Ebsta

In 2024, only a quarter of sellers are hitting their targets, sales cycles are 20% longer, and win rates have dropped by 7%. So, what’s behind the success of the 25% top B2B sales teams this year? Find out in Ebsta’s first exclusive webinar, “Beat the Benchmark: 2024 B2B Sales Benchmarks and how to improve rep quota attainment,” happening on September 10th. Get actionable insights from our 2024 B2B Sales Benchmark H1 report, driven by 1.2 million hours of top performers' conversations, to boost your sales performance. Don’t miss this chance to refine your strategy for H2 and drive success for your team and revenue. Register now!

In 2024, only a quarter of sellers are hitting their targets, sales cycles are 20% longer, and win rates have dropped by 7%. 75% of reps missed quota in H1 2024 - so how do B2B sales teams improve quota attainment? Our first exclusive webinar, “Beat the Benchmark: 2024 B2B Sales Benchmarks and how to improve rep quota attainment,” launches on September 10th. In recent months, you may well have seen insights from our analysis of $57bn+ in pipeline. Now, we're going to begin demonstrating how to improve quota attainment by leveraging those insights. I'm excited to share a glimpse of the work we are doing with customers behind closed doors to guarantee an improvement in their team's quota attainment. Join me on September 10th to see how. #SalesLeadership #B2BSales #SalesTeamGrowth

In Q1 2024, sales teams were cut by 9%. Sales leaders responded to falling sales performance by cutting loose the low-performers who missed their target. After doing so, some chose to take a lean route, funnelling the best pipeline into their best reps to hit their revenue targets. Others responded in Q2 by investing back into new hires, with team sizes growing by 18% moving into the second half of 2024. Tech stacks have been consolidated, the sales team has been shuffled with new hires coming in, and investments are being made into processes (such as qualification methodologies) in an attempt to improve win rates and shorten sales cycles. If you are one of those who is betting on new hires to hit your revenue goals, what are you changing this time to see an improvement in results? #SalesLeadership #B2BSales #SalesTeamGrowth

34% of ALL deals slipped in H1 2024 - that’s across commercial, mid-market and enterprise. Considering win rates decline by 83% when they slip, our data suggest this problem continues to be ignored. Enterprise deals tend to sustain their win rates for up to 2 months after slipping. But if they slip beyond 2 months, win rates begin to plummet. Mid-market deals can sometimes to be closed successfully up to a month after slipping, but following a month, the likelihood of them closing diminishes rapidly. At a time when we are creating more pipeline than ever, the evidence suggests we have to become more ruthless about moving hopes and dreams out of our pipeline and focusing on the new pipeline we are bringing in. #SalesLeadership #B2BSales #SalesTeamGrowth

🏆 Unlock Secrets of Quota-Smashing! Ever wonder how top sales performers consistently hit their targets? Paul Schmidt's latest feature in Selling Power reveals some winning strategies. ~ Key Points ~ > Get a grasp of today’s sales shifts > Key areas to find efficacy in your sales process > Attributes of a top sales performer + insights from Ebsta's industry analysis Don't let another quarter slip by. Elevate your sales game now! Read the full article 👉 https://hubs.ly/Q02JYbCd0 #SalesSuccess #SmartBug #AllSystemsGrow #SellingPower

The majority of deals are being closed lost due to a lack of momentum, and the lack of an engaged decision maker(s). This is the result of poor multi-threading, and poor ICP fit opportunities. In our H1 Update the B2B Sales Benchmarks, we compared why top reps close lost deals versus all reps. Top performers are 250% more likely to have the C suite (or a senior decision maker) engaged early. They are also 77% more likely to create pipeline that matches their ICP. To gather and maintain momentum, the top reps focus on accounts they know they’ve successfully won in the past, and are quick to identify who will be involved in making the decision. Neither is a silver bullet, but these are basics that many reps are losing sight of. #SalesLeadership #B2BSales #SalesTeamGrowth

Top-performing reps are 263% more likely to close an opportunity at the ‘discovery’ or ‘qualification’ stages. Across B2B sales teams, pipeline creation has increased by 25% on average. But how confident are we this pipeline is quality, and not just quantity? To cover for a growing number of reps missing quota, the answer for many has been to invest in building more pipeline. More coverage, more certainty they’ll hit their number - right? The only problem is on average only 18% of pipeline being created matches ICP. This suggests a reactive approach to the quota attainment problem. If we are to scale sustainably, sales teams need to become proactive. The best way to do that when focused on creating new pipeline, is to be ruthless when doing discovery. That’s a secret of most top performers. They don’t waste time on hopes and dreams. They ask the difficult questions to understand if the prospect is the right fit for their solution, and if their solution, is the right fit for their prospect. #SalesLeadership #B2BSales #SalesTeamGrowth

Engaging the CXO early in stage increases velocity by 9.2x. There are more stakeholders involved in the buying process than in 2023. 37% more in mid-market, and 23% more in commercial opportunities. When the C-Suite are engaged late, we know win rates are 42% lower. This is an all too common trend across ‘B and C players’. But top performing reps are 250% more likely to engage the CXO early. How? Focusing on the ICP they have had the most success with over the past 12 months. Refining their message-market fit with these accounts, and personas Prioritizing key stakeholder engagement before accepting the opportunity into their pipeline If there is an area to focus on when coaching reps, its helping them to get senior stakeholders aligned to potential solution to their pain early on in the sales process. Without alignment of the buying committee upon exiting ‘demo’ stages, deals quickly stall, lose momentum, and require significant investment of time and effort to rescue. #2024b2bsales

68% of deals moved past the ‘qualification’ stage are not qualified effectively. The good news is that adoption of qualification methodologies is +19%. The bad news is that lots of revenue is still being left on the table… Our analysis also tells us that only 18% of opportunities created in the past 6 months match ICP. So the vast majority of pipeline being created (+25% this quarter) is not effectively qualified, and does not match the profile of previous success. Whilst its not all doom and gloom, we know that when opportunities match ICP, win rates are 3.1x greater, and when deals are qualified effectively, sales velocity is 4.7x greater. As sales teams, we need to get better at prioritizing ICP accounts that we have demonstrated success in closing, and qualifying them effectively, so rep time is spent on genuine opportunities. #2024b2bsales

Quota targets have increased by 37% this year. Towards the end of 2023, our analysis revealed bar was being lowered for rep quotas. That’s a common response to tough market conditions in an attempt to keep reps motivated and incentivized. But reality has set in since then. There are revenue targets that businesses need to hit, and quotas have risen substantially again to try and meet them. The problem, however, is that 75% of reps missed quota last quarter. Every week, I ask CEOs and revenue leaders why they think they missed their number. The vast majority don’t know why. In 2024, Ebsta is obsessed with answering this question. We’re so confident in our AI-first revenue platform, that we guarantee to improve your rep quota attainment in the first 6 months. If you want to know why you are missing your number, please reach out. #2024b2bsales