History may repeat itself as 85% of firms surveyed planned to increase
quotas for 2010
BOULDER, CO – June 16, 2010 — CSO Insights announces the release of their
annual Telemarketing-Inside Sales
s-performance-optimization-report> Report (Telemarketing/Insides Sales
Performance Optimization 2010 Key Trends Analysis), showing the top
Telemarketing-Inside Sales metrics selected based upon size of change over
the past two years, a significant discrepancy between field and inside
sales, or a change in trend direction.
The study surveyed nearly 250 firms worldwide across 97 metrics.
Participants identified themselves as responsible for Telemarketing/Inside
Sales. CSO Insights found many key findings, including:
. Account research continues to lead all other Internet uses.
. On-line collaboration is taking on new meaning and importance for
telemarketing/inside sales.
. Customer self-service moves up again this year.
. Sales cycles have lengthened for inside sales over the past two years.
“There’s a great deal happening in Inside Sales and it’s all very exciting,”
said Barry Trailer, Managing Partner for CSO Insights. “The adoption of
enabling technology, higher percentage of leads being generated by
marketing, and anticipated growth in telesales teams this year all suggest
this is going to be an increasingly important segment of companies’ overall
revenue mix.”
Three of the top 10 metrics driven by sales research are:
1. Quota attainment is down: 53% of telemarketing/inside sales reps met or
exceeded their quota last year; this is up one point from two years ago, but
down four full points from one year ago.
2. Number of calls to close deals is up: 63% of sales close with 3-9 calls,
down from 72% a year earlier; only 1% went to 1-2 calls to close, the other
8% went to >9 calls to close.
3. Adoption of CRM is at a record high: Telemarketing/inside sales are well
ahead of field sales in consistent use (>90%) of CRM. Benefits of
implementing CRM are similarly led by improved forecast accuracy.
“The new telemarketing/inside sales rep is increasingly experienced,
professional, and productive,” said Barry Trailer. “Companies are innovating
in new ways to measure, compensate, motivate, and retain these valued
assets, as shown in various metrics in this report. Our analysis reflects
this changing attitude.”
The Telemarketing/Insides Sales Performance Optimization 2010 Key Trends
Analysis report is available at Sales Research Publications
[email protected].
About CSO Insights
CSO Insights (www.CSOInsights.com
research firm that specializes in measuring how companies are leveraging
people, process, technology, and knowledge to improve the way they market
and sell to customers. Over the past 16 years, CSO Insights’ sales
effectiveness survey of over 10,000 sales effectiveness initiatives has
become the standard for tracking the evolution of how the role of sales is
changing, the challenges that are impacting sales performance, and what
companies are doing to address these issues.
