Corporate Visions Survey Finds 81 Percent of Marketers and Salespeople Agree CRM Systems Aren't Helpful in Their Most Critical Selling Moments

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev., July 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Corporate Visions, Inc., the leading sales and marketing messaging company, today announced survey results revealing more than 80 percent of business-to-business (B2B) marketers and salespeople think CRM systems don't always capture or provide the information needed to close bigger and higher-margin deals. Corporate Visions polled more than 800 respondents representing organizations of all sizes across the U.S. to better understand how marketers and salespeople are using technology and techniques to influence sales opportunities.

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Although 87 percent of respondents said their companies required them to use a CRM system to track their activities, 79 percent agreed that they simply "check the boxes," which does not provide them with useful assistance for closing business. When it comes to closing deals, 68 percent said they find themselves in tough price negotiations because customers are not convinced their solutions are sufficiently differentiated from competitors. In addition, 66 percent said they struggle in pricing negotiations because they aren't good at managing the tension in these situations, despite having a sales methodology in place.

"This quarter's survey asked questions about how sales and marketing professionals are dealing with increasing pricing pressure, including the impact of sales processes, CRM systems and training," said Tim Riesterer, chief strategy and marketing officer for Corporate Visions. "The results clearly illustrate the right processes and tools are in place, but there are execution gaps in the areas of differentiation and negotiation conversations – and there's nothing in their methodologies or technologies to help them with those dialogues."

Additional noteworthy data from the survey includes:

• Price pressure is on the rise – 89 percent of respondents agreed the amount of price pressure from customers and buyers has increased in the past three years, making high-margin sales harder to close.
• Negotiation skills still lacking for many – 46 percent of respondents feel that when they bring in executives to help close important deals, they've already given away too much – leaving the company with smaller profits.
• Salespeople struggle to break out of the competitive "bake-off" – Half of the respondents said their differentiation strategy is to emphasize how the features and benefits of their products are superior to those of their competitors, rather than identify unconsidered needs and linking those needs to unknown capabilities and showing unique value.

"Nearly all the respondents of the survey agree that pricing pressures continue to rise, which means that the sales environment is more challenging and tension-filled than ever," said Paul Hennessey, senior vice president for BayGroup International, a Corporate Visions company. "Savvy buyers and competitors are willing to 'commoditize the business,' and quarterly management expectations threaten to undercut the profitability of every deal. It only compounds the problem if your salespeople lack the confidence and skill to differentiate and negotiate in a way that creates and captures more value."

For more information and analysis of the survey findings, please watch this short video:  http://www.brainshark.com/cvi/MessagingReport-ExecutionGap.

About Corporate Visions, Inc.

Corporate Visions, Inc. helps global business-to-business companies create more sales opportunities, win more deals and increase sales profitability by improving the conversations salespeople have with customers. Companies engage Corporate Visions in three key areas:

• Developing differentiated messages that concentrate on customer needs
• Deploying tools that support critical steps in the buying cycle
• Delivering sales skills training that enables salespeople to create and capture more value

Corporate Visions helps clients such as ADP, Motorola, Philips and SAP align marketing and sales with a repeatable approach for creating and delivering winning customer conversations. For more information about Corporate Visions visit www.corporatevisions.com or call 775-831-1322 or 800-360-SELL.

SOURCE Corporate Visions, Inc.