CSO Insights Study Shows Major Drops in Sales Performance in 2009



Boulder, Co, February 2, 2010 - CSO Insights today released the results of their 16th annual Sales Performance Optimization (SPO) study, during which they surveyed over 2,800 companies worldwide to assess their current level of sales performance, the challenges facing sales teams today, and how companies are effectively dealing with those issues.

"Going into 2009 we all thought it would be a tough year for sales," noted Jim Dickie, Managing Partner for CSO Insights. "Now we know how tough it was. The percentage of reps making quota in 2009 dropped to 51.8% from 58.8% a year earlier. As a result, overall revenue plan attainment dropped to 77.9% from 85.9% during the same time period."

The 2010 SPO study surveyed sales organizations across 100+ metrics and found that many companies cut back on their investments in their sales teams, at a time when sales reps needed help the most. Lead generation budgets were frozen or reduced by 67% of the firms surveyed, training investments per rep decreased by 13%, net new investments in CRM technologies were curtailed, etc.

"At the end of 2008 86% of the firms we surveyed reported that they were increasing quotas for 2009. Many of these firms then tried to 'cut their way to success' by reducing budgets. The results show that strategy was a huge mistake," said Barry Trailer, Managing Partner for CSO Insights. "Again in 2010 85% of the firms we just surveyed have raised their sales rep revenue targets. We can all hope that an improved economy will be the tide that raises sales performance this year, but it would be foolhardy to count on that. Higher quotas need to be accompanied by increased investments in sales in 2010 or we may be looking at even worse sales performance numbers next year."

This year CSO Insights is presenting their study findings in a new format. Instead of a single 225+ page report, twelve Topical Reports are available individually this year on specific topics such as sales process, CRM, sales management, etc. For those that prefer having a single reference guide, a 233 page compendium of the 2010 Sales Performance Optimization Study findings will still be available. You'll find order information for either Topical Reports or the compendium at http://www.csoinsights.com/Publications.


About CSO Insights

CSO Insights is a research firm that specializes in benchmarking how companies are leveraging people, process, technology, and knowledge to optimize the way they market and sell to customers. Over the past 15 years, CSO Insights' sales effectiveness survey of over 10,000 sales effectiveness initiatives has become the benchmark for tracking the evolution of how the role of sales is changing, the challenges that are impacting sales performance, and most importantly, what companies are doing to address these issues.

For more information on this research go to: www.csoinsights.com.
Contact Laura Andrus for more information:
Laura.Andrus@csoinsights.com or 716-745-1056.

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