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7/31/2019 Optimizing Sales Effectiveness to Achieve High Performance
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Customer Relationship Management
Optimizing Sales Effectivenessto Achieve High Performance Key Findings from the 2010 Sales PerformanceOptimization Study
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Sales Performance
While many signs point to economic recovery,underlying performance challenges persist for thesales teams at many large enterprises where more
than cosmetic fixes may be needed to capturegreater revenue from current customers, penetratenew and emerging markets and maintain profitmargins. Composing a high performance salesfunction, even in an upturn, may require a deepertransformation of the fundamentals—from strategyand process to systems and talent—to bring thescience and art of sales back into focus.
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The 2010 Sales Performance
Optimization Study—Accenture’s annual
assessment of sales force performance
and challenges—demonstrates that
by just about any measure of salesperformance, 2009 was a tough year.
This year’s study, which included more
than 2,800 companies worldwide,
showed that in 2009 organizations
experienced the biggest single-year drop
in percentage of revenue plan attained
since this research began 16 years ago.
In addition, enterprises across the globe
had the second-lowest percentage
of sales representatives meeting
their quotas in the study’s history.
In response to the tough economy,
we witnessed a variety of strategies
employed—deep cuts in expenses,
reduced sales headcount, and product
offerings at extraordinary pricing—all
in an effort to make it through 2009.
Yet, as the global economy shows signs
of pulling itself out of one of the most
severe recessions ever encountered,
chief sales officers are looking
cautiously toward improved sales
effectiveness and a return to growth.
About the 2010 SalesPerformance Optimization Study
Accenture, in collaboration with
CSO Insights, a leading research and
benchmarking resource for chief sales
officers, recently completed the 16th
annual study on sales performance
optimization. The research surveyed
more than 2,800 companies worldwide
to assess current sales performance,
challenges facing sales teams, the
reasons those problems exist, andwhat organizations are doing to
effectively address these issues.
In addition to gathering perspectives
and opinions, the Web-based
survey collected data on more
than 100 metrics related to sales
performance in enterprises ranging
from manufacturing to services, retail,
government, non-profits and many
others. To ensure a global sample,
about two-thirds (66 percent) of
participating firms were based in North
America and the remaining third were
internationally based companies.
Data was collected from enterprises
with less than $50 million in revenue
to multi-billion dollar corporations.
In this year’s study, 19.6 percent of
respondents were from enterprises with
more than $1 billion in revenue (or
“large enterprises”). For purposes of this
report we focus on the large enterprise
segment of the study’s respondents.
And in the pages that follow, we review
the key findings regarding 2009 salesperformance and 2010 sales plans
among these large enterprises.
Introduction
Optimizing Sales Effectiveness to Achieve High Performance 3
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4 Key Findings from the 2010 Sales Performance Optimization Study
Key Findings
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Feeling significant revenue generation
pressure, the sales forces of most
organizations faced extreme challenges
in 2009. Both of the primary metrics of
sales force performance slipped in 2009:
The revenue generation performance
of salespeople dropped significantly,
and as a result, overall company
plan attainment declined as well.Across all large organizations, an average
of 53.3 percent of sales representatives
met or exceeded their sales quota in
2009. This is a substantial drop from
the 65 percent having achieved quota
in 2007 and 64 percent in 2008 (Figure
1). Perhaps this mediocre performance
in meeting quotas helps explain why
the top sales objective for 2010 for
large organizations is improving
sales effectiveness. (Figure 2).
Multiple components can contribute
to sales effectiveness—from sales
strategy and execution to compensation,
sales process, sales management, and
account management. We review how
companies fared across each of eight
key sales capability areas below.
Compensation and hiring
Our findings in the area of compensation
and hiring reflect a difficult year for
sales executives. Many chose to stay in
jobs that were secure, as voluntary sales
representative turnover was low (at justunder 12 percent for large enterprises).
Involuntary turnover of sales
representatives in large organizations
was just over 12 percent as companies
shed less-productive sales people to
manage through difficult times. These
figures are down from those in 2007 (18
percent and 14 percent, respectively)
but not substantially different from
those in 2008 (12 percent and 11
percent, respectively) (Figure 3). The
outlook is cautiously optimistic for2010: Almost half (46 percent) of large
enterprises plan to increase sales force
size in the next 12 months while only
9 percent plan to reduce its size.
Despite the general availability of good
talent in the market today, many large
companies felt that hiring representatives
who will be successful at selling remains
a problem. In fact, 38 percent said
candidate selection needs improvement
in their organization. When it comes
to finding qualified candidates, few
companies turn to recent collegegraduates. Two-thirds of large enterprise
respondents said their sales force
comprises largely sales professionals
from within their industry, while only
9 percent said the majority of their
sales force are new college graduates.
According to respondents, a key practice
to making successful hires is sales
competency testing. Almost half (44
percent) of large enterprise respondents
conduct sales competency testing as part
of the hiring process and four-fifths of
those that test believe it improves hiring
success. One-fifth of respondents feel it
significantly improves hiring outcomes,
although this figure is down from 2008,
Figure 1. Percentage of sales
representatives in large organizations
meeting or exceeding their quotas.
Figure 2. Top sales objectives for
large organizations.
Figure 3. Sales turnover in large organizations.
1 Improving sales effectiveness -53%
2 Increasing revenue -50%
3 Capturing new accounts -40%
Optimizing Sales Effectiveness to Achieve High Performance 5
65%
64%
53%
Met in
2007
Met in
2008
Met in
2009
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
2007 2008 2009
Sales Rep Turnover: 2007-2009
Voluntary Involuntary
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when just under one-third of respondents
believed such testing improves their
ability to hire the right sales people.
Once a part of the workforce, new
hires can take significant time to ramp
up. The vast majority (71 percent)
of large enterprises felt it took sales
representatives at least six months to
gain the skills they need when newlyhired. In fact, 23 percent said it takes
more than a year for a new rep to
be fully-ramped up and effective.
However, the good news is that time to
competency appears to have decreased
compared with 2007 and 2008, when
80 percent and 81 percent, respectively,
reported it took new hires at least
six months to be fully productive.
In addition, across enterprises sales
compensation structures remain achallenge. Almost half (49 percent)
of respondents in 2009 felt their
compensation plans needed improvement
at driving precise selling behaviors.
When reviewing compensation, one
aspect companies should look at is what
percent of compensation is variable.
While the prevailing assumption in most
companies is that a higher percentage of
variable compensation equates to a more
motivated sales rep and, thus, higher
sales performance, the research proves
just the opposite is true. As shown in
Figure 4, the reps for whom 0 percent to
15 percent of compensation was variable
actually outperformed those for whom
more than 15 percent was variable.
Yet fewer than one in 10 companies
surveyed in 2009 used such a scale; the
most prevalent compensation schedule
involved 26 percent to 40 percent,
followed by 41 percent to 60 percent
(Figure 5). Furthermore, our analysis
found that reps for whom a higher
percentage of compensation was variable
were more likely to leave the company.In short, our findings show that not only
is high-variable compensation least likely
in encouraging reps to meet plan, it also
results in greater sales rep attrition.
Sales cycle
When the market is contracting and
revenue-generation opportunities are
fewer, companies tend to turn to existing
customers for new leads, as well as
increase their focus on all aspects of
the lead generation and sales funnel.
Indeed, in 2009 enterprises with more
than $1 billion in revenue generatednearly three-quarters of that revenue
from existing clients, with just 26
percent coming from new accounts.
These figures are virtually the same as
those reported in 2007 and 2008.
Despite the pressure to sell, sales
representatives on average spent 42
percent of their time actually selling—on
phone or in face-to-face meetings
(Figure 6). However, this represents an
increase over the 37 percent reported in2008 and 36 percent in 2007. The rest
of their time was spent in non-direct
sales activities such as generating leads
and researching accounts (19 percent),
Figure 4. Variable Pay to Quota Achieved
Figure 5. Sales Rep Variable Compensation Package Breakdown
6 Key Findings from the 2010 Sales Performance Optimization Study
57.6% 57.8%
51.5% 52.7%
47.8%
53.3%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0% 1-15% 16-25% 26-40% 41-60% >60% Variable
Lowest achieved quotaHighest attrit ion rate
Amount of Variable Pay
% o
f R e p s A c h i e v
i n g Q u o t a
1-15%
16-25%
26-40%
41-60%
>60%
No variable pay
2007 2008 2009
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
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in meetings and administrative tasks
(21 percent) and other activities (18
percent for training, account service calls,
etc). Interestingly, the percentage of
time spent on “other” activities dropped
substantially from 31 percent in 2008.
Spending time on lead generation was
critical, as sales reps reported doing the
majority of lead generation themselves.
Just over half (55 percent) of leads were
generated by the sales representative—
down slightly from 2008 (59 percent) and
2007 (58 percent). The rest of their leads
came from marketing (23 percent of leads
on average) and other sources (22 percent
came from partners, press, and referrals).
Overall, large enterprises reported
mixed success at managing leads
through sales stages once they were
generated. Interestingly, between
10 percent and 15 percent reported
not knowing their conversion rates
at various sales stages (Figure 7).
Sales strategy
Sales strategy is of particular
importance when resources are tight
and performance thresholds are high.
Overall, large enterprise respondents felt
their sales strategy needs improvement.
In fact, just over half (51 percent) felt
they need to improve the way they
prioritize the accounts on which to
focus selling resources. About the
same proportion (52 percent) said
they need improvement in developing
sales plans for key prospects, and 53
percent said they need to improve
in thoroughly researching prospects
prior to sales calls. And regarding
lead generation, 56 percent said they
need to improve in generating leads,
52 percent said they need to improve
in properly qualifying and prioritizingopportunities and 53 percent said they
need to improve at incubating leads
with interest but no time. In general,
large companies appear to have made
some progress in the preceding areas,
as the percentage of respondents in
2009 reporting they need improvement
declined slightly from 2007 and 2008.
Also of critical importance to sales
effectiveness is doing an exceptional job
of converting opportunities into sales. In
general, large enterprise respondents are
bullish on their sales execution abilities.
How good is sales execution? More than
half (58 percent) said their ability to
clearly understand the customer buying
process meets or exceeds expectations.
Nearly three-fourths (73 percent) said
they meet or exceed expectations at
effectively and consistently presenting
features and benefits. Nearly two-
thirds (64 percent) said they are
meeting or exceeding expectations at
differentiating from the competitionand 61 percent said they meet or
exceed expectations at aligning their
solution with customer needs. And,
76 percent said they meet or exceed
Figure 7: Knowledge of conversion rates at various stages of the sales process
Figure 6. Sales Rep Time Allocation
What percentage of
qualified leads results
in an initial customer
discussion/meeting?
Percentage of proposals
that result in a sale
Percentage of
presentations that
result in a proposal
Percentage of
discussions that result
in a presentation
Percentage of leads
that result in an initial
discussion
<25% 15% 41% 12% 15%
26 - 50% 38% 30% 44% 30%
>50% 32% 13% 28% 39%
Do Not Know 15% 16% 16% 16%
Optimizing Sales Effectiveness to Achieve High Performance 7
41.9%
21.2% 17.5%
19.4%
% Selling (phone or face-to-face)
% Meetings/Administrative Tasks
% Other (account service calls, training, etc.)
% Generating Leads/Researching Accounts
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expectations at generating accurate bids,
configurations and proposals. These
figures are generally consistent with
those reported in 2007 and 2008.
Which areas of sales execution need
improvement? Fifty-six percent of
large enterprise respondents said their
cross-selling and up-selling needs
improvement (up substantially from 45percent in 2008 and 49 percent in 2007);
58 percent said they need improvement
in selling value and not discounting, a
critical skill in a price-pressured economy
(up slightly from 2008 and nearly 15
points from 2007); and half (50 percent)
need improvement in closing deals in
the timeframe originally forecast (about
the same as reported in 2008 but 11
points higher than in 2007) (Figure 8).
Clearly there are deal-breakers in any
sales situation, with price at the top of the list. Indeed, the top reason large
enterprises in 2009 cited for losing a
sale– by far – was price and terms (81
percent had it in the top-three loss
reasons, similar to 2008 and 2007).
Regardless of industry, product or sales
situation, price and terms lost the sale.
The next-most cited reason for losing
a sale was competitors having existing
relationships, selected by 58 percent of
respondents in 2009 (and 66 percent
and 61 percent, respectively, in 2008 and
2007). Beyond these factors respondents’
perspectives varied widely on other
reasons deals were lost. Accountcoverage, sales process execution,
availability of product, competitors’
market messaging and competitor’s
brand equity all were chosen by about
20 percent of respondents in 2009.
While price and terms are clearly reasons
for losing deals, only 28 percent of
large enterprise respondents cited price
and terms as a reason for winning.
Factors cited as the top three reasons
why companies won deals last year
included existing client relationships
(62 percent placed this in the top three
reasons), brand equity / reputation (53
percent), level of service/support (46
percent), and product superiority (40
percent). Interestingly, only 31 percent
of respondents in 2007 cited service and
support as a factor in winning deals, a
figure that rose to 51 percent in 2008
before dropping in 2009 (Figure 9).
Account management
With new accounts being scarce and the
majority of revenue being generated from
existing accounts, account management
was critical in 2009. The majority of largeenterprise respondents believe they meet
or exceed performance expectations on
such things as effectively introducing
new products, generating additional
revenue from existing clients, effectively
communicating with customers,
renewing business with existing
customers, and creating customer loyalty
(Figure 10). The only area where the
majority reported account management
needed improvement is in creating
and maintaining customer referencesand case studies (58 percent said this
area needed work), an area that posed
a challenge for a similar percentage
of respondents in 2008 and 2007.
Figure 8: Sales Execution Activities Needing Improvement
8 Key Findings from the 2010 Sales Performance Optimization Study
Sell value/avoid discounting
56%
58%
50%
40%
37%
35%
25%
21%
Effectively cross-sell/up-sell
Close deals in timeframe originally forecast
Clearly understands customer's buying process
Align solution with customer's needs
Differentiate versus the competition
Effectively/consistently present features and benefits
Generate accurate bid/configuration/proposal
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Figure 9. Factors in winning and losing deals among large organizations.
Figure 10. Account Management Activities Needing Improvement
Optimizing Sales Effectiveness to Achieve High Performance 9
58%
47%
40%
29%
27%
19%
Create/maintain customer case studies/references
Farm additional revenues from existing customers
Effectively introduce new products
Effectively communicate with customers
Create customer loyalty
Renew business with existing customers
61.7%
52.5%
46%
39.5%
28%
15.7%
15.3%
14.9%
13.8%
11.9%
4.6%
1.9%
Brand Equity/Reputation
Existing Relationships
Top Three Reasons for Winning
Level of Service/Support
Product Superority
Price and Terms
Sales Process Execution
ROI Business Case
Availability of Product/Solution
Account Coverage
References
Market Messaging
Other
80.5%
57.5%
22.2%
21.1%
21.1%
20.3%
20.3%
17.2%
12.3%
11.9%
4.6%
1.9%
Ccompetitor’s ExistingRelationships
Price & Terms
Top Three Reasons for Losing
Account Coverage
Sales Process Execution
Availability of Product
Competitor’s Market Messaging
Competitor’s Brand Equity/Reputation
Service/Support
Competitor’s Product Superiority
Competitor’s References
ROI Business Case
Other
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Sales management
Clearly there is a direct correlation
between the level of competence
of sales managers and the results
generated by the sales force. However,
sales management (i.e., first-line sales
managers) is often overlooked and
sales managers are often overwhelmed.
This proved true among our surveyrespondents (Figure 11). About half of
large enterprise respondents felt they
need improvement on several sales
management dimensions: accurately
forecasting business, regularly
conducting win/loss reviews, continually
adapting the sales process to market
changes, and effectively sharing best
practices across the sales force (Figure
11). The percentage of respondents
indicating they need improvement
in these areas remained largelyconsistent between 2007 and 2009.
Sales process, methodologyand training
Despite their size, 15 percent of large
enterprise respondents in 2009 reported
using a random sales process and 42
percent classified their process as
informal (Figure 12). Both figures are
slightly higher than those reported
in 2007 and 2008. The remaining 43percent use a formal process of some
sort and a minority (13 percent) classified
their sales process as formal but dynamic
to flex with the changing environment.
Enterprises were evenly split between
using an in-house and a commercial
methodology for sales process
management. But regardless of
methodology, most firms struggle with
getting full adoption of the process.
Only seven percent reported more than a90 percent adoption rate (up two points
from 2008 and 2007), and an additional
19 percent reported between 76 percent
and 90 percent adoption (up from 13
percent in 2008 and 16 percent in 2007).
10 Key Findings from the 2010 Sales Performance Optimization Study
Figure 11: Sales Management Activities Needing Improvement
Figure 12: Adherence to Use of
Sales Process
Effectively share best practices across the salesforce
54%
54%
56%
49%
47%
43%
41%
38%
Accurately forecast business
Regularly conduct win/loss reviews
Compensation plans driving precise selling behavior
Continually adapt sales process to market changes
Sales manager has access to timely/accurate metrics
Proactively identify which reps need coaching
Consistently hire reps who succeed at selling
41.5%
30.0%
13.0%
15.4%
Level 1—Random Process
Level 2—Informal Process
Level 3—Formal Process
Level 4—Dynamic Process
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Perhaps related to this lack of formality
and incomplete adoption, large
companies in 2009 appear to believe
their sales methodology has less of
an impact on performance than their
counterparts did in 2008 and 2007. In
fact, the percentage of those believing it
had a significant impact on performance
dropped by half between 2008 and 2009,
while the percentage of those believing it
had no impact doubled during the same
time. About two-thirds of respondents
in 2009 (68 percent, which is up 13
points from 2008 and 18 points from
2007) said their sales process modestly
improves sales performance (Figure 13).
Another key element of sales
performance is investment in sales
training. According to the survey,
such investment varies considerably
among companies with revenue of $1 billion or more (Figure 14).
Optimizing Sales Effectiveness to Achieve High Performance 11
Figure 14: Investment in sales training
Approximately how much
do you spend on training
per sales person per year? 2009Less than $1,500
per rep/year
37%
Between $1,500-2,500
per rep/year
33%
More than $2,500
per rep/year
30%
We do not do training 1%
Figure 13: Impact of sales methodology on performance
What impact does your sales
methodology have on your
sales performance? 2007 2008 2009
Significantly improves 34% 33% 16%
Modestly improves 50% 55% 68%
No impact 6% 4% 8%
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Perhaps not surprisingly given the recent
recession, this spending on training hasdecreased since 2007, when 30 percentof respondents said they spend between$5000 and $7500 per sales person eachyear. That figure dropped to 10 percentfor respondents in 2009. At the otherend of the spectrum, the percentage of respondents reporting spending less than
$500 per person on training doubledbetween 2007 and 2009—from 6 percentto 12 percent—and those investingbetween $500 and $1500 rose from 19percent in 2007 to 25 percent in 2009.
Furthermore, many aspects of trainingneed improvement. For instance, whilea slight majority of respondents in2009 (53 percent) are happy with theamount of sales skills training that isdone and 66 percent are happy with theamount of product training received,
a small majority also believed severalspecific areas need improvement. Theseareas include the amount of customermarketplace training (58 percent),the amount of training on justifying apurchase (50 percent), and the amount of sales management training (55 percent).
Core CRM and CRM 2.0 usage
For the most part, large enterprises
have CRM systems in place for sales
(78 percent have formally implemented
a CRM system) and the majority are
using commercial packages. Adoption
of CRM is greater than adoption of
the sales process: 31 percent reported
greater than 90 percent adoption, and anadditional 27 percent reported between
76 percent and 90 percent adoption.
In addition, the use of newer CRM
functionality is progressing. Sales
forces increasingly use mobile
applications, knowledge management,
collaboration, and sales analytics
as they integrate CRM with their
formal sales processes (Figure 15).
Interestingly, the primary benefits
respondents receive from CRM systemsare improved sales representative/
manager communications (53 percent),
improved forecast accuracy (47
percent), and reduced administrative
burden (35 percent). Far fewer large
enterprise respondents reported the
CRM system having direct top- or
bottom-line impacts: 6 percent said it
increased margins, 11 percent said it
increased revenue, 13 percent said it
shortened sales cycles, and 17 percent
said it improved win rates (Figure 16).
Sales and marketing alignment
Companies believe they still have
considerable work to do on sales and
marketing integration. For example,
nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of large
enterprise respondents reported the
quantity or quality of leads generated
by marketing needs improvement (the
same percentage as in 2008) and almost
as many (57 percent, about the same as
in 2008) said the effectiveness of their
website at engaging prospects needswork as well. Forty-two percent of
respondents in 2009 (compared with 44
percent in 2008) reported the quantity
or quality of sales support materials
12 Key Findings from the 2010 Sales Performance Optimization Study
Figure 15: The use of newer CRM functionality
Use of newer
CRM functionality for… We’re using now
We plan to start using
next year
Sales force collaboration 62% 8%Sales analytics/ forecasting 25% 16%
Lead generation/management 21% 14%
Sales knowledge management 10% 14%
CRM/sales process integration 8% 11%
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needs improvement. And while marketing
generates almost one-fourth of leads, the
majority of respondents recognized that
it takes a long lead time for marketing
programs to generate sales (Figure 17).
Looking ahead at the
next 12 months
Large enterprises are expectinggrowth in 2010, albeit modest.
Virtually all respondents said they
have increased sales targets to try
to achieve growth (Figure 18).
But this growth won’t be achieved
easily. In fact, 50 percent of respondents
have concerns about meeting revenue
goals in 2010 and 4 percent said it just
won’t happen (3 percent said goals
will easily be met and 44 percent
said it’s achievable with effort).
However, respondents are pressing ahead
on improving sales effectiveness: Top
initiatives for large enterprise sales
executives in 2010 include enhancing
team communications (40 percent),
improving sales representative
access to information (38 percent),
and more closely aligning sales and
marketing (35 percent). Overall, our
large enterprise sales executives have
conveyed cautious optimism for the
next 12 months, but fully recognize
that strong account management,
careful planning and improved sales
effectiveness are critical to success.
Optimizing Sales Effectiveness to Achieve High Performance 13
Figure 16: Benefits Resulting from CRM Usage Figure 17: Lead time for marketing to
generate sales
Figure 18: Sales targets for 2010
Timeframe for Marketing
Programs to Generate Sales
2-5 months 30%
More than 5 months 25%
Less than 2 months 23%
Don’t’ know 22%
2010 Targets Compared to 2009
Targets were less than or the
same as 2009
15%
Grew targets by 1-5 percent 29%
Grew targets by 6-10 percent 33%
Grew targets 11-15 percent 12%
Grew targets 16-25 percent 8%
Grew targets more than 25
percent
3%
53.0%
47.0%
34.5%
21.5%
17.0%
16.5%
15.5%
14.5%
14.0%
13.0%
10.5%
6.0%
Improved Forecast Accuracy
Improved Sales Rep/Manager Communications
Reduced Administrative Burden on Sales
Improved Order Processing Accuracy
Improved Win Rates
Reduced New Sales Rep Ramp-up Time
Improved Best Practices Sharing
Improced Support of Channels
Other
Shortened Sell Cycles
Increased Revenues
Increased Margins
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At a high level, what do our survey
findings mean? We drew four high-
level conclusions from our research.
The first conclusion is that thechallenges facing chief sales officers
are difficult and interrelated. In many
firms, revenue growth targets are not
being met, a large percentage of sales
people are not proficient at qualifying
and prioritizing opportunities, and
the foundations of account planning
are not being routinely executed.
Sales methodologies are not being
leveraged consistently, even though
it’s widely recognized that the use of
a methodology improves performance.And, in many cases, sales forces cannot
effectively map the sales process
to the customer’s buying process,
despite the fact that clients are
often vocal about what they need.
Our second conclusion is that solution
selling, relationship selling and formal
processes drive results. Growth is
dependent on client relationships. Our
research shows that companies with
stronger client relationships and a
dynamic sales process significantly
outperformed peers. For instance, top
performers—those with a more strategicor trusted partner relationship with
accounts and a formal yet dynamic
sales process— had 20 percent more
of their sales force attaining quotas
and were 17 percent closer to attaining
their company’s sales plan than their
peers that lacked strong customer
relationships and a formal sales process.
A focus on strategic accounts truly
sets these top performers apart: They
jointly set long-term objectives andreview results of their solutions with
these key customers, and they regularly
collaborate across their department to
provide superior account management.
Third, talent is expensive, but is a
clear differentiator. Furthermore,
the classic approach to the talent
management process is no longer
valid. Organizations continue to
struggle at hiring the right salespeople
and attaining sales quotas. One
thing that’s consistent across all
sales forces, however, is that high
performers continue to excel. Ourresearch shows that the top 20 percent
of salespeople bring in more than
60 percent of the revenue for their
firm. The challenge is to capture
what differentiates high-performing
salespeople, and then use that profile
in hiring, training and retention.
Finally, variable pay is not the only
driver of performance. Companies
continue to increase variable
compensation as a performanceincentive, yet our research shows that
greater variable pay does not correlate
to an increase in the attainment
of sales quotas. Rather, what is
critical is helping sales executives
fulfill their potential by having the
supporting conditions in place that
increase their chances of success.
Implications
14 Key Findings from the 2010 Sales Performance Optimization Study
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Our research shows that CSOs know
they have substantial work ahead of
them in many aspects of improving
sales effectiveness, from hiring,
training, and motivating respondents;
to managing the sales process; to
translating the new capabilities
provided by CRM systems into business
benefits; to tightening the linkage
between sales and marketing. Our
research also reveals that CSOs
believe overcoming these challenges
and attaining their sales goals for
2010 will be anything but easy.
To that end, we believe CSOs should
consider a number of actions that
can help the address their salesforce performance challenges.
These include the following:
Build a comprehensive sales strategy
to boost differentiation, address
competitive threats and maximize
profitability. Identify pockets
of growth opportunities through
customer and channel segmentation
analytics, align routes-to-market
to opportunity segments, and
build the organization strategy
and operating model to effectivelytarget these growth opportunities.
Partner to achieve speed to market,
mitigate risks and add relevance to a
company’s portfolios. Changing the
channel mix to include both direct
and indirect channels can help sales
teams target customers better, and
can be critical to expanding market
coverage (especially globally).
Take a systematic approach to
multichannel sales management.
Strategize, design and implement
customer-focused initiatives
across multiple channels through
coordinated processes, integrated
data and automation.
Deploy resources intelligently. Consider
global/regional sales operations
capabilities. Devise coverage models
that focus on the addressable
market opportunity, rather than
sheer customer count, to optimize
expense-to-revenue utilization
without over-distributing resources.
Be diligent about driving the evolution
of the sales force’s abilities to meet
changing demands, and unlocking
the sales force’s full potential. For
example, use technology to automate
as much activity involving lower-end
customers as possible, freeing up sales
time for more lucrative customers
and reducing operating cost.Work to develop a high-performance
sales organization by migrating top
performers’ attributes to the full
sales organization. Comprehensively
study top sales performers’ behavior,
competencies and personality
to build effective sales training
programs and new-hire profiles.
Adopt a holistic approach to incentive
compensation management, leveraging
next-generation technology solutions
to improve sales performance. Suchan approach should drive desired
sales behavior, enable rapid response
to changing market conditions and
new product offerings, proactively
support complex sales and multichannel
distribution models, consider the
balance of intrinsic versus extrinsic
rewards, and provide higher accuracy
in commission calculation, minimizing
disputes and overpayments.
All indications are that while 2010
likely will be better economically,
the underlying challenges CSOs face
will not simply disappear with a few
quarters of growth. CSOs at large
enterprises still will face continued
pressure to capture greater revenue
from existing customers, penetrate
new and emerging markets and
maintain profit margins in a challenging
economy. For them to reach their
sales goals, even in an improving
economy, CSOs likely will find they
need to change the fundamentals of
their sales organization—from strategy
and process to systems and talent.
Taking the actions just discussed
will be a substantial step forward,
and will help companies create sales
organizations that drive growth and
high performance for years to come.
Recommendations
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For more information,please contact:
Richard J. Bakosh
Accenture
Managing Director—
Global Sales Transformation
richard.j.bakosh@accenture.com
For more informationabout Accenture,please visitwww.accenture.com/crm
The views and opinions in this article
should not be viewed as professional
advice with respect to your business.
Accenture, its logo, and High
Performance Delivered are trademarks
of Accenture. The use herein of
trademarks that maybe owned by
others is not an assertion of ownership
of such trademarks by Accenture
nor intended to imply an association
between Accenture and the lawful
owners of such trademarks.
About AccentureAccenture is a global management
consulting, technology services
and outsourcing company, with
more than 181,000 people serving
clients in more than 120 countries.
Combining unparalleled experience,
comprehensive capabilities across all
industries and business functions,
and extensive research on the
world’s most successful companies,
Accenture collaborates with clients to
help them become high-performance
businesses and governments. The
company generated net revenues of
US$21.58 billion for the f iscal year
ended Aug. 31, 2009. Its home page iswww.accenture.com.
Copyright © 2010 Accenture
All rights reserved.
Accenture, its logo, and
High Performance Delivered
are trademarks of Accenture.
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