New Corporate Visions Survey Finds B2B Companies Agree Sales Conversations Have Biggest Impact on Closed Deals, But Still Primarily Invest in Sales Processes Instead

PLEASANTON, Calif., Oct. 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Corporate Visions, Inc., the leading marketing and sales messaging, content and skills training company, today announced the results of a new survey focused on marketing and sales messages and tools. The survey, which polled more than 430 business-to-business (B2B) marketing and sales executives globally, uncovered that although companies invest the most time and budget on sales process- related activities, respondents instead identified messaging and sales conversations as being the most important factor for driving more profitable, closed deals.

"The results reveal a striking contradiction between what companies believe will drive the greatest value and where they are investing most of their time and money," said Tim Riesterer, chief strategy and marketing officer at Corporate Visions. "While it's important that salespeople know where to show up and how to structure an opportunity, it's clear in this survey that companies know that what is more important is actually what they say when they get there."

Here is a detailed look at the survey results:

Investment Priorities  
The largest number of respondents (34 percent) ranked the sales process (making sure salespeople know what to do and how to do it when it comes to managing accounts and opportunities) as the area their company spends the most time and budget on, followed by:

• Product training (reps are taught to know their solutions' capabilities and features in a way that makes them an expert source) – 27 percent
• Messaging and field conversations (ensuring reps know what to say and how to say it to differentiate and articulate value) – 26 percent
• Automation technology (giving sellers the latest and greatest automation and selling-related technologies and tools) – 13 percent

Perceived Impact  
The majority of respondents (61 percent) selected reps' ability to deliver a distinct point of view that uniquely positions their solutions as the most important factor for successfully driving deals to a profitable close, followed by:

• Having a great sales process in place and having it consistently followed – 19 percent
• Equipping reps with the best enabling technology and tools to increase productivity – 9 percent
• Making sure reps know the ins and outs of their entire product portfolio – 11 percent

When given two choices and asked to select the one that had the most impact on moving a prospect to action and closing profitable deals, the vast majority of respondents chose the non-technology or tools-related option. Responses were as follows:

• Understanding the key metrics executive decision-makers use to run their business (94 percent) versus contract applications (6 percent)
• Linking your prospect's business initiatives to your business value (93 percent) versus RFP response tools (7 percent)
• Sharing market insights (86 percent) versus gamification tools (14 percent)
• Managing the tension in your sales negotiations to help you secure more value (89 percent) versus email automation tools (11 percent)
• Contrasting a prospect's status quo with a change scenario (82 percent) versus CRM systems (18 percent)
• Sharing a distinct point of view (68 percent) versus top-notch ROI tools (32 percent)

"For the remaining results, respondents indicated it was what salespeople say – not what they do or the tool used – that is most impactful," said Riesterer. "This data further underscores the need for companies to focus on developing more effective messaging and training their salespeople to deliver those messages in a way that differentiates them and their solutions."

For more information and an analysis of the survey findings, please view this infographic: http://cvi.to/1PLnBPk.

About Corporate Visions, Inc. 
Corporate Visions is a leading marketing and sales messaging, tools, and skills company that helps global B2B companies create more sales opportunities, win more deals and increase sales profitability by improving the conversations salespeople have with customers. Companies engage Corporate Visions to help in three key areas:

• Developing compelling messages to break the status quo, differentiating their solution, justifying a purchase decision and protecting margins;
• Deploying that message through tools and visual stories to enable salespeople to engage multiple decision-makers across the buying cycle; and
• Delivering sales skills training that helps salespeople confidently use these messages and tools to create, elevate and capture more value in their customer conversations.

Corporate Visions helps clients such as ADP, Motorola, Philips, UPS, Cisco and others align marketing and sales with a repeatable approach for developing and delivering winning customer conversations. For more information about Corporate Visions, visit http://corporatevisions.com/ or call 415-464-4400 or 800-360-SELL.

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SOURCE Corporate Visions, Inc.

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