What American SMBs Can Learn From the French: Eat Lunch

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Apr 28, 2015) - Pipedrive, a maker of simple, intuitive sales software for small businesses, revealed new data that shows how American entrepreneurs can boost productivity by doing one simple thing: taking a break to eat lunch.

Pipedrive's sales data shows that among small businesses, American salespeople, especially those on the East Coast, are less productive in the afternoon compared to the French who take a two-hour break for lunch. This data is based on more than 1 million anonymized sales activities such as emails, calls and meetings logged into Pipedrive's sales platform by more than 10,000 small businesses around the world.

Americans vs. the French
While well-known to be some of the hardest workers in the world, it may be time for Americans to work smarter, not harder, by taking a page from their French counterparts. And that starts with eating lunch. In countries like France where two-hour lunch breaks are the norm, Pipedrive's data shows that French salespeople were not only productive in the morning, but even more productive after lunch.

West Coast vs. East Coast
In comparison, Americans, especially those on the East Coast, tend not to take time to eat lunch or quickly eat at their desks. The data shows that these salespeople peak at noon and then continuously decline after that with no sign of a lunch break. They may work through lunch because people on the West Coast are just starting their work day but this habit has serious ramifications on their overall productivity.

On the other hand, salespeople on the West Coast, especially in California, tend to take lunch more often, which helps with productivity, but still isn't at the level of the French. They are productive in the morning, peaking at 10 a.m., and then experience a lunch time low at noon in which productivity plateaus until 4 p.m. after which it drops precipitously. This might be because of the time difference between the East and West Coasts as West Coasters get up earlier to work with the East Coast and therefore peak earlier.

"Our data shows that if you take a break, do it like you mean it. This isn't about eating a large lunch -- it's more about stepping away from your work and taking a complete mental break," said Timo Rein, president and co-founder of Pipedrive, who has worked successfully in sales for 15 years as a salesman, sales manager, and software entrepreneur. "For those of you who can't easily step away for lunch, you might try to build in some routine shorter breaks into your day."

Difficult Sales Environments
This difference in lunch habits might also be more than cultural norms. It also has to do with the complexity of the sales cycle. In a previous study that Pipedrive released on the world's best closers, it found that the sales environment in the US was one of the most difficult ones as one sale takes a lot of activities, while the conversion rate is low. So only the hardest, most persistent sales people in the US close deals which might explain the lack of a lunch break.

Russians: Bucking the trend
One country however seems to buck the trend of not taking a lunch break but still keeps their productivity high: Russia. Out of the eight countries studied, Russian salespeople seemed to work hard throughout the day. While 2 p.m. looks like a lunch hour for them, they drop to merely 95 percent of productivity compared to their daily peaks. Again, this might be explained by the difficult sales environment in Russia in which salespeople must work more to get a sale.

Productivity Levels in More Countries
To learn about the productivity levels of salespeople from additional countries including India, Spain, South Africa, Switzerland and Poland, check out the infographic and blog post at: https://blog.pipedrive.com/2015/04/sales-productivity-around-the-world/.

About Pipedrive:
Founded in 2010, Pipedrive offers simple, intuitive sales management software. Designed by salespeople for salespeople, Pipedrive is unique in that it is built around the sales pipeline process providing a better overview of where leads are in the sales process so no important deal gets dropped. The company is based in both the U.S. and Estonia and has 70 employees serving more than 10,000 paying customers worldwide. Pipedrive has raised $4.1 million in seed funding and is backed by Storm Ventures, Rembrandt Venture Partners, TMT Investments, AngelPad and angel investors. For more information, go to www.pipedrive.com and follow Pipedrive on twitter.