State of Sales 52 Appendix Sales Reps’ Perception of Their Time Spent on the Following Aspects of an Opportunity Managing emails 62% 30% 7% Logging activities (e.g., emails, phone calls) 58% 34% 8% Inputting sales data and customer notes 56% 36% 8% Finding the right person to contact 50% 39% 11% Creating follow-up tasks 48% 40% 12% Generating quotes/proposals and gaining approvals 46% 43% 11% Researching competitive offerings 44% 36% 20% Discovering a customer’s/prospect’s needs 44% 41% 15% Researching a customer’s/prospect’s current solution 44% 42% 14% Reviewing pipeline 43% 42% 15% Prioritizing leads/opportunities 42% 45% 13% Researching competitive activity 40% 40% 21% Too much About the right amount Too little Base: Sales representatives Salesforce Research