BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - September 7, 2010) - While many companies are seeing a recovery from the economic downturn, the distribution and pace of forward progress are not necessarily being enjoyed across the board by all companies, industries or geographies. Firms are clearly seeking to capitalize on every competitive edge available to them, and the human capital of their sales team represents one of the most significant opportunities to grow revenue and market share by hitting quota more consistently, according to a new research study published by Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (
Sales Performance Management: Getting Everyone on the Same Page examined 531 organizations' sales effectiveness, and found that sales teams in top-performing companies currently attain 106% of their overall quota compared to 55% for sales teams in other companies.
"Sales performance management represents far more than the classical approach of assigning sales reps a quota, handing them product literature, price lists, accounts and a phone, and hoping for the best," says Peter Ostrow, Research Director, Sales Effectiveness, Aberdeen Group, the report's author. "With an emphasis on collaboration, engagement, team effort and smart human capital management practices, the top performing organizations are guiding, incenting, coaching, rewarding and especially informing their front-line sellers with a plethora of enabling technologies, services and processes that help all parties -- individual contributors, managers and the organization as a whole -- achieve far greater results, and contribute to a healthy business enterprise."
The report reveals what leading companies have been able to achieve through deployment of sales performance management solutions, such as:
5.3% average year-over-year increase in average deal size; compared to a 0.9% decrease for other companies
3.5% average year-over-year improvement (decrease) in average sales cycle time; compared to a 3.2% worsening (increase) for other companies
A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: Callidus Software, Synygy and Varicent. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit:
http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?spid=30410182&cid=6377&camp=2.
Find out where your company's sales performance management capabilities rank among the top performing companies. Take our Sales Performance Management Assessment Tool: assessment.aberdeen.com/pflCXbSLHI/index.aspx
Visit Research.Aberdeen.com for additional access to complimentary Customer Management Research.
About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company
Aberdeen provides fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having queried more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen for insights that drive decisions.
As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement - Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit Aberdeen or call (617) 854-5200, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748.
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