Sales Teams Fall Short of Rising Customer Expectations State of Sales 9 01 To find the crux of what sales reps grapple with, Selling Takes a Backseat to Other Tasks look no further than their time management. Today’s sales reps — who are expected to not only Sales reps spend a mere 34% of their time actually selling, while the majority of their cater to the unique needs of individual customers time is spent on other duties. but also close deals that keep revenue flowing — have far more on their plates than their Percentage of Sales Reps’ Time Spent on the Following During an Average Week predecessors. All the while, days have not gotten any longer; the result is an environment in which sales reps spend a mere 34% of their time actually selling. 7% Downtime 15% Meeting customers in person More often than not, reps are bogged down 7% Prioritizing leads/opps 11% Connecting with with data entry, quote generation, and other 8% Manually entering 34% customers virtually administrative tasks that prevent them from customer/sales info cultivating meaningful — and profitable — Selling 9% Prospecting customer relationships. 8% Internal meetings/ trainings 66% Sales reps spend only 1⁄3 of Not Selling 9% Researching 9% Administrative their time selling. prospects tasks 9% Generating quotes, 9% Preparation and proposals, and gaining planning approvals Base: Sales representatives Percents may not add to 100% due to rounding. SALES LEADER INSIGHT “Successful salespeople spend more time on activities that produce sales and less time on those that don’t. You should spend 75% of your time reflecting, talking, prospecting, and closing.” — Laura Stack, President & CEO, The Productivity Pro Salesforce Research