The report by sales-i also reveals that 23 percent of salespeople are troubled by upselling to existing customers.
The study is based on data collected from 283 sales professionals across the UK and USA.
Some 17 per cent of sales managers say that visibility into the activities of the sales team is their most significant daily challenge, while 34 per cent indicate that their main problem is acquiring timely information to use while selling.
Paul Black, CEO of sales-i says, ‘Sales is a notoriously competitive profession and while the best of the best are typically driven, charismatic and competitive by nature, businesses must do more to help them overcome the daily challenges they face so they can ultimately sell more.
‘This survey provides some fascinating insight into what exactly these challenges are and what businesses should be doing to combat them in order to get and stay ahead of the competition this coming year.’
General administrative tasks are also a problem, with 4.6 per cent of respondents stating that ‘compiling sales reports’ is their biggest challenge, while 6.4 per cent claim that ‘preparing for meetings’ is theirs.
Some 16.6 per cent of respondents say visibility into the activities of the sales team is their most significant daily challenge.
Problems with processes is another hurdle, with 17.3 per cent of respondents identifying issues with manual data entry and 9.5 per cent reporting trouble with using Excel for sales reporting and analysis.
Limited access to information affects 33.6 per cent of respondents, who report issues relating to getting hold of timely information, and 28.3 per cent say too much information is stored across different systems.
Two fifths (40 per cent) of respondents say they make decisions based on the existing relationships they have with their clients, while another 6 per cent claim to ‘go with their gut’.
Further reading on sales
