CSO Insights’ Surprising Results: Revenue Up, Performance Down

Seleste Lunsford, Chief Research Officer of CSO Insights discusses the surprising results of their latest Sales Performance study with Funnel Radio host Jim Obermayer. She talks about how the 900  companies in the study report that 95% are on their revenue plan and yet other parts of the report show some disturbing sales performance outcomes that show there could be trouble on the horizon. It appears companies are hiring more sales reps, but sales performance is down per rep; this means sales expenses are up and with any downturn there will be large problems.

About the report and how to get a copy:  

Selling in the Age of Ceaseless Change: 2018-2019 Sales Performance Study.  

Sections:

• Revenue Are up Sales Performance is Not.
• Customer-Centricity Separates Top-Performing Organizations
• Lead Generation Suffers from Organization Silos
• Planning improves New Account Capture
• Account Renewals Dominate Revenues
• Win Rates of Forecasted Deals Vex Sales Leaders

Roughly 900 global sales leaders were surveyed to identify the four main objectives underpinning their performance improvement efforts in the coming 12 months. These main objectives were improving lead generation, capturing new accounts, expanding penetration into existing customers, and increasing win rates. The purpose of this report is to show how sales organizations today are performing in terms of these objectives, how that compares to recent years and what successful companies are doing that’s working for improving sales performance.

GET THE REPORT

GET THE REPORT SUMMARY

About Seleste Lunsford

Seleste Lunsford has consulted with sales and service organizations for more than 20 years, helping them acquire, grow and retain client relationships. As Managing Director of CSO Insights, Seleste guides CSO Insights’ research focus areas and define its market deliverables. An experienced business leader, Seleste has led a range of consulting, product development, professional services and operations functions.

She has co-authored two books, “Secrets of Top-Performing Salespeople” and “Strategies that Win Sales.” She’s also written articles on sales effectiveness found in Selling Power, Entrepreneur, Chief Learning Officer and PharmaVoice, as well as DestinationCRM.com and HR.com. She’s proud to have supported some of the world’s most recognized companies including AAA, Alliance Bernstein, American Express, Arrow Electronics, Citibank, Convergys, U.S. Department of Defense, Office Depot, Traveler’s Insurance and Verizon Wireless.

Seleste earned both her bachelor’s degree and MBA from Florida State University.

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Funnel Radio is hosted by James Obermayer and sponsored by the radio/podcast company the Funnel Media Group LLC.