Respondents Recognize the Critical Impact Sales Conversations Have on Differentiation and Closed Deals, Yet Do Not Implement Formal Strategies to Ensure Salespeople Master Their Messaging
LARKSPUR, Calif. – April 14, 2015 – Corporate Visions, Inc., the leading marketing messaging, tools and sales skills training company, today announced the results of a sales messaging survey that polled more than 500 business-to-business (B2B) marketers and salespeople from around the globe. The results revealed 85 percent of companies agree their sales teams’ ability to articulate value messages is one of the most critical factors in closing deals, yet only about 41 percent of companies ask their salespeople to perform stand-and-deliver or role-play practice of their messages. In fact, an alarming 34 percent of respondents indicate no one is responsible for coaching and certifying that salespeople are proficient in delivering their company’s value messages at all.
In the first question, respondents were asked to rate to what extent they agree with the following statement – “Our sales team’s ability to articulate our message is one of the most critical factors to closing deals.” Results indicated the following:
- Strongly agree (53.8 percent)
- Agree (31.6 percent)
- Somewhat agree (12.5 percent)
- Disagree (1.7 percent)
- Strongly disagree (0.4 percent)
Respondents were then asked if they expect salespeople to practice delivering company value messages in role-play or stand-and-deliver settings, with the following results:
- Every time (12.3 percent)
- Most of the time (28.8 percent)
- Sometimes (44.1 percent)
- Usually not (12.2 percent)
- Never (2.6 percent)
Then, respondents were asked to identify who or what department is responsible for ensuring that messages are practiced and coached. The results, which allowed respondents to select more than one option, included:
- Their managers are responsible (49 percent)
- The training organization is responsible (36.3 percent)
- No one inspects messaging proficiency (34 percent)
“There’s a tragic irony occurring where everyone believes that salespeople with their lips moving is a company’s most powerful weapon for communicating value, but reasonable practice and inspection of competency is not a requirement,” said Tim Riesterer, chief strategy and marketing officer for Corporate Visions. “Even leaving it to sales managers, like most companies seem to do, is essentially a hit-or-miss proposition, given the pressure for pipeline and deal forecasts as well as the distributed nature of sales teams.”
In the final question, respondents were asked how often they require salespeople to submit videos of themselves delivering the messages for coaching and feedback:
- Never (33.1 percent)
- Usually not (36.6 percent)
- Sometimes (21.3 percent)
- Most of the time (6 percent)
- All the time (3 percent)
Riesterer added: “The last question of the survey reveals a missed opportunity for companies to differentiate themselves in the market by being more purposeful in sales messaging practice, coaching and certification. Salespeople learn best by doing – and that means practicing in front of an audience to obtain feedback and receive coaching advice in environments that most closely resemble where sales conversations actually take place.”
For more information and an analysis of the survey findings, please view this infographic.