3. As we mentioned earlier, CSO Insights’ annual “State of the Marketplace Review” reported in 2004 that “51% of sales representatives were under quota.” Although in 2005 the under-quota proportion had dropped to 42 percent, much of that improvement is attributed to salespeople simply working longer and harder to make their numbers, which is difficult to sustain consistently for extended periods. To quote CSO Insights in 2005: “We are still taking too long to get new reps up to speed, are still seeing low win rates, and reps are continuing to use discounts to close business far too often.” Furthermore, CSO Insights’ data reveals that in both 2004 and 2005, only 45 percent of salespeople are rated Very Good or World Class in their ability to deliver consistent messages to prospects—the rest are Dismal, Poor, or simply Average. And in 2005 the ability to effectively present offering benefits (value) actually fell,
despite a continuing trend away from selling products and toward selling solutions.