When speaking with my clients, past and
present, I am often asked questions like:
"How are your other clients doing in this
economy? Are they struggling? Who's
doing well? How are they driving sales? Are
they laying off any salespeople? Is anyone
hiring salespeople? What are they
hearing from their customers?"
I understand their interest. I'm asking the
same sort of questions of my peers. The one
thing that I have noticed during this
economic downturn that's different from the
others I have experienced is that business
executives are proactively reaching out for
accurate, specific, and actionable
information to help guide their business
decisions during this difficult period.
In that spirit, I would like to pass along
the results from two recent surveys conducted
by IDC and NETSEA. IDC provides market
intelligence to the IT, telecommunications
and consumer technology markets. Lee Levitt,
Program Director for the Sales Advisory
Service for IDC, recently presented data gathered
from a confidential survey of IDC's clients.
NETSEA is an association serving top level
executives in sales, marketing, and business
development in high tech organizations.
Together with Mass High Tech, NETSEA recently
conducted a confidential survey to gauge the
sales expectations of New England companies
for Q1 and the rest of 2009.
IDC's Tech Sales Barometer 2009
In what sales areas will you be changing
headcounts (in your organization) in 2009?
Sales Administration
|
-40% |
Direct Sales (field)
|
-18% |
Sales Operations and
Planning
|
-18% |
Field Support
|
-10% |
Sales Management
|
-10% |
Sales Training
|
-3% |
Sales Enablement
|
+10% |
Inside Sales
|
+18% |
How will your overall sales investment in
the following functional areas change in
calendar year 2009 compared to calendar year
2008?
| Travel and Entertainment
|
-65% |
Sales Compensation
|
-10% |
Sales Training
|
+3% |
Sales Enablement
|
+10% |
Lead Qualification
|
+22% |
Demand Generation
|
+40% |
Please identify the sales program investment
areas that have received the most increase in
funding for calendar year 2009.
First Line Sales Manager
Development
|
45% |
Sales Enablement
|
33% |
Partner Programs
|
32% |
Sales Coaching
|
27% |
Outsourced Demand
Generation
|
25% |
Channel Programs
|
17% |
Sales IT
|
17% |
Sales Training
|
17%
|
Competitive Programs
|
15%
|
Standardize Selling
Methodology
|
8%
|
Outsourced Lead
Qualification
|
8% |
NETSEA / Mass High Tech Revenue
Forecast Survey (March 2009)
What are your revenue expectations for
calendar year 2009 (versus calendar year
2008)?
More than 50% growth
|
7.6% |
20 - 50% growth
|
10.5% |
5 - 20% growth
|
36.8% |
Essentially flat
|
25.7% |
Up to 20% decrease
|
8.2% |
More than 20% decrease
|
11.1% |
What are your sales hiring expectations for
the first half of 2009?
Expecting to hire more than
50 new sales people
|
0% |
Expecting to hire 20 - 50
new sales people
|
0.6% |
Expecting to hire 6 - 19 new
sales people
|
2.4% |
Expecting to hire 1 - 5 new
sales people
|
26.8% |
Not expecting to hire any
new sales people
|
65.5% |
Expecting to lay off between
1 - 5 sales people
|
4.8% |
Expecting to lay off more
than 5 sales people
|
0.6%
|
Are you expecting the majority of your 1st
Half 2009 revenue to come from:
Existing customers
|
48.8% |
New customers
|
15.9%
|
Or an equal mix of new and
old customers
|
37.1%
|
How do you see sales cycles and buying
decisions changing in 2009?
Getting longer by more than
3 months
|
27.1% |
Getting longer by 1 - 3
months
|
34.7%
|
Not much difference with
2008
|
31.8%
|
Getting shorter than in
2008
|
7.1% |
Not all of my clients are based in New
England nor are all of them in the high tech
sector. The data in these surveys is solid
information to be aware of, though, because
it's sales specific. When combined with
other statistics tailored to your particular
industry, this data can be used as a metric
by which to compare your own sales
expenditures, investments, and hiring trends.
