Resources

Our benchmarking survey of 205 firms* shows that coaching is considered sales management's single most impactful activity. Yet more than three-fourths (76%) of firms say they provide too little salesperson coaching, and less than half (46%) are effective with their sales coaching efforts. One in a series on sales coaching...Read more

Our research shows that coaching is rarely emphasized in sales organizations, and most aren't very good at it. But it’s often considered important – by salespeople, organizations, and managers themselves – who overwhelmingly say coaching matters to the sales force’s success.* They're not wrong. Our research also shows that sales...Read more

The Sales Management Association has added new job descriptions to its sales force job descriptions library. Each job description includes detailed job responsibilities, accountabilities and performance measures,organizational alignment, and suggested qualifications. Our members find these job descriptions useful as a starting point when customizing their own sales organization's job descriptions....Read more

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

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

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