State of Sales: Insights from 7,700 Sales Professionals
The fifth edition of Salesforce Research's "State of Sales" report, based on a double-anonymous survey of over 7,700 sales professionals from 38 countries conducted between August and September 2022, provides detailed insights into how sales organizations are maximizing value amid economic challenges, adapting to evolving buyer expectations, and employing enablement strategies to enhance sales rep performance across various global regions and roles.
FIFTH EDITION 5
State of Sales
Insights from more than 7,700 sales professionals
on driving productivity in today's economy
SALESFORCE RESEARCH
What You’ll Find in This Report
For the fifth edition of our "State of Sales" report, Salesforce Research surveyed more than 7,700 sales professionals worldwide to discover how sales organizations are:
• Maximizing value amid economic headwinds
economic headwinds • Meeting changing buyer expectations more efficiently
strategic partner in business success • Using enablement tactics to turn all reps into MVPs
Data in this report is from a doubleanonymous survey conducted from August 24, 2022, through September 30, 2022. The survey generated 7,775 responses f rom a range of sales professionals across North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. All respondents are third-party panelists. See page 25 for further survey demographics.
7,775 respondents from 38 countries [Image: Im3]
SALESFORCE RESEARCH
Terms Used in This Research
In this research, we refer to several sample respondent groups, defined as follows:
• Sales operations: Includes sales operations, sales enablement, revenue ops, and deal desk professionals
• Sales leaders: Revenue and sales executives and managers
• Sales professionals or sellers: All salespeople, inclusive of the groups above
• Sales organizations: Sales professionals answering on behalf of their team
Sales Performance Levels
Throughout this report, we classify respondents across three tiers of sales organization performance.
Moderate performers [Image: Im0] somewhat increased YoY revenue
Contents
Foreword ..... 05
Executive Summary ..... 06
01 | The New Sales Mantra: Maximizing Impact ..... 07
02 | Reps Strive to Meet Rising Buyer Expectations ..... 09
03 | Sales Operations Boosts Efficiency ..... 13
04 | The Seller Experience Gets a Second Look ..... 18
Look Ahead ..... 21
Survey Demographics ..... 24
Foreword
[Image: Im2] Adam Gilberd
Executive Vice President, Sales
The no. 1 piece of advice I give my team for winning deals: know your customer's challenges.
For many of our customers, the past couple of years were all about figuring out how to grow faster. Today, that's changed drastically. We now live in an era of tighter budgets and higher operating margins. The challenge isn't about finding growth, but about maximizing efficiency.
This may be startling, but as sellers, we're used to it. In fact, 82% of sellers surveyed in this report say they’ve had to quickly adapt to new ways of selling in the face of global challenges, including supply chain issues, inflation, and health precautions.
That puts us in a unique position to help our customers overcome — to share opportunities for efficiency, cost savings, and added productivity. To be a trusted advisor in their pursuit of business goals.
This year’s "State of Sales" dives into how sellers are doing exactly that. More than 7,700 sales professionals from around the world shared their opinions on everything from shifting buyer behaviors to the tactics they use to drive growth for their customers.
Some findings may be surprising, while others may reinforce what you already know. All, however, prepare you to answer the critical sales question of the moment: How do you help your customers do more with less?
The New Sales Mantra: Maximizing Impact 01 Companies are moving away from high-risk strategies as
Companies are moving away from high-risk strategies as they battle inflation, supply chain bottlenecks, regulatory uncertainty, and political disruption. And yet, sales reps are under pressure to hit targets. It’s a huge challenge. Sixty-nine percent of sales professionals say selling is harder now.
Reps Strive to Meet Rising Buyer Expectations 02 Buyers are looking for sales reps to meet them wherever
Buyers are looking for sales reps to meet them wherever they are, regardless of channel: ecommerce platforms, social media networks, and personal assistants. Buyers then expect sales reps to act as sophisticated, trusted advisors. Organizations connect with buyers on an average of 10 channels.
Sales Operations Boosts Efficiency 03 Operational efficiency is taking on growing importance.
Operational efficiency is taking on growing importance. Sales ops is expanding into a more strategic role, tasked with enabling reps to spend more time in customer conversations. Sales reps spend only 28% of their week actually selling.
Companies are reviewing training programs and benefits, while optimizing territories and sales enablement tools to set employees up for success. New headcount is limited, and 25% turnover is expected in sales organizations over the next 12 months.
The Seller Experience Gets a Second Look 04 Companies are reviewing training programs and benefits,
SALESFORCE RESEARCH
01
The New Sales Mantra: Maximizing Impact
Sales professionals are adjusting to a world that is both more competitive and resourceconstrained. Supply chain issues are delaying deliveries. Inflation is pinching budgets. Shifting regulations and political instability are introducing fresh rounds of uncertainty, making buyers more cautious. And let’s not forget, health is still a concern.
Yet sales teams need to keep hitting targets. The pressure is on to keep revenue coming, no matter the circumstances.
With no time to pause, companies are adapting — and fast — with a renewed focus on productivity and efficiency.
69% of sales professionals agree their job is harder now.
Sellers Adapt to a Dynamic Sales Environment
Top 5 External Factors Making Sales More Challenging
Supply chain issues
Inflation
Shifting regulations
Political instability
Health precautions
% 82
of sales reps say they've had to adapt quickly to new ways of selling.
SALESFORCE RESEARCH
01
The New Sales Mantra: Maximizing Impact
Revenue and sales leaders are hunkering down, shifting their focus to factors within their control to drive predictable revenue.
Some sales leaders are still willing to target risky, high-growth initiatives. But the majority are now emphasizing dependable growth — even when it’s modest.
Leaders are turning to a range of tactics to support these initiatives. The primary one: improving alignment between departments and tearing down business-slowing silos. Other top tactics include evolving operations to meet the demand for hybrid or virtual selling, and making sure company data and tools are up for the new challenges.
70% of sales leaders say their sales organization is taking fewer risks now.
Leaders Focus on Dependable Growth
Sales Leaders Who Say They’re Prioritizing the Following:
55%
High-growth initiatives with high risk and unpredictability
Low-risk initiatives with modest guaranteed growth
Improve cross-functional alignment
Adapt to hybrid or virtual selling
Improve data accuracy and quantity
Target new markets
Modernize tools/technologies
SALESFORCE RESEARCH
02
Reps Strive to Meet Rising Buyer Expectations
Indeed, 57% of buyers prefer to engage with companies through digital channels.* Companies report that nearly one-third of the deals they close are completely virtual.
Top-performing sales organizations are more likely to engage with customers across channels. Online portals, in particular, can offer self-service options that free up sellers to spend more time on strategic accounts, new customer acquisition, and current customer satisfaction.
Organizations use an average of 10 channels to sell to customers.
Digital Channels Surge to Meet Customer Demand High-growth initiatives with
high risk and unpredictability Sales Deals Closed the Following Ways Over Past 12 Months
Sales Organizations Using the Following Channels:
- Salesforce State of the Connected Customer, May 2022.
SALESFORCE RESEARCH
Reps Strive to Meet Rising Buyer Expectations
Sales reps are under pressure to show up with sophisticated insights for buyers, who often conduct research on their own before connecting. Canned scripts won’t cut it when dealing with informed buyers. Reps need to act as trusted advisors with insights and guidance on which products deliver the best value.
Compared to underperformers, the top sales organizations are much more likely to equip their reps with what they need to succeed — whether through technology and tools, training, or other organizational support. This enables reps to build trusting relationships with customers, opening the door to recurring sales.
81% of sales reps say buyers increasingly conduct research before they reach out.
Reps Serve as Trusted Advisors
of business buyers expect sales reps to act as trusted advisors. *
- Salesforce State of the Connected Customer, May 2022.
SALESFORCE RESEARCH
02
Reps Strive to Meet Rising Buyer Expectations
Sales reps commonly collaborate across the company to close deals with other teams — including marketing and customer service, as well as sales operations and other reps. Buyers respond favorably: 83% say they're more loyal to companies that provide consistency across departments.*
While most reps say team selling helps them close deals, it isn’t always easy for everyone to sync up. Teams across the company come equipped with different points of view, goals, and information on the customer, which can make collaboration a challenge.
Cross-functional alignment is sales leaders' #1 tactic for driving growth.
Top Teams Collaborate to Close Deals
of sales reps say team selling helps them close.
of sales reps say alignment with other sellers is at least somewhat challenging.
Reps Commonly Partner with the Following:
** Base: Sales reps at companies with sales operations.
- Salesforce State of the Connected Customer, May 2022.
SALESFORCE RESEARCH
02
Reps Strive to Meet Rising Buyer Expectations
Customer satisfaction is front and center as companies focus on steady, predictable growth. Short-term wins are taking a back seat to long-term relationship building, tracked with post-sale metrics like customer retention.
The ultimate goal? To forge customer loyalty that can lead to recurring sales and predictable revenue. This is critical, especially in uncertain economic times.
Reps draw on a combination of techniques to deepen customer relationships. The top one, value-based communication, is focused on solving buyer problems instead of leading with product pitches. Reps are pausing to actively listen to customers and are staying in touch regularly, so customers know they have an accountable contact to turn to.
80% of sales reps say maintaining customer relationships after the close is increasingly important.
Customer Retention Becomes a Key Performance Indicator
Sales Reps Who Say the Following:
Top 5 Ways Reps Maintain Relationships After a Sale
1 Value-based communication
4 Seeking feedback on the selling experience
5 Troubleshooting/customer service
SALESFORCE RESEARCH
03
Sales Operations Boosts Efficiency
The role of sales operations is growing increasingly important to sales organizations. In 2020, 54% of sales leaders said sales operations was key to defining strategy — a number that's since jumped to 65%.
While sales ops has traditionally been seen as a behind-the-scenes player, times are changing. Their focus has always been on sales tools and processes, but these are now center stage in the drive toward efficiency and cost savings. For businesses prioritizing these efforts, sales ops is important to include in strategic conversations.
More than eight in 10 sales professionals say sales operations plays a critical role in growing the business — with professionals in high-performing organizations even more likely to say so.
Sales Ops Increasingly Influences Sales Strategy
Sales Professionals Who Say the Following:
Sales Leaders Who Say Sales Ops Is a Key Player in Defining Sales Strategy
03
Sales Operations Boosts Efficiency
With their expertise in process and efficiency, sales ops professionals spend considerable time helping reps focus on what they were hired to do: sell.
As it now stands, reps spend only 28% of their week actually selling. The rest is made up of critical, but tedious tasks like deal management and data entry.
The challenge? Removing unnecessary nonselling tasks from reps' to-do lists so they can spend more time connecting with customers and closing deals.
How Sales Reps Spend Their Time During an Average Week
9.2% Prioritizing leads/opportunities
9.3% Researching prospects
9.0% Preparation and planning
8.8% Administrative tasks
8.8% Manually entering customer and sales information
% 72 Non-selling
10.4% Meeting in person with customers
9.4% Connecting virtually with customers
8.8% Internal meetings and trainings
8.7% Prospecting
8.3% Downtime
SPOTLIGHT CRM Utilization
With CRMs now commonly including automation and intelligence features that cut down on non-selling tasks, a question arises: Why are reps still spending more than 70% of their time on manual to-dos?
The case may be that there's room for better CRM utilization. Only 37% of sales professionals strongly agree that their organization fully utilizes their CRM. Inside sales reps in particular have noticed an opportunity for improvement.
Where to start? Reps nod to the features that sellers would find most useful; not surprisingly, automation and intelligence functions top the list.
Most Useful CRM Features: Automation and Intelligence Insights
Sales Professionals Who Feel Their Organization Takes Full Advantage of Its CRM
Most Useful CRM Features for Sales Reps
Process/workflow automation
Data entry automation
Intelligent customer insights
Integration with internal systems
Ability to replace other sales tools
SALESFORCE RESEARCH
Sales Operations Boosts Efficiency
Sales teams are drowning in tools: analytics platforms, account management and forecasting tools, lead management tools — the list goes on. Many of these are vital to the sales process. But they can be expensive, and the sheer number of resources can create click overload. No wonder two-thirds of reps say they’re overwhelmed by all the sales apps.
In response, sales organizations are planning to streamline their tech stack. This could enable reps to focus more on the human side of selling, and less time switching from tool to tool.
94% of sales organizations plan to consolidate their tech stack in the next 12 months.*
To promote efficient selling, sales ops can prioritize their consolidation around features most popular with sales organizations: reporting, CRM functionality, and account/ contact management, among others.
Reps Are Overwhelmed by Too Many Tools
Sales teams use an average of 10 tools to close deals.
Top 5 Tools Used by Sales Organizations
1 Sales reporting/analytics
Customer relationship management (CRM) system
Account and contact management
Mobile sales app(s) for employees
Sales forecasting tools
SALESFORCE RESEARCH
SPOTLIGHT AI at a Tipping Point
A focus on efficiency and cost savings may bring greater urgency to the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI).
Only one-third of sales organizations currently use artificial intelligence (AI). In the next two years, an additional 20% of organizations plan to do so.*
Top performers are the most likely to have already embraced AI. The reported benefits are wide-ranging, touching on everything from improved lead prioritization to more accurate forecasting. Eight in 10 leaders and sales ops professionals with AI say it has improved use of reps' time at least moderately.
- Base: Sales ops and sales leadership.
High performers are 1.9x more likely to use AI than underperformers.
High-Performing Teams Boost Efficiency with AI
Extent of AI’s Improvement on the Following:
Base: Sales ops and sales leadership at companies using AI.
SALESFORCE RESEARCH
The Seller Experience Gets a Second Look
Retention is still a concern for sales organizations. As of September 2022, nearly one in four reps was either looking or planning to look for a new job within 12 months. In total, nearly half of reps were at least open to leaving if something better came along.
For now, companies are retaining talent by focusing on how to make sales professionals feel they are set up for success, even when resources are tight.
Sales organizations reported 25% average turnover over the last 12 months.
Employee Retention Remains a Sticking Point
Sales Professionals' Plans Regarding Seeking New Employment
needed headcount Sales Leaders Who Say the Following Is Challenging:
- Chief Economist Outlook, World Economic Forum, September 2022
SALESFORCE RESEARCH
04
The Seller Experience Gets a Second Look
Some issues are easier to fix than others – like unrealistic sales targets. Those can be adjusted. Other shortcomings are more complex. Companies say they are working on it, improving training programs and benefits.
In general, companies that prioritize the employee experience see a big gain in customer satisfaction, which leads to customer retention. B2B companies see a lift of 1.8x in customer KPIs when they focus on improving the employee experience.*
- The Experience Advantage, Salesforce, 2022.
Top 5 Reasons Sales Professionals Want to Leave Their Job
| Sales Leaders | Sales Reps | Sales Ops | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lack of advancement opportunities | Unrealistic sales targets | Lack of advancement opportunities |
| 2 | Too much admin work | Uncompetitive pay/benefits | Inadequate technology/tools |
| 3 | Unrealistic sales targets | Want to leave sales entirely | Unrealistic sales targets |
| 4 | Uncompetitive pay/benefits | Uncompetitive product | Uncompetitive product |
| 5 | Not enough flexibility/autonomy | Bad company culture | Uncompetitive pay/benefits |
Too much admin work
Top 5 Retention Strategies from Sales Leaders
Uncompetitive pay/benefits
3 Improving sales training and enablement
Providing team-building opportunities
Streamlining sales processes
SALESFORCE RESEARCH
The Seller Experience Gets a Second Look
Reps and leaders differ on this. Generational differences are noteworthy – baby boomers prefer training materials, while Gen Xers and millennials prefer sales strategy reviews. Gen Zers value performance reviews most highly.
Sales professionals largely agree they get valuable coaching from their manager, but only 26% say it occurs weekly. So, when managers do sit down for a coaching session, they may have a long list of issues that are difficult to address in a single session.
Only 53% of sales leaders use coaching solutions.
Technology solutions can supplement oneon-one coaching and training, but only 53% of sales leaders say they use these tools. This may be an area sales orgs will want to review in trying to do more with less.
Coaching Is Valuable, but Supporting Technology Lags
Sales Professionals Who Agree They Get Valuable Coaching From Their Manager
Training materials/ resources
Performance reviews
Baby boomers
Sales Professionals Who Receive 1:1 Coaching At Least Weekly
Look Ahead
With challenges mounting and economic conditions shifting, it’s little wonder why most sales professionals do not expect to hit quota this year.
That’s not the end of the story, however. Sales organizations continue to uplevel their training and enablement in support of their teams.
Sales professionals acknowledge that effort, appearing largely confident in their organizations’ ability to retrain sellers for this new reality — and more confident than during the peak of the pandemic in 2020.
While sellers can't predict the future, they certainly can be prepared for whatever comes their way.
75% of sales professionals are confident in their sales organizations' ability to reskill reps — up from 63% in 2020.
Hitting Quota Remains a Challenge
Sales Professionals Who Expect Team to Make the Following Percentage of Annual Quota
Growth Factors by Industry
Sales organizations report the following as key to driving growth over the next 12 months:
Automotive
1
Improve training on tools/technology
2
Improve cross-functional alignment
Improve data accuracy/quantity
Consumer goods
Adapt to virtual/hybrid selling
Improve cross-functional alignment
2
Improve training on tools/technology
2
Financial services
Streamline processes
Improve cross-functional alignment
Modernize tools/technology
Healthcare
Streamline processes
2
Adapt to virtual/hybrid selling
Engage beyond initial sale
Manufacturing
Improve training on tools/technology
Target new markets
Modernize tools/technology
Adapt to virtual/hybrid selling
2
Modernize tools/technology
More productivity and efficiency resources
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SALESFORCE RESEARCH STATE OF SALES TH EDITION, 5 24
Survey Demographics
Survey Demographics
Country
Argentina.....1% Australia.....4% Belgium.....1% Brazil.....4% Canada.....4% Chile.....1% Colombia.....1% France.....4% Germany.....4% Hong Kong.....1% India.....4% Indonesia.....4% Ireland.....1% Israel.....1% Italy.....4% Japan.....4% Malaysia.....4% Mexico.....4% Netherlands.....2% New Zealand.....1% Nordics (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden).....3% Philippines.....4% Poland.....3% Portugal.....1% Singapore.....2% South Africa.....3%
Industry
South Korea .....4% Spain.....3% Switzerland.....1% Taiwan.....2% Thailand.....4% United Arab Emirates.....1% United Kingdom .....4% United States .....10% Vietnam.....4%
Company Size
Small (21-100 employees) ..... 30% Medium (101-3,500 employees) ..... 50% Enterprise (3,501+ employees) ..... 20%
Role within Sales
Sales operations ..... 27% Sales support ..... 17% Sales representative ..... 23% Sales manager or director ..... 26% Sales leadership / head of sales ..... 6%
Agriculture.....2% Architecture, engineering, and construction.....3% Automotive .....7% Communications.....4% Consumer goods.....13% Energy and utilities.....6% Financial services.....11% Healthcare.....3% Life sciences and biotechnology.....3% Manufacturing.....9% Media and entertainment.....4% Professional and business services.....4% Retail.....13% Supply chain and logistics.....6% Technology.....7% Travel and hospitality.....5% Other .....0%
Baby boomers ..... 8% Gen Xers ..... 46% Millennials ..... 45% Gen Zers ..... 1%
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