state-of-sales-report-salesforce

State of Sales
2015
Technology and performance insights
from over 2,300 global sales leaders
research

State of Sales
2015
Technology and performance insights
from over 2,300 global sales leaders
research
22015 State of Sales
Salesforce Research surveyed more than 2,300
global sales leaders to discover:
• The unifying goals, stumbling blocks, and
success metrics for today’s sales teams
• How high-performing sales teams are evolving
to stay ahead of the curve
• Areas where sales is doubling down to
supercharge business in the next 12–18
months
This report highlights sales trends in 2015, including
the central role of sales teams in an integrated
customer success platform. Throughout the report,
data is examined relative to sales performance to
identify patterns for overall customer success.
Salesforce Research, part of Salesforce,
provides data-driven insights to help
businesses transform how they drive
customer success.
About This Report
In this report, we define high-performing sales
teams as those that most consistently keep up with
prospects’ and customers’ changing expectations.
Additionally, high-performing teams are far more
likely to rate their sales capabilities as outstanding or
very good and are increasing the size of their sales
force in the next 12–18 months.
Conducted in early 2015, this survey resulted in
responses from 2,372 full-time global sales leaders
from the U.S., Canada, Brazil, U.K., France, Germany,
Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Due to rounding,
not all percentage totals in this report equal 100%.
Respondents included customers and contacts who
had opted in as well as third-party panelists.

Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Introduction: Defining Success for Today’s Sales Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Analytics Use Soars Among Top Teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
High Performers Sell More with Mobile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Teams That Sell Together, Win Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
High Performers Are High Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Last Look: What Makes a Winning Sales Team in 2015? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Table of Contents

4
Welcome to the age of buyer
sophistication, where behaviors
and expectations are fueled by the
constant information streams at
customers’ fingertips. What does this
new normal mean for today’s sales
teams? And which practices separate
thriving sales leaders from those
merely treading water? Our research
revealed four clear trends:
Analytics use soars among top teams.
(see page 7)
High performers sell more with mobile.
(see page 10)
01
02
Where there’s analytics use, there’s likely a winning sales organization.
High-performing sales teams are 3.5x more likely than underperforming
teams to use sales analytics. Across teams at all levels, we’ll see a 58%
increase in sales analytics use from 2015 to 2016. Smart selling, fueled
by technologies like predictive analytics, starts piquing sales teams’
interest and is expected to jump 77% among high performers in the
next 12–18 months.
Today’s top sales organizations are significantly more likely to use mobile
sales apps, helping them close business from anywhere. In fact, nearly
60% of high-performing sales teams already use or are planning to use
a mobile sales app (2x more than underperformers). Among all sales
leaders surveyed, mobile sales app use will more than double in the next
two years (125% growth).
Four key takeaways
Executive Summary 2015 State of Sales

Four key takeaways
Executive Summary
Teams that sell together, win together.
(see page 13)
High performers are high tech.
(see page 15)
03
04
Achieving sales excellence takes a village. High performers are nearly 3x
more likely than underperformers to view sales as 100% the responsibility
of the entire organization. Winning teams are also connecting with
customers in more ways than ever before, and are 4.7x more likely than
underperformers to be outstanding or very good at omnichannel sales
interactions.
When it comes to managing customer relationships, high-performing sales
teams use technology to accelerate sales processes and free up time to
sell, using nearly 3x more functionality than underperforming teams. Top
performers are nearly 8x more likely than underperformers to be heavy
tech adopters, showing winning teams’ proclivity to optimize every part of
the process.

Customer connections take priority. This suggests sales leaders view growing a base
of loyal, connected customers — rather than “one and done” deals — as instrumental to
sustained success.
Top 3 Sales Objectives
Introduction: Defining Success for Today’s Sales Leaders
Growth matters most. Increasing revenue, powered by an expanding customer base,
outranks margin optimization as a measure of success.
Top 3 Sales Success Metrics
Acquire new customers
The “2015 State of Sales” survey asked more than 2,300 global sales leaders about their priorities,
challenges, metrics, and strategies for the year. Here’s a quick look at the current state of sales.
Amount of new revenue
Grow the value of existing customers
Number of new customers
Create deeper customer relationships
Amount of recurring revenue
80%
57%
46%
35%
55%
56%
Top 3 Sales Challenges
Sophisticated customers pervade the
market. Sales teams have long felt the pinch
of heightened competition and price wars,
but the rapid rise of customer sophistication
brings new complications as teams strive to
stay connected in real time.
See increased market competition
Find customers seeking the
lowest price possible
See customers’ needs have
grown more sophisticated
58%
55%
47%
See Appendix A for a deeper dive into topline data.

Where there’s analytics in use, there’s
likely a winning sales organization. High-
performing sales teams are 3.5x more
likely than underperforming teams to
use sales analytics. Top teams are also
4.6x more likely than underperformers to
rate their basic sales analytics capabilities as
outstanding or very good. For these leading
teams, analytics likely provide visibility into
accounts and help dictate where to focus
energy for the most productive customer
and prospect conversations.
Meanwhile, the gap between the sales analytics “haves” and “have-nots” will
shrink as underperformers increase their use by more than 180% over the next
12–18 months.
Analytics Use Soars
Among Top Teams
01
High-Performing Sales Teams Are 3.5x More Likely
to Use Sales Analytics than Underperforming Teams
High Performers
Moderate Performers
Underperformers
57%
47%
16%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
50%
High Performers vs.
Underperformers
3.5x
More likely to
use analytics
See Appendix B for a deeper dive into analytics data.

Analytics Use Soars
Among Top Teams
01
Data analysis helps sales teams
make more informed decisions and
find improvement opportunities.
The best sales teams not only
collect customer data, they also
analyze and act upon that data to
make more informed, behavior-
based decisions that fuel customer
success. Here we see the percent of
leaders rating their sales analytics
capabilities as outstanding or
very good.
Gather insights across
the entire customer lifecycle
Customize dashboards
using defined KPIs and
share insights across the
organization
Basic sales
analytics
Analytics Becomes a
Dominant Sales Tool
High Performers
Moderate Performers
Underperformers
Sales predictive analytics Collect, analyze, and act on prospect/
customer feedback via multichannel
surveys and social listening platforms
High Performers vs.
Underperformers
8x More likely to rate capabilities
as outstanding or very good
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%

While high performers have already
cracked the code on analytics, the
surge among sales teams at all levels is
spiking and expected to continue.
Among all sales organizations
surveyed, there’s a 58% increase
in planned sales analytics use from
2015 to 2016. With this rise in new
technologies making it easier for reps
to derive real-time insights, we expect
sales organizations to widely increase
and improve their sales analytics
capabilities.
Current use of technologies like
predictive analytics is comparatively
low, but sales leaders across the board
value adding it as a sales function;
more than twice as many are piloting
or planning to use in the next 12–18
months (135% growth).
Analytics Use Soars
Among Top Teams
01
Huge Growth Expected in Analytics Use
Currently using
Piloting/plan to use in
next 12–18 months
47%
27%
74%
Sales analytics use in next
12–18 months
Seventy-four percent of sales leaders are using or piloting/planning to use sales analytics in
the next 12–18 months.
Predictive Analytics Use
19% 26%
Currently using Piloting/plan to use in next 12–18 months

The universe of smartphones, tablets,
and apps in the consumer world has
created equal demand for always-
connected mobile access in the business
world. Today’s top sales organizations are
significantly more likely* to use mobile
sales apps for everything from lead
management to sales forecasting, letting
them close business from anywhere.
In fact, nearly 60% of high-performing
sales teams already use or are planning to
use a mobile sales app. High performers
are 2x as likely as underperformers
to use or have plans to use a mobile
sales app.
High Performers Sell More
with Mobile
02
High-performing sales teams are significantly more likely* to already use a mobile sales app,
enabling them to move deals along while on the go.
Mobile Sales Apps Help Reps Keep Pace with Customers
Among all sales leaders
surveyed, use of mobile apps
for salespeople will more
than double in the next two
years (125% growth).
Already providing a mobile
sales app
Plan to have a mobile sales app
within two years
35%
9% 19%
20% 29%
25%
High Performers
Moderate Performers
Underperformers
* Denotes statistical significance at the
95% confidence level
See Appendix C for a deeper dive into mobile data.

with Mobile
02
Top performers are nearly 5x more
likely to have outstanding or
very good capabilities in mobile
sales, wielding smartphones to
dominate sales. Here we see the
percent of leaders ranking their
mobile sales capabilities
as outstanding or very good.
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
High Performers
Moderate Performers
Underperformers
46%
21%
9%
High Performers vs.
Underperformers
4.9x
More likely to be
mobile masters
The Best Sales Teams
Are Mobile Masters

In addition to growth in mobile sales apps,
we see an uptick in plans to provide sales
directly to customers via mobile apps. More
than half of high-performing companies
currently deliver or plan to deliver sales
directly to customers and prospects via a
mobile app within the next two years. Our
“2015 State of Marketing”1
research shows
27% of marketers already have a mobile
app, with another 34% piloting or planning
to create one in the next 12 months. In the
“there’s an app for that” age, customers
and prospects expect mobile access for
purchases, making it more important than
ever for sales and marketing to provide a
unified experience, whether face-to-face
with a sales rep or on a mobile device.
Evidence of the increasingly blurry line between sales and marketing,
high-performing sales teams are significantly more likely* to already
provide sales via a mobile app to customers and prospects.
* Denotes statistical significance at the 95% confidence level
1
“2015 State of Marketing,” Salesforce Research, January 2015.
with Mobile
02
More Companies Are Accelerating Sales with Customer-Facing Apps
SPOTLIGHT
Already providing sales via a mobile app
for our prospects/customers to use today
Plan to deliver sales via a mobile app for our
prospects/customers to use within two years
28% 23%
9% 18%
17% 25%
High Performers
Moderate Performers
Underperformers

Organizations that are rising to the
top are those that have mastered a
holistic customer approach — they
know that today’s sophisticated
buyer has an equally complex
and unique relationship with
your business, extending to every
sales, marketing, and service
touchpoint. High-performing teams
understand this and they see sales
as the responsibility of the whole
company, adopting a true team-
selling approach.
High performers are nearly 3x more likely than underperformers to view sales as 100% the
responsibility of the entire organization, discerning that customer behaviors are transforming
siloed roles and creating a need for a team-selling mindset. Here we see how teams view the
responsibility of sales.
Achieving Sales Excellence Takes a Village
Teams That Sell Together,
Win Together
03
High Performers
Moderate Performers
Underperformers
43%
19%
15%
28%
30%
20%
13%
23%
20%
9%
17%
24%
4%
4%
15%
3%
7%
5%
See Appendix D for a deeper dive into
team and customer connection data. Entirely SomewhatMostly MostlySomewhat Entirely
Sales is the company’s responsibility Sales is the sales team’s responsibility

Teams That Sell Together,
Win Together
03
Partner/customer or
prospect collaboration
Omnichannel sales
interactions
Analytics and insights
Discussion forums
Single view of the
customer
Social sense and respond
Self-service to live-sales
transition
Mobile sales
E-commerce
High Performers Underperformers
10% 20% 30% 60%40% 70%50% 80%
12% 73%
14% 54%
9% 47%
14% 61%
11% 51%
9% 46%
12% 60%
12% 48%
11% 45%
6.0x
4.5x
5.0x
4.0x
4.7x
4.0x
4.9x
4.9x
4.2x
Top sales performers are also
connecting with customers in more
ways than ever before. The data
shows that winning sales teams
have top-rated capabilities across
a broad range of channels. High
performers, for example, are 4.7x
more likely than underperformers
to rate their capabilities in
omnichannel sales interactions
as outstanding or very good.
Whether gaining a single view of the
customer or managing discussion
forums, the scope of capabilities
mastered by top sales teams
continues to evolve.
High performers rate their customer-connection activities as outstanding or very good
far more than underperformers. For complete list, see Appendix D.
High-Performing Teams Are Always Finding New Ways
to Connect with Customers

High-performing teams maximize
technology to meet the demands of today’s
sophisticated customers (a challenge cited
by 47% of respondents as noted in the
Introduction). High-performing sales
teams use nearly 3x more sales tech
than underperforming teams, freeing
them from process-heavy tasks and
giving them more time to actually sell.
Top Teams Supercharge Their Processes with Tech
High Performers
Are High Tech
04
Bringing speed to previously cumbersome activities, high performers are
nearly 8x more likely than underperformers to be heavy tech adopters.*
31% 53% 16%
15% 61% 23%
4% 46% 50%
Moderate Performers
Underperformers
Heavy tech adoption Moderate tech adoption Minimal tech adoption
* Heavy and minimal tech adoption are defined as
above or below 1 standard deviation from the
average number of functionalities currently used.
See Appendix E for a deeper dive into sales tech data.
High Performers

High-Performing Sales Teams Are First to Embrace Technology
High Performers
Are High Tech
04
Top teams are significantly more likely* than underperforming teams to enhance the sales
process with tech when managing customer relationships.
* Denotes statistical significance
at the 95% confidence level
Currently usingCurrently using
Piloting/plan to use in next 12–18 monthsPiloting/plan to use in next 12–18 months
High PerformersUnderperformers
Sales analytics
Customer insights
Offer management
Sales methodologies
Competitive intelligence
Targeted sales content
Predictive analytics
Price rules engine
57% 22%
44% 20%
48% 22%
33% 25%
36% 19%
30% 16%
18% 11%
28% 15%
18% 11%
22% 8%
19% 8%
46% 23%19% 8%
43% 23%24% 11%
41% 23%

To better understand the landscape of
connected devices and their impact on the
future of sales, we turn to a recent Salesforce
Research report detailing wearable tech
in the workplace. Data on this page is
from a 2015 survey of 500 wearable tech
adopters who said they were currently using,
piloting, or planning to implement wearable
technology in the enterprise.
For more in-depth coverage of
wearable tech use, get the full report,
“Putting Wearables to Work,” at
www.salesforce.com/wearablesreport.
High Performers
Are High Tech
04
Putting Wearables
to Work for Sales
SPOTLIGHT
of sales teams say that
wearables are or will be
strategic to their company’s
future business success.
of sales teams are currently
using or planning to use
wearables in some form in
the next two years.
of sales teams using/
planning to use wearable
tech will increase spend
in the next 12 months.
76% 83% 100%
Sales teams are already focusing on use cases such as access to business
analytics and alerts, safety alarms, and providing customer-facing employees
with real-time access to customer data.
Access to business analytics and alerts
Providing customer-facing employees with real-time access to customer data
(shopper preferences, past purchases, etc.)
Safety alarms or alerts
23%
20%
23%

Last Look: What Makes a Winning Sales Team in 2015?
Break Down the Silos
High performers are significantly
more likely to rate their sales team
as a key differentiator and view
sales as the entire company’s
responsibility. The power of selling
as a team helps reps connect with
experts across the company and
keep deals moving.
Optimize with Tech
High performers meet the needs
of today’s customers by working
smarter with tech solutions.
They’re significantly more likely to
have already replaced all or most
of their sales apps with cloud-
based solutions. They supercharge
their processes so they can spend
time wisely — selling and making
customers successful.
Go Mobile
High performers are significantly
more likely to use a mobile
sales app, closing deals from
anywhere at any time. They
understand that mobility is
imperative for any team that
wants to win.
Maximize Analytics Use
High performers use tools to
view real-time business analytics
and make informed decisions in
the most efficient manner. Their
mantra is “accountability drives
productivity” and they enforce
best practices by measuring
activities and pipeline.
Find Ways to Innovate
High performers see growth
opportunities around connected
devices and wearable tech, and
they consider how cutting-edge
advancements can help reps stay
connected and informed.

Connecting with customers is the top priority. Here’s how
sales leaders at each performance level rank their top objectives.
Growth matters most. Here’s how sales leaders at each
performance level rank their top sales metrics.
Appendix A: Diving Deeper into
How Today’s Leaders Define Success
Acquire new customers
Grow the value of existing customers
Create deeper customer relationships
Increase sales revenue
Hire more sales reps
Improve margins/reduce discounting
1 1 1
2 2 2
3 3 3
4 5
5
5 46
9 9
4
Number of new customers
Amount of new revenue
Number of retained customers
Number of open opportunities
Amount of recurring revenue
Margin
Number of sales calls made
1 2 1
2 1 1
3
4 4
3
5
5
58 7
66
9 7
4
3
Customers seeking the lowest
price possible
Increased market competition
Customers’ needs have grown more
sophisticated
1
1
3
22
3 3 1
2
High Performers Moderate Performers Underperformers
Sophisticated customers pervade the market. Here’s how sales
leaders at each performance level rank their top challenges.

Top teams invest in training. Companies with high-performing sales teams are 2.6x more likely
than underperformers to invest more than $1K in annual training.
28%
18%
24%
9%
21%
11%
15%
26%
20%
28%
22%
20%
24%
22%
11%
More than $1,000
$1 – $500
Don’t know
$501 – $1,000
$0
High Performers Moderate Performers Underperformers
The importance of sales team satisfaction directly correlates with high performance. Top sales
organizations are 2x more likely than underperformers to say that the importance of their salespeople’s
satisfaction is key to successfully selling/servicing prospects and customers.
High Performers
Moderate Performers
Underperformers
46% 22% 14%19%
81% 14% 4% 1%
93% 2%1%4%
Extremely/
very important
Slightly/not at all
important
Somewhat important
Don’t know
Appendix A: Diving Deeper into
How Today’s Leaders Define Success

Top teams are better at using predictive analytics.
Here we see the breakout of sales leaders ranking their
predictive analytics capabilities as outstanding or very good.
Teams are broadly increasing analytics use. Here are the sales functionalities
most commonly used by sales leaders at each performance level.
Appendix B: Diving Deeper
into Analytics
7
26
54
8x
High PerformersModerate PerformersUnderperformers
11%
11%
16%
11%
26% 44%
32% 43%
47% 57%
24% 41%
Offer management
Customer insights
Sales analytics
4.0x
4.0x
4.0x
3.5x
3.8x
8% 17% 33%
High Performers
vs. Underperformers
Currently Using

B2C sales leaders show room for improvement. Here we see the breakout of sales leaders by business type ranking
their analytics capabilities as outstanding or very good.
into Analytics
Gather insights across the entire
customer lifecycle
43%
35%
43%
Customize dashboards using
defined KPIs and share insights
across the organization
40%
31%
34%
Basic sales analytics
48%
38%
39%
Sales predictive analytics
34%
25%
35%
Collect, analyze, and act on prospect/
customer feedback via multichannel
surveys and social listening platforms
36%
25%
38%
B2B B2C B2B2C

into Analytics
Hospitality, travel, and transportation put up big numbers. Here we see the breakout of sales leaders by industry ranking their analytics
capabilities as outstanding or very good.
Gather insights across the
entire customer lifecycle Basic sales analytics
Sales predictive
analytics
Customize dashboards using
defined KPIs and share insights
across the organization
Collect, analyze, and act on
prospect/customer feedback
via multichannel surveys and
social listening platforms
44%
52%
43%
46%
37%
38%
41%
34%
37%
48%
33%
40%
41%
35%
41%
41%
33%
31%
34%
29%
33%
25%
34%
44%
32%
41%
35%
23%
32%
46%
46%
40%
45%
35%
45%
44%
42%
48%
36%
41%
44%
29%
22%
28%
36%
33%
21%
29%
34%
23%
27%
41%
25%
29%
33%
23%
34%
28%
40%
37%
29%
31%
31%
23%
29%
37%
27%
32%
36%
19%
Agriculture and mining
Technology
Energy
Professional services
Consumer products and retail
Manufacturing
Financial services
Automotive
Hospitality, travel, and transportation
Engineering, construction, and real estate
Public sector
Education
Media and communications
Healthcare and life sciences

Appendix C: Diving Deeper
into Mobile
B2B2C takes the lead in mobile apps used by sales. Here we see the percentages of organizations providing mobile apps for
salespeople, split by business type.
Healthcare and life sciences pull ahead of the mobile app curve. Here we see the percentages of organizations providing mobile
apps for salespeople, split by industry.
B2B
Technology
Energy
B2B2C
Manufacturing
Financial services
Automotive
B2C
Public sector
Education
13%
16%
21%
20%
31%
24%
20%
20%
21%
25%
6%
24% 29% 27% 20%
21% 26% 36% 17%
20% 24% 39% 17%
20% 24% 35% 21%
25% 28% 31% 16%
24% 32% 28% 16%
35% 37% 15%
26% 37% 21%
26% 36% 17%
30% 30% 20%
28% 27% 14%
25% 36% 14%
33% 29% 17%
27% 32% 20%
31% 33% 15%
28% 27% 20%
32% 29% 32%
sales app to enable reps
within two years to enable reps
within two years to enable reps
No plans to provide a mobile
No plans to provide a mobile
Don’t know
Don’t know

Appendix C: Diving Deeper
into Mobile
B2B sales leaders lag in delivering sales via mobile apps. Here we see how each business type ranks for delivering sales directly to
customers via mobile apps.
Education and media and communications step up. Here we see how each industry ranks for delivering sales directly to customers
via mobile apps.
B2B
B2B2C
17%
8%
15%
17%
19%
23%
24%
8%
21%
20%
19%
15% 29% 37% 20%
15% 20% 46% 19%
9% 15% 48% 28%
16% 34% 30% 20%
20% 29% 34% 17%
24% 27% 31% 17%
37% 31% 15%
16% 58% 18%
24% 44% 18%
26% 30% 26%
23% 44% 14%
23% 39% 15%
27% 31% 18%
22% 46% 24%
30% 36% 13%
26% 35% 19%
19% 29% 32%
Already providing sales via a
mobile app for prospects/
customers to use today
Already providing sales via a
mobile app for prospects/
customers to use today
Plan to deliver sales via a mobile
app for prospects/customers to
use within two years
Plan to deliver sales via a mobile
app for prospects/customers to
use within two years
No plans to provide sales via
a mobile app for prospects/
customers
No plans to provide sales via
a mobile app for prospects/
customers
Don’t know
Don’t know
Technology
Energy
Manufacturing
Financial services
Automotive
Public sector
Education
B2C

Cloud solutions lend an added edge. Here we see the breakout of sales leaders ranking various capabilities as outstanding or very good, comparing
high performers using cloud solutions to those not using cloud solutions.
Appendix D: Diving Deeper into
Team and Customer Connections
Field sales channel delivery
Omnichannel sales interactions
Single view of the customer
Mobile sales
Email response management
Co-browse
Prospect- or customer-to-salesperson chat
Partner/customer or prospect collaboration
Social sense and respond
Analytics and insights
E-commerce
Phone sales channel delivery
Discussion forums
Self-service to live-sales transition
1.8x
1.9x
2.8x
1.8x
2.4x
2.7x
2.1x
Cloud vs. No CloudPercent Outstanding or Very Good
85%
61%
82%
63%
78%
64%
78%
54%
70%
52%
75%
41%
67%
51%
68%
43%
67%
24%
65%
37%
64%
34%
64%
26%
65%
24%
64%
30%
High Performers — Using cloud High Performers — Not using cloud

Connected devices show the most near-term growth potential. Here are the top three growth channels
for sales in the next 12–18 months.
Online marketplaces are a boon for B2B sales. According to B2B sales leaders, here are the top three
growth channels for sales in the next 12–18 months.
Connected devices, machines, or sensors
Online marketplaces (e.g., eBay, Amazon,
App Store, Google Play)
E-commerce
E-commerce
25%
28%
13%
15%
18%
25%

B2C leaders look to connected devices. According to B2C sales leaders, here are the top three growth channels for sales
in the next 12–18 months.
Connected devices also capture B2B2C attention. According to B2B2C sales leaders, here are the top three growth
channels for sales in the next 12–18 months.
E-commerce
E-commerce
Email
36%
26%
23%
11%
24%
12%

Sales teams using cloud solutions show greater growth numbers. Here we see the planned growth of sales teams, using
cloud vs. not using cloud, for each performance level.
High Performers
Cloud
No cloud
79%
36%
Moderate Performers
Cloud
No cloud
71%
36%
Underperformers
Cloud
No cloud
42%
14%
2.2x
2.0x
3.1x

Predictive analytics leads sales tech growth. Here’s the breakout of sales technology use and anticipated growth.
Appendix E: Diving Deeper into Sales Tech
Currently using Don’t plan to usePiloting/plan to use in next 12–18 months Don’t know
Account and contact management
Commissions, compensation, incentive management
Sales collaboration tools
Sales analytics
Territory management
E-commerce
Opportunity management
Note taking
Offer management
Sales performance management
Customer insights
Sales rep portal or sales intranet
Shared Web browsing solutions
Activity management
Quote management
Product configuration
Order management
Sales prospecting tools
Sales planning and forecasting
Proposal generation
Sales coaching tools
Contract management
Sales methodologies
Price rules engine
Mobile business card scanning
25%
35%
43%
50%
58%
47%
57%
50%
48%
61%
53%
70%
57%
75%
64%
73%
85%
83%
83%
64%
87%
97%
77%
97%
100%
94%
135%
109%
Anticipated
Growth
64%
56%
49%
49%
47%
44%
43%
42%
41%
41%
40%
37%
37%
36%
35%
33%
33%
33%
31%
30%
28%
28%
27%
26%
22%
21%
19%
18%
16% 9% 11%
19% 12% 12%
21% 14% 15%
25% 13% 13%
27% 12% 14%
21% 18% 17%
25% 16% 16%
21% 20% 18%
20% 21% 18%
25% 18% 17%
21% 21% 18%
26% 19% 18%
21% 23% 20%
27% 18% 19%
22% 23% 20%
24% 21% 21%
28% 20% 19%
27% 19% 20%
26% 22% 21%
19% 27% 24%
25% 24% 23%
27% 23% 22%
21% 29% 23%
26% 23% 25%
22% 28% 28%
20% 31% 28%
26% 27% 29%
19% 38% 26%

High performers are more likely to be heavy tech adopters.* Here we see the distribution of tech adoption by performance level.
0.01
0
0
x = 4.70 s = 6.25
x = 10.07 s = 8.04
x = 13.45 s = 8.84
10 255 2015 30
0.02
0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06
0.07 Underperformers
All Performers
High Performers
* Heavy and minimal tech adoption are defined as
above or below 1 standard deviation from the
average number of functionalities currently used.
X axis: Number of Technologies Being Used
Y axis: Frequency

Account and contact management
Sales analytics
Sales performance management
Sales prospecting tools
Contract management
Order management
Territory management
Sales methodologies
Offer management
E-commerce
Activity management
Sales planning and forecasting
Opportunity management
Quote management
Commissions, compensation, incentive management
Proposal generation
Note taking
Customer insights
Product configuration
Price rules engine
Mobile business card scanning
High PerformersUnderperformers
74% 11%32%20%
56% 17%24%15%
43% 23%11%24%
55% 21%18%22%
48% 22%15%28%
41% 23%11%18%
33% 25%8%22%
57% 22%16%30%
53% 17%19%22%
45% 21%14%28%
49% 24%15%29%
46% 23%8%19%
41% 17%15%16%
36% 19%8%19%
66% 16%27%24%
52% 19%26%10%
44% 22%14%27%
56% 19%26%19%
51% 18%20%19%
44% 20%11%18%
35% 20%14%18%
56% 21%18%22%
47% 24%16%22%
45% 20%16%22%
51% 22%18%26%
50% 18%19%15%
37% 21%18%19%
32% 19%12%15%
High-performing sales teams embrace technology to ensure customer success. Here we see the breakout of tech types used, comparing
top teams with underperformers.
Currently usingCurrently using Piloting/plan to use in next 12–18 monthsPiloting/plan to use in next 12–18 months

High performers using cloud solutions leverage more tech. Here we see usage rates for sales tech
and tools, comparing high performers using cloud solutions to those not using cloud solutions.
Appendix E: Diving Deeper into Sales TechAccountandcontactmanagement
Salesanalytics
Salesperformancemanagement
Salesprospectingtools
Contractmanagement
Ordermanagement
Competitiveintelligence
Territorymanagement
Salesmethodologies
Salescollaborationtools
Salesrepportalorsalesintranet
Offermanagement
E-commerce
SharedWebbrowsingsolutions
Activitymanagement
Salesplanningandforecasting
Opportunitymanagement
Quotemanagement
Commissions,compensation,incentive
management
Proposalgeneration
Notetaking
Customerinsights
Salescoachingtools
Targetedsalescontent
Productconfiguration
Predictiveintelligence
Pricerulesengine
Mobilebusinesscardscanning
85%
13%
60%
25%
60%
27%
55%
32%
63%
21%
59%
22%
56%
23%
54%
25%
50%
23%
75%
18%
69%
20%
64%
21%
54%
30%
59%
25%
54%
28%
56%
27%
47%
27%
50%
26%
64%
27%
63%
27%
55%
28%
56%
26%
58%
21%
58%
23%
58%
21%
43%
32%
49%
25%
48%
23%
6.7x 2.2x 2.0x 2.8x 2.8x2.3x 2.2x 2.6x 1.4x4.1x 2.4x 3.0x 2.5x 2.1x1.7x 2.7x 2.2x 1.9x2.3x 3.4x 1.8x 1.9x 1.8x3.1x 2.3x 2.1x 2.0x 2.1x
Cloud + currently
using functionality
No cloud + currently
using functionality

Predictive analytics leads B2B sales tech growth. Here we see the technologies that
will experience the highest growth rates among B2B sales teams.
49% 28% 11% 13%
Sales analytics
57%
92%
85%
89%
103%
108%
87%
103%
105%
116%
155%
Anticipated
Growth
31% 29% 21% 19%
Customer insights
32% 27% 20% 20%
25% 26% 26% 23%
Offer management
20% 21% 31% 28%
25% 27% 26% 22%
17% 20% 34% 29%
Price rules engine
30% 27% 22%22%
25% 25% 25%25%
21% 19% 24%36%
E-commerce
16% 25% 30%29%

Predictive analytics leads B2C sales tech growth. Here we see the technologies that will experience the highest growth rates
among B2C sales teams.
36% 25% 18% 21%
Sales analytics
71%
91%
94%
111%
105%
95%
93%
85%
125%
160%
169%
Anticipated
Growth
24% 22% 26% 27%
27% 26% 24% 23%
Customer insights
21% 22% 28% 28%
20% 24% 26% 30%
24% 23% 25% 27%
Offer management
16% 26% 29% 29%
25% 27% 24%25%
28% 24% 24%24%
E-commerce
26% 24% 27%23%
17% 28% 29%25%

Predictive analytics will see triple-digit growth in the B2B2C space. Here we see the technologies that will
experience the highest growth rates among B2B2C sales teams.
49% 27% 11% 13%
Sales analytics
37% 25% 19% 19%
32% 26% 18% 24%
38% 27% 17% 18%
Customer insights
35% 23% 21% 21%
Offer management
27% 22% 24% 27%
37% 27% 19%16%
38% 24% 19%19%
E-commerce
35% 29% 18%18%
25% 26% 25%24%
55%
71%
74%
68%
65%
83%
64%
83%
81%
104%
Anticipated
Growth

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