35 Surprising Sales Productivity Statistics in 2024
HubSpot reported that sales agents spent a substantial amount of their time tending to administrative work while using 40% or less for prospecting.
Isn’t this a clear indication that tons of potential value creations are being lost daily because of broken sales productivity? Pity!
Apparently, the sales world is evolving day in and day out, and it’s evident that the sales realm has grown exponentially compared to what it was ten years ago.
Thanks to the internet and tech advances, these changes are happening so fast, like the speed of light.
Without any doubt, having an effective and productive sales force is very vital to the growth of any company, be it large or small.
So this brings us to the question, how can salespeople spend more of their time doing high-value activities than admin work?
Such is a million-dollar question that begged for the ultimate answer. And, of course, these sales productivity statistics will do justice to that.
To expose you to better insight and the latest trends in the world of sales, we’ll be unravelling the top sales productivity statistics you can rely on in making sales decisions in 2022.
Sales Productivity Statistics
If you demand peak productivity in sales, then most of your time needs to be spent selling, prospecting and doing high-value activities.
To achieve this, you need to have all the relevant info, lead generation, and statistics in one place.
Only that way, you can find top-notch leads and close productive deals without chasing data.
That being said, below are the trending and latest sales productivity statistics you can rely on in the industry:
1. Salespeople use only one-third (⅓) of their day talking to prospects.
Isn’t the salespeople’s job to reach out and talk to prospects about the company’s products and services?
Well, it might interest you that salespeople actually use one-third of their day talking to prospective customers.
21% of their (salespeople) day is usually spent writing emails, 17% entering data, 17% researching leads and prospecting, 12% attending internal meetings, and the remaining 12% for scheduling calls.
2. 82% of buyers derive pleasure in proactively meeting with sellers.
In research conducted by RAIN Group, it was discovered that 82% of buyers enjoy having a physical meeting with their sellers.
Most respondents say they’ll gladly accept meetings with prospects sellers who proactively reach out to them in the survey.
3. In 2021, sales technology was a goal.
The Vantage Point Performance website surveyed the use and utilization of the sales technology.
The research survey discovered that most companies that failed to leverage sales technologies witnessed a 12% decrease in their overall sales goal success rate.
4. The biggest challenge for most sales managers is time and inadequate resources.
For any profit-oriented business establishment to have efficient sales productivity, its sales manager must be up and doing.
According to the Data Dwell website, it was revealed that 65% (more than half) of sales managers say the most significant challenge they face as sales expert is a lack of time and inadequate resources.
5. Listening to the buyer’s needs is the best way to create an efficient sales experience.
HubSpot surveyed the top ways a salesperson can create a compelling sales experience, and the following is the result gotten from the respondents:
First, 69% of the respondents say the best way a salesperson can create a compelling sales experience is to listen to their customer’s needs.
61% say the best way is for the salesperson not to be pushy, 61% also say by providing relevant information, and 51% responded that it’s by replying to the customer promptly.
6. Behind every successful sales opportunity, there’s a reasonable budget and adequate financing.
The famous sales strategist, Marc Wayshak, revealed on his website that poor budgeting is the most typical reason why more robust sales opportunities didn’t go through.
That is to say, for a company to realize successful sales productivity, there must be enough adequate budget put in place to run the sales campaign effectively.
7. It takes new sales hires ten weeks to propagate fully into a salesperson
It’s gathered from the Vantage Point Performance website that, on average, newly recruited salespersons spent two months and a half in training.
That is to say, new sales hires are being trained and developed for the big picture for ten weeks, and they become productive 11.2 months later.
8. Most high-performing sales team embraces sales technology tools.
HubSpot revealed that the high-performing sales teams utilize the sales technology tools 3x more than the underperforming teams.
9. 71% of C-suiters say sales productivity is vital to achieving business growth.
It’s a no-brainer that sales productivity is like a propelling force driving any organization to establish a profitable business.
Premise on this, Forbes Insight revealed that 71% of C-level business executives believe sales productivity is essential to achieving business growth.
10. New sales hires can become productive sooner than expected with sales onboarding programs.
It was discovered that new sales hires can become productive with the help of the best sales onboarding programs 3.4 months sooner than expected.
On average, this time to productivity is 37% faster compared to firms using low-performing sales programs. (SMA)
11. Sales technology programs are the fuel to any practical sales training.
According to SMA, business organizations that effectively use sales technology were 57% more efficient at sales development and training than ineffective technology users.
12. 79% of sales managers say hitting the new target is possible with improvement in existing sales rep productivity.
Salesforce published that 79% of sales managers say the best way to hit new targets is by improving the existing sales representatives’ productivity.
13. 42.5% of sales representatives spent ten months before adding value to the company goals.
In 2021, Accenture surveyed the number of months it takes for a sales rep to propagate and become productive fully.
As such, 42.5% of the respondents (sales reps) say it takes 11 months or thereabouts to become fully productive and ready to contribute to the company’s goals.
14. 56% of salespeople rely on their colleagues for improvement tips.
In one of the HubSpot sales statistics blog posts, it’s said that 56% (more than half) of the salespeople rely on their mate’s improvement tips.
44% relied on their manager, 35% looked forward to the team training resources, and 24% relied on the mass media.
15. 41.2% of salespeople say the most efficient sales tool is a phone.
Marc Wayshak, an expert and sales strategist, found out in a survey he conducted that 41.2% of salespeople responded that the phone remains the most effective and efficient sales tool.
16. Even in 2022, salespeople are still faced with many challenges
HubSpot revealed that the most significant challenges salespeople face today are tripods, and none of them has anything with the company.
42% of the salespeople say establishing urgency with the target audience is the biggest and the toughest.
37% say getting in touch with the prospects and target audiences when due is the second most difficult challenge.
While 35% say overcoming price objections by prospective customers is the third biggest challenge they’re facing in the industry.
17. On average, a sales representative makes 52 calls a day.
Without prejudice, the primary duty of a salesman is to talk to prospective customers about the company’s products or services.
However, it’s quite weird that salespeople use only 12% of their day making calls.
OpenView revealed on its blog that an average sales development representative makes calls only 52 times a day.
18. It takes the salesman 18 calls (on average) to connect with a buying customer.
More importantly, HubSpot also reported that it takes a salesperson an average of 18 phone calls to connect with one buyer.
This is a research claim that is backed up by TOPO headquarters. TOPO also said it takes sellers 18 dials to finally connect with a decision-maker in an hour.
19. In 2022, AI is still augmenting sales processes.
In 2019, Gartner’s blog published that 30% of B2B companies will adopt AI to augment some of their significant sales processes.
We are now in 2022, and companies that failed to utilize the sales technology programs in 2021 witnessed a 12% decrease in their sales goal success rate.
Nonetheless, in as much as we sing praises of automation, remember that it is not a magic wand; it’s programmed.
AI can help you reduce stress and save time, but that doesn’t mean you should entrust every part of your sales process to automation.
Without your involvement, mistakes and errors can occur, and you may not know anything until it costs you and is too late to rectify.
20. 72% of salespeople use social selling as their sales strategy.
For a remarkable sales experience and productivity, there’s a need for every sales assistant to leverage social media platforms.
65% of salespeople who use social selling filled their pipeline, while 47% of sales representatives who don’t use social selling did not.
As a matter of fact, A Sales Guy Consulting website revealed that 72% (more than half) of salespeople who utilizes social selling as a key aspect of their sales model transcended their quota.
That is 23% more than their colleagues who failed to use social selling in their sales strategy.
21. Throughout 2021, no sales agent reached out to more than 250 prospects.
That famous sales strategist, Marc Wayshak, says 67% of the salespeople responded in his survey that they reached out to 250 (or thereabouts) prospective customers within a year.
22. More than half of established business enterprises refocused their sales model in 2018.
Sales Management website published in one of its blog posts that 75% of the established business ventures refocused their sales model in 2018.
In the same survey conducted by Sales Management, it was revealed that 54% of companies don’t refocus but rather implement new sales strategies.
23. 60% of sales agents meet their quota in 2021
Page Velocify says 60% of sales agents met their quota last year. However, the SPOTIO blog mentioned that only 24.3% of sales agents surpassed their quota in 2021.
It is not very common for salespeople to exceed their quota when they spend substantial time doing another task different from prospecting.
In fact, HubSpot revealed that only 39% of reps spent most of their time interacting or selling to prospects and customers.
24. 81% of Companies say peak productivity could be attained with competency training.
All that most sales teams aspire for is peak productivity. However, achieving and maintaining such workflow and efficiency is easier said than done.
The Spring CM website wrote that 81% of companies believe that peak productivity could be reached with better skills, processes, or competency training.
Improving and formalizing your sales productivity strategy will empower your sales team to meet and even exceed their quota.
25. 84% of sales managers say content utilization is a significant sales improvement area.
It is a brainer that to optimize a company’s sales productivity, the sales executive must first benchmark their current performance.
Doing that will help you better understand the company’s strengths and uncover the critical areas for improvement.
In line with the above, findings show that 84% of sales managers and executives say content search, maintenance, and utilization is the top productivity area that requires improvement.
But sadly, only 35% of salespeople keep track of their content and measure its effectiveness.
26. 49% of businesses don’t have or use any productivity measuring tool.
Using productivity measuring tools or any enablement platform data will help uncover hidden challenges.
Hence, further optimize your salespeople’s day-to-day experience.
According to SalesForce, a typical organization leverages 24K per rep to improve their sales productivity, yet 49% of businesses have limited or no means of measuring productivity.
27. Half of sales reps’ time is used on unproductive prospecting
Are you surprised that your sales reps are working tirelessly and at peak efficiency but are not meeting their quota yet?
Well, that’s because 50% of their sales time is used and wasted on unproductive pitching and prospecting.
To change this narrative, you should evaluate the message you provide and see if it’s compelling enough.
In most cases, selling nowadays requires that you posit your products or services based on why you are selling or offering them and not what you are actually offering or selling.
28. 84% of training given to new sales hire are forgotten within the first 90 days
It’s no doubt that effective sales coaching and training can improve sales rate by 29%. However, 84% of the new sales hire training is forgotten quickly.
So if your sales agents don’t show any sign of learning and growing during the coaching stage, you should let go of them.
Or else, you are at risk of losing over 60% of your organization’s entire workforce within three to four years.
29. Marketing and sales misalignment costs companies $1 trillion yearly
Findings show that marketing and sales alignment help Companies become 67% strong and better in closing business deals.
It’s a pity, however, that 76% of content marketers will neglect sales enablement during their marketing campaign in 2021.
Premise on the above, marketing and sales misalignment costs business enterprises $1 trillion every year.
This figure results from wasted marketing efforts and a decrease in sales productivity.
30. 55% of C-suiters see value in sales enablement software.
Accordingly, 55% of C-suiters confirmed that sales enablement software is the top tech investment ideal for boosting sales productivity (HubSpot).
31. Sales enablement team is still essential in 2022
Business organizations with sales enablement departments are more likely to have their sales process (52%) genuinely aligned with their buyer’s journey.
In that case, it was revealed in a survey that 74% of potential buyers would only go with the first company that adds value.
32. B2B sellers don’t invest in sales material.
According to SalesForce, 90% of B2B marketers don’t invest in sales material. To them, it is outdated, irrelevant, and tough to customize.
33. There are over 4 million accidental salespeople in the United States.
HubSpot revealed that 46% of sales representatives didn’t intend to become sales agents.
That is to say; there are more than 4 million accidental sales professionals in the United States. Weird, but the truth.
34. 17% of sales reps didn’t attend college.
Again, HubSpot revealed that 25% of sales professionals (the most prominent chunk) have a degree in Business or any related field.
While 17% (the most significant slice) didn’t attend college. They never intended to go into Sales in the first place. They’re there accidentally.
35. 58% of potential customers want to know the product’s price on the first dial.
Not all prospects want to hear the product’s value on the first call. For instance, HubSpot reported that 58% of prospects want to know the product’s price.
While 54% of prospective buyers actually want the products demo on the first call (Hubspot).
15% want to learn more about the purchasing authority, and a quarter or less want to inquire about their timeline and budget.
Conclusions
We’ve come to the end of the sales productivity statistics, and if you read through this place, trust me you don’t have to worry about anything in the sales industry.
Having said that, you must note that the sales productivity statistics highlighted above are just numbers. You don’t have to follow them blindly.
They are nothing but statistics that differentiate sales myths from reality and mere trends that could be followed (optional) to enhance sales decisions.
Lastly, pay attention to your target audience and create a great approach to your prospects. They are the present and the future.
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