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| Watson Wyatt study outlines key differentiators of sales success
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| | Shifting two hours a
week from administrative
duties to selling and
carefully allocating
activities between
new-business developers
and account managers can
mean millions of dollars
in incremental sales for
companies, according to
a study by Watson Wyatt
Worldwide, the global
consulting firm. In
addition, appropriately
structuring variable pay
can help improve
expected sales results.
Watson Wyatt's 2008
Report on Sales
Effectiveness and
Compensation found that
just two hours more of
sales activity a week
can lead to as much as
$225m in additional
expected revenue for a
company with 1,800
new-business developers.
Reallocating time and
resources between
new-business developers
and account managers can
create as much as $600m | |
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| | salespeople responsible
for developing new
business (52%) prefer
in-person communication
to other methods of
contact with prospects
and customers, compared
with 39% of their
lower-performing
colleagues. In addition,
top performers typically
spend less time on
administrative tasks.
According to the
study, each minute a
new-business developer
with a $2.5m quota
spends on administration
instead of with a
qualified lead or
prospect costs a company
$15 to $20 in lost
expected sales. For a
sales professional,
shifting two hours per
week from administrative
tasks to time with
customers can be worth
between $90,000 and
$120,000 in additional
expected sales.
The compensation
structure for | |
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| | salespersons also
remains a key
differentiator between
top performers and
others. Top-performing
salespeople report
incomes nearly
one-quarter higher than
their less productive
counterparts (24% higher
for new-business
developers and 23%
higher for account
managers). Sales-related
variable pay accounts
for a vast majority of
this difference.
Top-performing
new-business developers
and account managers
respectively typically
receive 46% and 60% more
sales-related variable
pay than their peers.
"While financial
incentives are an
important part of
driving sales growth,
the key to long-term
success is freeing up
salespeople to develop
and build customer
relationships," said | |
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| | Craig Ulrich, North
America East Division
practice leader for
sales effectiveness and
compensation at Watson
Wyatt. "Companies that
take steps to implement
the right sales
structure and design
compensation plan
incentives to focus on
the highest-value
activities can expect to
increase sales and
profitability. Those
that don't manage their
sales roles and
activities smartly risk
leaving hundreds of
millions of dollars of
potential sales revenue
on the table."
The report is based
on the responses of more
than 800 salespeople
from approximately 500
companies.
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| | million in additional
expected sales for a
Fortune 100 company with
$20bn in sales.
"Too many salespeople
spend time demonstrating
products and talking on
the phone," said John
Bremen, global practice
director for sales
effectiveness and
compensation at Watson
Wyatt. "Top-performing
salespeople devote their
time to developing
relationships and
closing sales. Employers
can help guide their
sales forces by
encouraging salespeople
to focus on the right
contacts and activities
instead of on filing
paperwork."
The study found the
majority of
top-performing | |
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