Study Finds: More Time is Spent Coaching Salespeople among World-Class Sales Organizations

RENO, Nev., April 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Findings from the recently released 2012 Miller Heiman Sales Best Practices Study indicated that top-performing sales organizations are prioritizing time spent coaching their sales teams, which is linked to improved performance of the sales team. Miller Heiman, a leading sales performance consulting firm, announced this observation based on its ninth annual study of selling and sales management best practices in the complex selling environment.  

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"Front-line sales managers nearly always have the characteristics of a top-performing salesperson, but too often they lack the attributes of an effective sales manager," said Sam Reese, CEO, Miller Heiman. "There is more pressure to perform, more responsibility, and more at stake for poor performance."

In 2012, as companies look to define and execute on their growth plans, the role of the sales manager is to drive the action necessary to achieve the results. Their role should be viewed mainly as a conduit to drive action, which is highly dependent on their leadership and coaching skills. World-Class Sales Organizations reported 19 percent better growth in year-over-year quota achievement than other organizations.

This is also an area that can inhibit an organization's ability to succeed. A common response to a question regarding the greatest organizational risk for 2012 was: "The greatest risk I see to our business is a continued lack of quality coaching of sales staff by sales management."

The study defined an exclusive group of respondents that outperformed in areas such as opportunity creation, opportunity management, relationship management, and enablement activities as World-Class Sales Organizations. Representing just six percent of the study participants, this group showed significantly better results in several key performance metrics when compared to other study participants including customer retention, salesperson productivity, and quota achievement.

Data was collected during the fall of 2011 and included more than 1,200 professionals at companies in complex selling environments regarding the sales activities and performance of their organizations.

An Executive Summary of the results of this study includes insights for sales leaders to capitalize on the findings when validating and continuing to develop their strategies to be successful this year.

View a complimentary copy of the study highlights or download the executive summary for detailed insights about the best practices of World-Class Sales Organizations: http://www.millerheiman.com/summary.

For more information, visit www.millerheiman.com.

SOURCE Miller Heiman