Only 21% met quota.
According to research by Xactly, a leading provider of cloud-based incentive solutions:
- As many as 79 percent of quota-carrying Software as a Service (SaaS) sales representatives missed their goals.
- 14% of sales reps in the study do not even achieve 10% of quota.
- Across the entire data set, the average quota attainment, regardless of tenure, was only 58%.
Pretty scary that only 21% met quota. What does this mean for you and your sales team?
First of all, if you want to create a high performance sales team, stop making excuses for you and your team. The most common excuse we hear from the VP of Sales is that the quotas are unfair. These sales leaders claim the quotas are driven by the CEO or CFO to meet unrealistic external expectations that are not based in the reality of the competitive landscape, the current value proposition or the available sales resources. While this may be the case, it is the sales leader's job to create the circumstances for their teams to thrive. 79% of reps missing quota does not calibrate to a high performance sales environment. That means sales leaders need to create the right sales strategy, culture and team to succeed.
The second most common excuse is that the sales team is littered with too many underperformers. If your team is anything like those in the survey, almost 80% of your reps may be underperforming. It is your job as the sales leader to hire people who will perform. It is also your job as the sales leader to identify the root cause of any performance problems and to help underperformers succeed or move on as quickly as possible - ideally within 90 days.
We believe that there are four attributes that sales leaders must incorporate into their hiring profiles and performance management processes to create a high performance sales team.
Read More About the 4 Key Attributes
Benchmark Your Sales Performance
About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned
According to the McKinsey Quarterly, a top quartile performing salesperson is 14 times more productive than an average performer. We certainly see the same at our clients.
We believe that it is a sales leader's responsibility to create the sales environment necessary to stimulate higher performance from their sales force. On most sales teams, leaders need to get more from their people in order to be successful. For example, a current high tech client has 31 percent of reps above quota, 36 percent at 50-70% of quota and 33 percent at less than 50% of quota. To meet targets, the VP of sales needs to increase percent to quota by 20% in twelve months. Regardless of the industry or size of the sales force, it comes down to leaders' ability to stimulate the performance of others.
Of course hiring and retaining the right sales people (see above article) is absolutely critical. But once the right sales people are aboard, how does a sales leader create a sales environment that significantly improves speed to quota, revenue, margin, win-rate, deal size, etc.?
That is the sales leader's challenge and, when it is not done well, it will matter little if you have the right sales team or not. An ineffective sales leader can render an entire sales organization ineffective. Just as a great coach improves the performance of an athlete, effective sales leaders improve the performance of their sales teams.
Most of our clients cite creating a high performance culture as one of their top three talent management priorities, but almost two-thirds of their line managers do not feel that the talent and performance management processes they have today are driving greater performance. Because the success of a sales leader depends on the success of others, we asked ourselves three questions:
- Execution: How do sales leaders drive improved go-to-market strategic execution and individual contribution across an entire sales organization?
- Performance: How can sales leaders consistently make the right moves to stimulate performance improvement from their people?
- Scale: How can sales leaders ensure that performance improvement scales throughout an entire sales team instead of just in small pockets of success?
The answer to all three questions forms the foundation of creating and maintaining a High Performance Sales Culture
Read More About Creating a High Performance Sales Culture
Research High Performance Culture Solutions
About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned
