The 4 Most Important Attributes to Look for When Your Sales Reps Miss Their Targets

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