Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company has announced the publication of new research reports from its Sales Effectiveness, Collaboration and Integrated Communications, Manufacturing, and Business Intelligence research practices.
The Sales Forecasting: How Top Performers Leverage the Past, Visualize the Present, and Improve Their Future Revenue research study shows how leading organizations have been able to provide more accurate sales forecasts of top-line revenue and drive a year-over-year increase of 13.8% in company profit margin, compared to 2.5% for all others.
Best-in-Class companies achieve a 91% customer retention rate, compared to 78% for Industry Average and 32% for Laggards. Average overall team attainment of quota among Best-in-Class companies grew by 17%, year over year, versus 3.1% for Average firms and a 6.9% decrease for Laggards. Best-in-Class companies shrunk their sales cycles by 10.4% on a year-over-year basis, compared to 0.3% for Industry Average firms and a 6.0% increase (lengthening of sales cycle) among Laggards.
A focus on key metrics influencing forecasting accuracy tackles the main pressure driving organizations in this study; insufficient knowledge of prospects/customers already in sales funnel, to determine likelihood to close the deal.
Obtain a complimentary copy of the report made available part by Birst, Visual Insight, Sage and Cloud9 Analytics.