (10.4%). These are areas where marketing can provide the greatest contribution.

Strategic Focus

Respondents are clearly comfortable with the strategic focus of their sales teams. Sales reps can state the company’s sales strategy and execute it. They target and sell to the right customers.

The one area of concern is that the sales reps are not selling the optimal product mix for the company. While this warrants further research, there are a number of possible reasons for this. Some sales reps will sell what is easiest to sell. That is, they sell what their customers ask for rather than what the company prefers they sell. This may be the right decision, or the sales reps may need to find other opportunities to balance the product mix within their current customers or with new customers. Another possible cause of a product mix imbalance is that the commission plan provides incentives for the sales reps to sell the wrong product mix. Companies can easily fix commission issues once they become aware of them.

Organization

Respondents are fairly satisfied with their sales organizations. Sales reps have enough qualified

opportunities to pursue and the time and resources to close them. While respondents expressed slight dissatisfaction with the amount of time sales reps spend selling, they do not indicate that time spent away from selling is due to administrative or customer service time demands.

Territory Planning

Respondents indicate that their companies define goals for their sales teams and that the goals support the company’s sales strategy. Furthermore, sales reps have specific plans in place to meet or surpass their goals.

However, sales reps do not document their territory plans in writing. They also tend not to follow their territory plans and execute them over the course of the year. Finally, management indicates that they are lax about reviewing their sales reps’ territory plans at least twice a year. This causes us concern as written territory plans have been demonstrated to be more effective over time. Sales representatives become accountable to both management and themselves when they write their plans down. Sales reps can update their written territory plans as customer plans and markets change. Without territory plan documentation, average sales reps often miss their sales goals.

Management should also conduct territory reviews at least twice a year to hold their reps accountable and ensure their reps are taking the right actions necessary to identify, sell and close opportunities.

Sales Information

Sales information is an area where respondents identify a real problem. Although respondents’ sales reps use their CRM systems to document activities and effectively track opportunities, they do not view their CRM systems as a powerful tool that the reps rely on. Further, their managers do not use the CRM

system to forecast revenue and only marginally use it to manage their sales reps’ activities. In short, the respondents do not view their CRM system as a competitive advantage.

The problem here is that the nature of sales is undergoing a transformation. No longer can sales representatives simply uncover a customer’s need and deliver a solution. Today, customers understand their needs and research solutions well before the sales representative calls on them. Information about the customer, products and market has become extremely important. Sales representatives must be in a position to bring new information to their customers and present ideas that their customers have not previously anticipated.

The sales representatives who can mine the volumes of data that they deal with each day, turn this data into useful information, will be in the best position to drive business and close opportunities. CRM systems can be the tools that sales reps use to track and manage the information they need to succeed.

Compensation Plans

Respondents are satisfied with their sales compensation plans. The plans support their companies’ strategies and have incentives that drive specific behaviors and results. Plans are both easy to

understand and easy to administer. Interestingly, respondents indicated that their compensation plans do not have different incentive schemes for different sales roles. I find this interesting since the plans supposedly have incentives to drive specific behaviors, yet the different sales roles that perform different behaviors and drive different results have the same incentive schemes. This is a disconnect.

Sales Enablement Tools

Marketing respondents generally think that their companies are providing the tools and content that sales reps need to meet their sales goals. Marketing thinks that sales does not use the tools that are available to them. This is not surprising since marketers are typically responsible for providing these tools. Marketing believes that if there is any problem in this area, it lies with sales.

Sales does not agree that the sales enablement tools picture is all good. They do agree that they have the brochures and promotions they need to sell effectively. They also agree that the company produces content to address customer issues. However, the sales respondents find a lack of effective online tools to research and qualify prospects, research competitors and share best practices.

Training

Respondents are confident that their reps have the skills, product, market and competitive knowledge they need to succeed. They also are confident that their sales reps know how to use their companies’ support systems.

Both sales and marketing are in agreement in these areas, with the exception that marketing is a little suspect of the sales teams’ skill levels.

Sales teams generally receive product and service training annually. Training for sales skills, support systems and competitive/industry information is held less frequently.

Methodology

The survey invited executives of the target population who are members of the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG). Executives were invited via email. The survey was an online survey hosted by SurveyMonkey.

MENG is an exclusive member organization of nearly 1,200 top-level sales and marketing executives from some of the largest, most innovative companies in the world. More information about MENG is found on their web site at www.mengonline.com.

To measure the effect that sales challenges have on companies, we asked respondents to indicate the degree to which they agreed or disagreed with statements about the challenges. The survey used a ten-point scale with 1=Strongly Disagree and 10=Strongly Agree. Based on this scale, a 5.5 score would be the median.

In interpreting the survey results, we viewed 6.0 and higher as indicating general agreement with a statement. The greater the score over 6.0, the stronger the agreement. Scores below 6.0 were interpreted as disagreement. Again, the further down from 6.0, the greater the disagreement (or dissatisfaction if one views the statement as positive positioning).

Respondents were also asked to indicate how much additional revenue their company could generate if each sales challenge area was optimally addressed.

For each individual challenge area, respondents were presented with additional statements that related to that specific area. Again they were asked to indicate the degree to which they agreed or disagreed with each statement.

2015 Sales Challenges Survey

Detailed Survey Responses

Demographics

Q2. Which of the following best describes your

role in your company?

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

Q3. What industry best corresponds to your business?

Sales

Marketing

Business-to-business (B2B) Business-to-consumer (B2C) B2B and B2C (Both)

Q4. Check the type of sales in which your company engages.

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Under $10 million $10 million -$49.9 million $50 million -$99.9 million $100 million -$499 million $500 million -$999 million $1 billion or more

Q5. What are your company's annual revenues?

Sales

Marketing

Fewer than 5 6 - 9 10 - 19 20 - 49 50 - 99 100 or more

Q6. How many full-time sales representatives work in your

company's sales organization nationally?

Sales Challenges

Strategic Focus – Our sales team understands our strategy and is selling the right products and services to the right companies.

Organizational Structure – Our sales organization is structured so that sales representatives can quickly respond to opportunities and have the back-office support they need to sell successfully.

Territory Planning – Our sales representatives consistently create, document and execute territory plans that maximize revenue and opportunities in each sales territory (geography, key account, industry, etc.).

Sales Information – Our systems provide senior management, sales managers and sales representatives with the market, sales and customer information they need to grow and manage the business.

Compensation Design – Our compensation plans drive the sales behavior and results we want.

Sales Enablement Tools – Our company provides sales representatives with tools they need to sell products and services efficiently and consistently (e.g., proposals, pricing tools, standard contracts, sales literature, premiums, etc.).

Training – We regularly provide training so that our sales representatives have the selling skills and knowledge of products and markets to sell 7.18 6.46 5.68 6.14 6.82 6.82 _6.54 6.86 7.71 _6.71 7.42 6.29 6.57 7.14 7.11 _6.71 5.89 6.40 6.71 6.77 6.66 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00 9.00

Strategic Focus Organizational Structure

Territory Planning Sales Information Compensation Design Sales Enablement Tools Training

Q7. To what extent do you agree that your company is handling the following sales

challenges? ( 1=Strongly Disagree, 10=Strongly Agree)

Q8. If you have other areas that significantly challenge your sales organization, please enter them below.

CEOs and Sales <$10 million revenue:

 Designing, staffing and building a successful team  Time management

$10 million - $49.9 million revenue:

 Getting proper contacts for specific target customers, especially email addresses $50 million - $99.9 million revenue:

 Competitive intelligence & keen fluency on differentiation (where it matters) $500 million – $999 million revenue:

 Ability to access C level >$1 billion revenue

 Excessive senior management requests Marketing

<$10 million revenue:  Lack of a CRM

 Communication between sales and other functions  Value of a prospective relationship

$500 million – $999 million revenue:

 We have a very broad portfolio for our sales teams to know and understand how to position  Understanding how social and digital are changing sales today

9.4% 7.5% 6.7% 8.9% 7.7% 9.2% 7.1% 9.1% 10.5% 8.6% 6.9% 9.1% 8.4% 11.9% 10.4% 0.0% 9.7% 7.7% 6.7% 9.0% 7.8% 9.7% 7.7% _7.6% 0.0% 2.0% 4.0% 6.0% 8.0% 10.0% 12.0% 14.0%

Strategic Focus Organization Territory Planning Sales Information Compensation Plans

Sales Enablement Tools

Training Other

Q9. If your company were to address each challenge, how much additional revenue

could you generate under optimal conditions?

Statements:

 My sales reps can clearly state our sales strategy when asked.  My sales team is effectively executing our sales strategy.

 My sales team is selling the optimal product mix for our company.  My sales team is selling to the right customers for our company.

6.65 6.15 5.65 6.38 7.00 6.57 5.42 6.29 6.73 6.24 5.61 6.36 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Clearly state sales strategy Effectively execute sales strategy Selling optimal product mix Selling to the right customers

Q10. With respect to the Strategic Focus challenge area, please indicate how much you

agree or disagree with the statements. (1=Strongly Disagree, 10=Strongly Agree)

Statements:

 My sales organization is effective as currently structured.

 My sales representatives need more qualified opportunities to pursue.

 My sales representatives have enough time to cover the opportunities in their territories.  My sales representatives have sufficient resources within the company to close opportunities.  My sales representatives spend enough time on selling activities.

 My sales representatives spend too much time on administrative activities.  My sales representatives spend too much time on customer service activities.

 My company has established clearly defined and distinct sales roles (field sales, inside sales, sales support, etc.). 5.95 6.86 6.09 7.19 5.86 5.48 4.50 5.86 5.67 5.83 5.33 5.67 5.67 5.33 4.50 5.00 5.89 6.64 5.93 6.85 5.82 5.44 4.50 5.68 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00 Effective as currently structured

Reps need more qualified opportunities Reps have enough time to cover opportunities Reps have sufficient resources to close opportunities Reps spend enough time selling

Reps spend too much time on

admin

Reps spend too much time on customer service

Clearly defined and distinct sales

roles

Q11. With respect to the Organization challenge area, please indicate how much you

agree or disagree with the statements. (1=Strongly Disagree, 10=Strongly Agree)

Statements:

 My sales organization has defined revenue or gross profit goals for each territory (geography, industry, key accounts, etc.).  My sales team’s territory goals support the company’s sales strategy.

 My sales representatives have specific plans to meet or surpass their territory goals.  My sales representatives update their territory plans every year.

 My sales representatives document their territory plans in writing.

 We conduct formal territory reviews with each sales representative two or more times each year.  My sales representatives follow their territory plans and execute them over the course of each year.

6.59 6.77 6.05 6.50 5.45 6.05 5.64 6.83 _6.67 6.50 6.17 _6.00 5.50 5.67 6.64 6.75 6.14 6.43 5.57 5.93 5.64 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00 Defined revenue or gross profit goals for each

territory

Territory goals support the company's sales

strategy

Reps have specific plans to meet

goals

Reps update plans every year

Reps document plans in writing

Conduct formal territory reviews 2 or more times per

year

Reps follow and execute plans

during year

Q12. With respect to the Territory Planning challenge area, please indicate how much

you agree or disagree with the statements. (1=Strongly Disagree, 10=Strongly Agree)

Statements:

 My sales team follows a standardized process for documenting sales activities and for pursuing and following up on opportunities.  Our customer relationship management (CRM) system allows my sales team to track opportunities effectively.

 Management uses the CRM system to forecast revenue.

 My sales team uses the CRM system routinely (it’s integrated into their selling process).  Our CRM system is a powerful tool that our sales representatives rely on.

 Management uses the CRM system to manage our sales representatives’ sales activities.  Our CRM system represents one of our company’s competitive advantages.

6.04 6.14 5.38 6.14 5.38 5.90 4.10 5.67 5.17 4.67 5.33 4.83 5.00 4.50 5.96 5.93 5.22 6.14 5.38 5.90 4.10 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 Company has a standardized process for documenting sales activities and following up on opportunities CRM tracks opportunities effectively Management uses CRM to forecast revenue Reps use CRM routinely CRM is a powerful tool reps rely on

Management uses CRM to manage reps' activities CRM is a competitive advantage for company

Q13. With respect to the Sales Information challenge area, please indicate how much

you agree or disagree with the statements. (1=Strongly Disagree, 10=Strongly Agree)

Statements:

 I am satisfied with my sales team’s compensation plan.

 My sales compensation plan supports my company’s strategy and goals.

 My sales compensation plan provides incentives that drive specific behaviors and results.  My sales compensation plan is producing the specific behaviors and results that I want.

 My sales compensation plan has different incentive schemes to support different sales roles (i.e., inside sales, field sales, key account manager, business development rep, etc.).

 My sales compensation plan is easy to understand.  My sales compensation plan is easy to administer.

6.38 6.62 7.05 6.09 5.52 7.38 7.04 5.50 5.50 5.50 5.50 4.50 5.75 5.75 6.24 6.44 6.80 6.00 5.36 7.12 6.84 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00

Satisfied with sales compensation

plans

Comp plan supports company's strategy and goals

Comp plan incentives drive specific behaviors and results Comp plan is producing desired behaviors and results

Comp plan has different incentive

schemes for different sales

roles

Comp plan is easy to understand

Comp plan is easy to administer

Q14. With respect to the Compensation Plans challenge area, please indicate how much

you agree or disagree with the statements. (1=Strongly Disagree, 10=Strongly Agree)

Statements:

 My sales team has the right sales brochures it needs to sell effectively.

 My company provides effective product promotions to support my sales team’s efforts (trials, loaners, etc.).

 My company creates content (press releases, blogs, white papers, videos, etc.) that effectively addresses issues our customers face.  My company provides its sales teams with online tools to research and qualify prospects.

 My company provides its sales teams with online tools to research competition.  My company provides its sales teams with online tools to share sales best practices.

 My company supports its sales teams with ongoing marketing programs that produce qualified leads.  My sales team effectively uses the sales enablement tools listed above that the company provides.

6.81 6.95 _6.43 5.90 5.14 _4.85 6.23 5.81 5.75 _5.50 7.75 6.50 6.00 6.50 6.25 5.00 6.64 6.72 6.64 6.00 5.28 _5.13 6.24 5.68 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00 9.00

Sales team has right brochures to sell effectively Provide effective product promotions Create content that addresses customer issues Provide online tools to research and qualify prospects Provide online tools to research competition Provide online tools to share sales best practices Produce qualified leads with ongoing marketing programs

Sales team uses company's sales enablement

tools

Q15. With respect to the Sales Enablement Tools challenge area, please indicate how

much you agree or disagree with the statements. (1=Strongly Disagree, 10=Strongly

Agree)

Statements:

 My sales representatives possess the sales skills necessary to meet their sales goals.

 My sales representatives possess the product or service knowledge they need to meet their sales goals.

 My sales representatives possess the competitive market and industry knowledge they need to meet their sales goals.

 My sales representatives know how to differentiate our products from those of our competitors in order to win competitive deals and meet their sales goals.

 My sales representatives know how to use our company’s support systems (administrative, customer service, technical tools, etc.).

6.90 7.38 6.52 6.52 7.38 5.25 6.75 6.00 _5.75 6.00 6.64 7.28 6.44 6.40 7.16 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00

Reps possess sales skills needed to meet goals

Reps possess product or service knowledge

Reps possess competitive market and industry

knowledge

Reps know how to differentiate from

competitors

Reps know how to use company support systems

Q16. With respect to the Training challenge area, please indicate how much you agree

or disagree with the statements. (1=Strongly Disagree, 10=Strongly Agree)

5.67 6.71 5.67 _5.52 5.00 6.25 6.50 6.25 5.56 6.64 5.80 _5.64 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00

Sales Skills Products/Services Competition/Industry Trends Company Support Systems

Q17. My sales representatives receive training at least once a year on: