2013 Poll Results
December 2013: Do you keep track of your win rate against individual competitors?
The vast majority of respondents keep close track of this sales metric in order to convey to others in the organization what they have found to be effective and improve pertinent tactics and approaches.
November 2013: Does your company maintain a clear set of goals for the first 3 months for all newly hired sales individuals?
A defined ramp-up structure for a new position is utilized by most who made a selection in this poll. Having this type of an established set of objectives in place is clearly an important component of the sales process for many organizations and professionals.
October 2013: Has your company begun to shift to a model that incorporates a more prominent role for inside sales?
A number of factors have led to the increased importance of inside sales teams over the past few years. Companies are clearly taking advantage of relevant technogical and analytical advancements that cater to this realm while, at the same time, serving customers who may be more at ease working with this type of internal organization and approach.
September 2013: Do you feel that your sales organization is viewed as a key contributor to overall company strategy?
A very rare 100% of those who responded deem their sales department to be seen an essential part of a company’s success.
August 2013: Do you feel you are effective at accurately qualifying leads?
One of the primary problems that seems to inevitably arise during the qualification process is knowing when to divert attention to more promising opportunities. Those who can effectively determine which leads will provide a more likely chance of a win will garner long-term success.
July 2013: Is your company using Big Data tools to improve sales effectiveness?
Advances in this field have made customer behaviors, needs, and engagement much more easily understood and quantifiable. For those willing to incorporate these offerings in their sales approach a successful outcome can be a far more streamlined and productive process.
June 2013: Do you feel you are effective at accessing the primary decision maker in a particular sale?
It’s absolutely essential to determine who will actually be making the final decision regarding a particular sale. Most of the individuals who replied to this survey feel that they are quite good at identifying those who will ultimately say yes or no.
May 2013: Does your company utilize a defined sales process?
Although a number of studies have shown that win rates improve substantially when a clear sales process is implemented, many organizations choose to operate without one in place.
April 2013: Do you feel that you can effectively unearth customer problems?
According to this poll a fair amount of individuals feel that they are not able to fully determine what a customer’s needs are. A number of approaches and solutions can be taken to address this issue including a more in-depth understanding of the client, their business and how you can improve their revenue and growth, and determining what questions will provide a more clear and fully developed outline of their needs.
March 2013: What percentage of your sales close at the originally forecasted time frame?
The amount of deals that are completed in the anticipated window is in line with typical results seen throughout various industries.
February 2013: Should the retirement age be moved to 70?
The idea of raising this number has been floated many times throughout the years. Clearly it is one without a great deal of popularity and backing.
January 2013: Do you feel that your business needs a mobile app?
Mobile applications have become almost a necessity for many types of company-related operations at this point. As users continue to shift a great deal of their activities to these devices it will become even more important to recognize this change and properly address it.
