Guest: Seleste Lunsford

CSO Insight Study Results are Troubling – Has the Canary Died Yet?
Seleste Lunsford, Chief Research Officer of CSO Insights discusses the startling results of their latest World-Class Sales Performance Study: All that Glitters is Not Gold, with Funnel Radio host Jim Obermayer.  Lunsford talks about how the respondents in the study reported increases in quota attainment and revenue last year, however, key metrics show a decrease in adherence to sales best practices from previous studies.  The authors of the study state that there is possibly a misleading nature of sales effectiveness metrics collected from the nearly 1,000 sales organizations.   Is this a canary in the coal mine scenario?
The survey shows that world-class sales organizations have systems driving performance that smaller organizations lack.
Why is the report so important this year?
What was the triggering event that prompted the study?
Is this study generally only about companies with large ticket products and services?
What are the most startling results?
What are the sales effectiveness metrics that alarmed you?
Does the study tell the reader what to do about the failures?
 About the report and how to get a copy:  
“All that glitters is NOT GOLD” 2019 World-Class Sales Practices Study
Sections:
Section I: The Deceptively Shiny State of Sales
Section II: Customer Engagement
Section III: Performance Support
Section IV: Strategy Alignment
Study Parameters:
The 2019 World-Class Sales Practices Study collected data from more than 1,500 respondents from January through March 2019. The analysis was conducted on responses from 949 sales leaders. This sample was global in nature and spans across B2B industries, with particularly strong representation from the technology, manufacturing, healthcare, professional services, and banking/finance sectors.
GET THE REPORT
GET THE REPORT SUMMARY
About Seleste Lunsford
Seleste Lunsford has consulted with sales and service organizations for more than 20 years, helping them acquire, grow and retain client relationships. As Managing Director of CSO Insights, Seleste guides CSO Insights’ research focus areas and define its market deliverables.
She has co-authored two books, “Secrets of Top-Performing Salespeople” and “Strategies that Win Sales.” She’s proud to have supported some of the world’s most recognized companies including AAA, Alliance Bernstein, American Express, Arrow Electronics, Citibank, Convergys, U.S. Department of Defense, Office Depot, Traveler’s Insurance, and Verizon Wireless.
About CSO Insights
Independent research backed by one of the world’s premier selling and service brands
 CSO Insights is the independent research arm within Miller Heiman GroupTM, dedicated to improving the performance and productivity of complex B2B sales. The CSO Insights team of respected analysts provides sales leaders with the research, data, expertise, and best practices required to build sustainable strategies for sales performance improvement. CSO Insights’ annual sales effectiveness studies, along with its benchmarking capabilities, are industry standards for sales leaders seeking operational and behavioral insights into how to improve their sales performance and to gain holistic assessments of their selling and sales management efficacy. Annual research studies address sales and service best practices, sales enablement and sales performance optimization.
 

Seleste Lunsford, Chief Research Officer of CSO Insights discusses the surprising results of their latest Sales Performance study with Funnel Radio host Jim Obermayer. She talks about how the 900  companies in the study report that 95% are on their revenue plan and yet other parts of the report show some disturbing sales performance outcomes that show there could be trouble on the horizon. It appears companies are hiring more sales reps, but sales performance is down per rep; this means sales expenses are up and with any downturn there will be large problems.
About the report and how to get a copy:  
Selling in the Age of Ceaseless Change: 2018-2019 Sales Performance Study.  
Sections:
Revenue Are up Sales Performance is Not.
Customer-Centricity Separates Top-Performing Organizations
Lead Generation Suffers from Organization Silos
Planning improves New Account Capture
Account Renewals Dominate Revenues
Win Rates of Forecasted Deals Vex Sales Leaders
Roughly 900 global sales leaders were surveyed to identify the four main objectives underpinning their performance improvement efforts in the coming 12 months. These main objectives were improving lead generation, capturing new accounts, expanding penetration into existing customers, and increasing win rates. The purpose of this report is to show how sales organizations today are performing in terms of these objectives, how that compares to recent years and what successful companies are doing that’s working for improving sales performance.
GET THE REPORT
GET THE REPORT SUMMARY
About Seleste Lunsford
Seleste Lunsford has consulted with sales and service organizations for more than 20 years, helping them acquire, grow and retain client relationships. As Managing Director of CSO Insights, Seleste guides CSO Insights’ research focus areas and define its market deliverables. An experienced business leader, Seleste has led a range of consulting, product development, professional services and operations functions.
She has co-authored two books, “Secrets of Top-Performing Salespeople” and “Strategies that Win Sales.” She’s also written articles on sales effectiveness found in Selling Power, Entrepreneur, Chief Learning Officer and PharmaVoice, as well as DestinationCRM.com and HR.com. She’s proud to have supported some of the world’s most recognized companies including AAA, Alliance Bernstein, American Express, Arrow Electronics, Citibank, Convergys, U.S. Department of Defense, Office Depot, Traveler’s Insurance and Verizon Wireless.
Seleste earned both her bachelor’s degree and MBA from Florida State University.
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Funnel Radio is hosted by James Obermayer and sponsored by the radio/podcast company the Funnel Media Group LLC.