Sales forecasting routinely tops lists of our sales leadership's most troublesome challenges. In fact, our research shows that just 41% of firms consider their forecasting efforts effective. And forecasting consumes substantial amounts of sales organization time and attention, sapping productivity even while yielding sub par outcomes. This webinar addresses the...Read more
Sales organizations can sometimes undermine their greatest asset - the available time salespeople have to sell. Taken as a whole, this time should be considered the firm's "sales capacity." Unwittingly, many firms diminish sales capacity by loading salespeople with administrative activities, or by not differentiating high return selling activities from...Read more
This research gathers feedback from current clients of sales performance management (SPM) systems. The survey identifies key issues related to these solutions’ offerings, capabilities, and effectiveness, based on input from their practitioner users. Building on previous versions of SMA’s SPM research, this study updates vendor ratings, user satisfaction ratings, and...Read more
Webcast
Change Leadership: How Sales Managers Develop This Essential Competency
8 June 2023
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Even before COVID, most sales forces operated against a backdrop of quickening change. The pace and magnitude of change confronting sales leaders is hardly easing well into our post pandemic recovery. Economic uncertainty, a shifting labor pool, and accelerating technological disruption have created a state of semi-permanent “transformation” for sales...Read more
Webcast
Mid-Year Planning Approaches for Sales Forces In Transition
23 May 2023
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Planning plays a crucial role when sales forces implement change, but few sales organizations plan effectively. This makes many slow to respond to market shifts, and poor at implementing transformational initiatives. Organizations effective in sales planning, on the other hand, are faster to market and more nimble. They reorganize and...Read more
Webcast
Improving Sales Pipeline Efficiency While Avoiding Salesperson Burnout
18 May 2023
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Recent SMA research details the impressive productivity advantages enjoyed by sales forces with effective organization cultures. But many managers overlook the importance of aligning sales processes and culture. Poorly designed and supported processes can unwittingly undermine salesperson motivation and engagement, and contribute to salesperson burnout, disaffection, and churn. This web...Read more
Webcast
Translating Sales Objectives into Territory-Level Priorities
6 April 2023
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Each year, salespeople receive performance objectives that quantity "how much" they're expected to sell. What's often missing is guidance on "how" they'll make their number. Choosing how, where, and with whom to focus selling effort are decisions that define a salesperson's or sales team's success, but rarely are well supported with data, decision tools,...Read more
Webcast
Updating Sales Manager Skills in the Age of Analytics
7 March 2023
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Analytics inform a growing number of management decisions, but not all managers are well equipped to lead in the age of analytics. It's a competency gap acutely felt in the sales organization, a firm function typically slower than others in adopting analytics-based management. However, this is changing quickly in high-performing...Read more