The Essential Components for Sustaining Overachieving Sales Performance

This survey provides innovative strategies that drive success in a sales environment. We discovered five critical elements that can lead to a higher sales performance, and affect every aspect of a business. There are key differences among a sales team and organization that are important to understand. Our findings help answer why only 20% of sales professionals are able to perform at or above quota, while the majority struggle with driving sales success.

Critical Element for Sales Leaders #1: Start Off on the Right Foot

Our findings showed that overachieving sales professionals were 1.5x more likely than underachieving sales professionals to have a manager skilled in sales training. Sales leaders who are able to create a positive experience for a newly hired salesperson displayed strengths in three specific activities: recruiting team members, onboarding new members of the sales team, and coaching their sales team one-on-one. Developing these skills in sales management is effective in creating a sales team that feels motivated to generate a higher income.

Critical Element for Sales Leaders #2: Create a Formal Sales Process

Data from our survey reinforces the need for successful sales teams to have and follow a clear sales process. Higher-performing sales teams were 1.4x more likely to have a formal sales process that utilized performance metrics. These teams were also 2.8x more likely than the lower performing sales teams to consistently follow that sales process.

Fill out the form to download a full copy of the report or review our other resources here.

About Sandler’s Research Center