Appendix State of Sales 41 Customer Experience Is Now the Top Sales Benchmark Growing the number of leads/new customers is the leading sales objective for sales professionals. Here we see the most important sales objectives, ranked by sales professionals, over the next 12—18 months. Percentage of Sales Teams Who Rate the Following as One of Their Most High Moderate Underperformers Performers Performers Important Sales Objectives Over the Next 12—18 Months Grow number of leads/new customers 56% 52% 57% 60% Increase customer retention through deeper relationships 51% 45% 52% 54% Become a trusted advisor to customers 39% 38% 39% 41% Provide customers with a more personalized experience 37% 37% 38% 35% Increase average order size 36% 33% 36% 40% Increase face time with customers 35% 34% 34% 38% Improve customer and sales data quality/accuracy 33% 34% 33% 29% Improve use of sales technology 33% 31% 34% 25% Improve margins/reduce discounting 31% 24% 32% 41% Reduce sales cycle time 25% 22% 25% 28% Improve team selling through better enterprise collaboration 23% 31% 22% 20% Increase existing account penetration* 22% 23% 22% 21% Improve forecasting accuracy 22% 21% 23% 18% Provide educational resources 16% 22% 15% 12% Hire more sales reps 16% 22% 14% 15% Move to lower-cost sales channels 16% 18% 15% 16% Reduce new rep ramp-up time 9% 14% 8% 8% * Asked if in B2B or B2B2C sales. Salesforce Research