{"id":17594,"date":"2024-01-03T00:00:43","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T00:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sandler.com\/?p=17594"},"modified":"2023-12-19T18:26:56","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T18:26:56","slug":"sandler-research-center-survey-identifies-three-practices-effective-smb-sales-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/sandler-research-center-survey-identifies-three-practices-effective-smb-sales-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"Sandler Research Center Survey Identifies Three Critical Best Practices of Effective SMB Sales Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In early summer 2023, the Sandler Research Center fielded a survey to measure current responses to a number of questions of interest to sales leaders.<\/p>\n<p>The intent was to provide an annual review of trends in sales leadership, and to provide a snapshot of several critical benchmarks relevant to the sales space. The survey, the <strong>2023 Sandler Sales Benchmark Report,<\/strong> was completed by more than 300 respondents, predominantly managers of organizations with an annual income of $10 million dollars or lower whose organizations were based in North America.<\/p>\n<p>Three key takeaways our data showed point toward <strong>critical best practices<\/strong> implemented by <strong>leaders of small and medium-sized businesses<\/strong> (SMBs), including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An ongoing <strong>emphasis<\/strong> on <strong>internal sales management training and coaching<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>A <strong>commitment<\/strong> to <strong>collaborative engagement<\/strong> with the <strong>marketing<\/strong> <strong>department<\/strong> in their organization.<\/li>\n<li>A <strong>focus<\/strong> on <strong>continual development<\/strong> and <strong>updating\/renewal<\/strong> of<strong> ideal client profiles<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here\u2019s a brief overview of the relevant survey results.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_79_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/sandler-research-center-survey-identifies-three-practices-effective-smb-sales-leaders\/#Ongoing_Emphasis_on_Internal_Sales_Management_Training_and_Coaching\" >Ongoing Emphasis on Internal Sales Management Training and Coaching<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/sandler-research-center-survey-identifies-three-practices-effective-smb-sales-leaders\/#Commitment_to_Collaboratively_Engage_With_Marketing\" >Commitment to Collaboratively Engage With Marketing<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/sandler-research-center-survey-identifies-three-practices-effective-smb-sales-leaders\/#Continual_DevelopmentUpdating_of_Ideal_Client_Profiles\" >Continual Development\/Updating of Ideal Client Profiles<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/sandler-research-center-survey-identifies-three-practices-effective-smb-sales-leaders\/#DOWNLOAD_THE_FULL_REPORT\" >DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Ongoing_Emphasis_on_Internal_Sales_Management_Training_and_Coaching\"><\/span><strong>Ongoing Emphasis on Internal Sales Management Training and Coaching<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>More than two-thirds<\/strong> of respondents who reported that most of their team members were at or above quota \u2013 <strong>77%<\/strong> \u2013 reported that the training sales managers received at their organization prior to taking on the role manager was \u201ceffective\u201d \u2013 a significant increase over previous annual survey responses. This suggests that the most effective SMB sales teams are making\u00a0 training and coaching an organizational priority.<\/p>\n<p>An even higher percentage of teams where a majority of the team members were at or above quota \u2013 <strong>83%<\/strong> \u2013 reported that sales managers at their organization were \u201ceffective\u201d at one-on-one sales coaching.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Commitment_to_Collaboratively_Engage_With_Marketing\"><\/span><strong>Commitment to Collaboratively Engage With Marketing<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>In response to the question, \u201cDoes your business development strategy involve both Sales and Marketing functions?\u201d, <strong>95%<\/strong> of respondents whose teams had a majority of salespeople who were at or above quote answered that that collaboration with Marketing occurred \u201csometimes\u201d or \u201calways.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Continual_DevelopmentUpdating_of_Ideal_Client_Profiles\"><\/span><strong>Continual Development\/Updating of Ideal Client Profiles<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>In response to the question, \u201cHas your organization created a profile of the characteristics of an ideal client?\u201d, <strong>65%<\/strong> of sales professionals with teams where a majority of salespeople were at or above quota replied \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"DOWNLOAD_THE_FULL_REPORT\"><\/span><strong>DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>To download the complete<strong> 2023 Sandler Sales Benchmark Report, <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sandler.com\/our-research\/sandler-sales-benchmark-report\/#FREE_DOWNLOAD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>click here<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In early summer 2023, the Sandler Research Center fielded a survey to measure current responses to a number of questions of interest to sales leaders. The intent was to provide an annual review of trends in sales leadership, and to provide a snapshot of several critical benchmarks relevant to the sales space. The survey, the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":17595,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1120],"tags":[1038,1101,1377,1049,1411,1272],"class_list":["post-17594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-coaching","tag-sales-and-marketing","tag-sales-leaders","tag-sales-management","tag-sales-research","tag-training"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sandler Research Center Survey Identifies Three Critical Best Practices of Effective SMB Sales Leaders - Sandler<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Three key takeaways Sandler&#039;s data showed point toward critical best practices implemented by leaders of small and medium-sized businesses.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/sandler-research-center-survey-identifies-three-practices-effective-smb-sales-leaders\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sandler Research Center Survey Identifies Three Critical Best Practices of Effective SMB Sales Leaders - 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