Improve the effectiveness of your sales performance strategy

Exceed sales performance amid global disruption

To say that 2020 was a year of disruption is an understatement.

At the start of 2020 before COVID-19 hit, quota attainment had already plummeted by 9%, according to the Korn Ferry Research 2020–2021 Sales Performance Study. And, for the first time in five years, revenue attainment and win rates dropped.

However, some sales organizations managed to be responsive to the changes in the market over the last year. These “World-Class” sales organizations have more than $50 million in annual revenue, exemplary sales processes and rock-solid customer relationships, and a proven record that puts them in the top 20% across sales performance metrics.

How did these sales organizations rise above everyone else? Learn the secrets of their success with our Sales Performance Meter.

What is the Sales Performance Meter?

The Korn Ferry Sales Performance Meter is a diagnostic tool that will help you understand the current state of your sales organization.

Built on years of data and analysis from Korn Ferry Research, the diagnostic asks sales leaders a series of questions about their sales organization. These questions reflect the 12 top sales practices of World-Class sales organizations that we have identified in our research. See the current list below:

• How do customers and prospects view your company?
• Are your sales processes undefined, informal, formal, or dynamic?
• Does your team have consistently positive interactions with customers throughout the buying journey?
• Do your sales calls deliver mutual value to your customers and prospects?
• How well do your salespeople communicate relevant value messages to your buyers?
• Are your sales management, operations, and enablement teams aligned?
• Does your culture support the continuous development of your sales professionals?
• Do your sales managers coach your salespeople effectively?
• How accurate are your sales forecasts, and how rigorous is your forecasting process?
• Do you use call planning tools effectively?
• Are your marketing, sales, and customer service teams aligned on customer wants and needs?
• Are you using operational and customer data as an asset to grow sales?
• Is your talent strategy recruiting and retaining staff with the capabilities you need to achieve your business goals?
• Do you continually assess the reasons behind your top performers’ success?

In the time it takes to answer these questions, you’ll learn where your sellers are performing well, where you need to monitor your sales performance, and where you need to improve.

All you have to do is rate how well your sales organization is performing in these areas, then we’ll compare your responses to those of over 2,000 sales organizations worldwide from our 2019 World-Class Sales Practices Study and 2020 Sales Performance Study.

How to use your Sales Performance Meter results

After we crunch the numbers, we’ll send you a detailed summary on your sales performance that assesses your sales process maturity and the depth of your relationships with customers using what we call the Sales Relationship Process Matrix.

The sales performance matrix shows how sales process maturity and your customer relationships contribute to sales effectiveness.

The horizontal axis of the sales performance matrix

The horizontal axis lists the levels of sales process maturity: random, informal, formal and dynamic.

The vertical axis of the sales performance matrix

The vertical axis lists the levels of customer relationships: approved vendor, preferred supplier, solutions consultant, strategic contributor and trusted partner.

We’ll plot your data and show you whether you land in level 1 (22% of organizations), level 2 (43% of organizations), or level 3 (33% of organizations).

The higher your level, the stronger your sales results are likely to be. To compare the levels with sales performance, level 3 boasted +9% win rates, +5% overall plan attainment, and +11% quota attainment compared to their counterparts in levels 1 and 2.

The 3 key sales performance areas

Then the results discuss the ways that you can advance to the next sales performance level or maintain your status if you’re already at level 3. Using the 12 organizational practices that have the greatest impact on sales results, we’ll show how your sales organization ranks in each of three key sales performance areas to help you level up in the matrix:

1. People: Equip salespeople with the processes, methodologies and skills they need to build and maintain strong relationships with their customers and prospects.
2. Leadership: Leadership, management, and sales performance support provide tools, enablement, parameters, guidance, and direction for salespeople to be successful.
3. Organization and Culture: Make smart plans and decisions about how to hire, develop and deploy sales talent. Build a sales atmosphere and way of doing things that everyone is on board with and create an overall structure that brings everything together.

We’ll deliver the results of your sales performance meter to your inbox in an easy-to-understand report that ranks your sales performance and prioritizes the actions you need to take to start moving your organization toward World-Class status.

The next step toward improving your sales performance is at your fingertips

The Sales Performance Meter is a blueprint for future sales growth.

You can use it to identify where you need to improve seller behaviors, fill talent gaps and realign your sales and marketing teams. Our diagnostic will also tell you where you need to invest to improve your sales transformation, whether that’s a sales talent strategy, sales coaching training or a data-driven sales analytics platform that fuels your CRM.

To get started, take the Sales Performance Meter today. The results will guide you to a roadmap that will help you maximize your sales performance.