SILICON SLOPES, UT--(Marketwired - Feb 15, 2017) - InsideSales.com , the world's leading AI-powered predictive sales acceleration platform, announced the release of a rigorously conducted study, which reached conclusions that starkly challenge a foundational tenet of conventional sales wisdom.
The study, released at InsideSales.com's Accelerate '17 event, revealed that end-of-month selling behaviors common to most business-to-business sales organizations have a negative impact on overall sales win rates and deal sizes. Not only do these last-minute blitzes result in the loss of deals that might have otherwise eventually been won, but the deals that do close do so at lower rates and smaller sizes than those won earlier in the month, resulting in significant losses in revenue.
InsideSales.com gleaned these results from a scientific review of nearly 10 million anonymized sales interactions logged by over 150 enterprise users of the company's sales pipeline management and forecasting software, HD Forecast™.
"These insights fly in the face of one of the foundational beliefs of business-to-business sales. They nullify the common belief that sales organizations should push to meet goals before month's end," said Ken Krogue, InsideSales.com founder, and president. "The study makes clear that it's time to completely rethink end-of-month strategy. Without a complete understanding of pipeline management in relation to time-based patterns or strategies, organizations are losing opportunities and throwing millions away each year."
An examination of the data determined that high pressure pushes to hit calendar-based sales quotas do more harm than good, as they force sales reps to both behave disagreeably and to engage in severe price-cutting -- often lopping 47 percent from the price that would have obtained the previous day.
Key findings from the report also indicate that weekly closing strategies are similarly misguided. Tuesdays close at a rate 65 percent higher than Fridays -- the day of the week with the lowest close rate and, paradoxically, the day many sales reps work hardest to close on.
Fortunately, this is an easy fix for sales teams. The study recommends putting limits on discounting options, offering bonuses for full-price deals and raising prices for future month purchases. Additionally, companies can coach reps and managers to push deals to the next month to maximize revenue and close deals mid-week.
Click here to download Time-based Closing Strategies: The High Cost of Procrastination
About InsideSales.com InsideSales.com offers the industry's leading sales acceleration platform built on Neuralytics, a predictive and prescriptive self-learning engine that drives revenue growth by delivering an optimized experience for both salesperson and buyer. The platform fuels sales rep performance and provides buyer personalization with breakthrough innovations in predictive sales communications, engagement tracking, forecasting and rep motivation. InsideSales.com has received numerous accolades for its technology, including being named to the CNBC Disruptor 50 and Forbes Cloud 100 lists and earning recognition as one of the fastest growing companies, according to Inc. InsideSales.com enterprise customers include ADP, Microsoft and Groupon.
Media Contact: Judd Bagley judd.bagley@insidesales.com 385.375.5171
