Sales leaders less confident about 2019: Study

Kiwi sales leaders are less confident about what 2019 has in store following a year in which fewer achieved their revenue targets, according to new survey.  

The annual Mood of the Sales Leader Survey charts the mood and confidence of New Zealand-based leaders of sales teams at mostly medium to large companies. Now in its second year the survey captured responses from 184 sales team leaders who are collectively responsible for $8.29 billion in revenue and 2551 sales staff.

While the vast majority of sales leaders (82 percent) anticipate higher sales revenue in 2019, this is fewer than 12 months ago (89 percent). 

Associated hiring intentions by sales leaders have also fallen, with 49 percent planning to increase the size of their sales teams this year, compared to 63 percent at the beginning of 2018.

This sentiment follows a year in which fewer sales teams (66 percent) increased their revenue compared to 2017 (71 percent). 

Mike Stokes (pictured), CEO of Indicator, says “Sales leaders are at the front line of commercial transactions in every business and receive buying signals before anyone else, making them a valuable source of market intelligence and a good gauge of the economic climate.   

“Business executives should listen to their sales leaders who are in a unique position to provide lead indicators and advance warning of changing market conditions, emerging competitors and new opportunities.” 

While the nature of New Zealand business relies heavily on inter-personal skills, this year’s Survey highlights that sales professionals are open to greater adoption of technology to improve productivity. Almost half of the respondents (47 percent) say their company is investing in new technologies including sales automation software, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and augmented reality.

The top three challenges for the year ahead are competition, reduced client spending and companies’ lack of capacity to deliver goods and services. This compares to 12 months ago when the top anticipated challenges included skills development and recruitment.