BigMachines today announced the results of its 2011 Benchmark Survey on the state of the sales industry. The results point to a significant disconnect between sales and the rest of the enterprise, as well as a need for sales and marketing to be more aligned. However, the survey also found strong signs for improved sales in 2011 with more than half of the respondents anticipating the average deal size to increase this year.

For this survey, BigMachines polled more than 100 sales professionals from a variety of industries including manufacturing, high tech and telecommunications. Respondents ranged from sales managers to C-Level sales executives. The goal of the survey was to pinpoint the issues, concerns and success factors impacting mid-size to enterprise companies today. The survey aimed to find the critical pain points of the sales industry, identify areas of positive growth and determine the impact of social media in sales, which according to the results, has been negligible. Significant findings from the survey include:
 

• Sales Disconnect: More than 60 percent of respondents say the integration between sales and marketing is either siloed or needs improvement. Furthermore, 37 percent said the disconnect between sales and the rest of the entire organization is broken, emphasizing the need for more integration among departments.

• Pain Points: Respondents identified two significant pain points in the sales cycle – 28 percent cited the lag time from quote to close and 19 percent noted that managing multi-channel selling are broken in the sales cycle. Multi-channel selling includes a mix of offline sales, online sales, mobile ecommerce sales and other sales channels.

• B2B eCommerce Adoption: Forty percent of the respondents say they are currently using B2B eCommerce as a tool within their sales organization.

• Driving Change: Nearly 46 percent said the key factor driving change within their company in 2011 is meeting sales goals and metrics.

• 2011 Deal Size: Fifty-eight percent anticipate average deal size to increase in 2011, showing optimism for improvement in the economy and the renewed focus on the sales organization as a driver in corporate growth.

• The Power of Face to Face: More than 75 percent say face-to-face contact yields the most success for connecting with customers and prospects and 20 percent say that events are effective, despite the recent emphasis on social media and online networking.

“Sales professionals across the industry are telling us that the disconnect between sales and the rest of the organization remains high, ultimately resulting in issues with meeting their overall goals,” said Will Wiegler, Vice President of Marketing, BigMachines. “While survey respondents are anticipating an uptick in deal size, we need to recognize that this lack of collaboration is affecting the number one objective for sales people and the driving force behind change in an organization: meeting goals and metrics. BigMachines recognizes that the results of our survey underscore the struggles the sales industry face on a daily basis and we continue to develop the tools needed to help sales professionals meet their goals and grow their business.”


BIGMACHINES 2011 BENCHMARK SURVEY RESULTS:

1. What Industry do you represent?
 

2. How would you describe the integration of sales and marketing in your
organization when it comes to managing lead generation?

3. Which would you say is the biggest sales obstacle in your company?

4. What do you feel is driving the highest degree of change in your
organization and sales strategies heading into 2011?

5. When it comes to average deal size in 2011, do you see it:

6. Are you using B2B ecommerce as a sales tool in your organization?

7. If not, do you plan to incorporate B2B ecommerce in 2011?

8. Considering your overall sales strategy for 2011, how significant is it
to support ecommerce on mobile devices?

9. What do you think is broken in the sales cycle?

10. What channel has yielded the MOST success for you in connecting with
prospects and customers? Please rate your answers with 1 being the most
successful and 4 being the least successful.

11. When evaluating a potential vendor, what channels do you turn to first
for information?