Download our State of Sales Report 2020-2021, which contains dozens of insights into the working lives of salespeople, sales managers and business owners, revealing how the pandemic has impacted the way they work. The report is completely free and reveals how you can improve your chances of sales success. Check out the video below for some of the key results.
This year, we interviewed 1,702 sales reps, sales managers, business owners and Pipedrive customers about how they work and their sales experiences.
The survey was conducted between November and December 2020, at the end of a year that saw the COVID-19 pandemic have an enormous impact on our lives and the way we work.
Download the Pipedrive State of Sales Report 2020-2021
Watch our short video to see highlights from the report
The video above pulls out key statistics from the report, including data on the trend toward working from home.
We’ve also included animations of some of the key findings that reveal more about the experiences of sales professionals.
Sales professionals feel underappreciated but proud
Three in five respondents believe that salespeople are underappreciated. However, the majority (91%) of respondents are proud to call themselves salespeople. This indicates that, while many feel underappreciated, they know their craft truly makes an impact on the business.
Sales professionals have shown resilience during the pandemic
Despite the pandemic’s impact on business, only 4% of respondents became unemployed in the last year. In addition to this, 59% believe they had greater sales success in 2020 when compared to 2019.
Remote work has changed how sales professionals work
The biggest change over the last year is in where people work. 60% of respondents say where they work has changed, with 41% reporting that they now work from home
A minor impact on sales effectiveness
Despite the move to remote working, salespeople are still effective in their work. Indeed, those who work from home are only 5% less likely to have hit their annual sales goal in 2020 or their regular sales quota.
Furthermore, 59% of salespeople believe they became more successful at sales in 2020 and 81% expect an increase in sales this year.
Lead generation is still a top challenge
Lead generation and prospecting is still a big challenge for salespeople, with over half (51%) regularly, usually or always struggling to find leads.
Soft skills lead to success
Just over half (53%) of respondents say they developed their sales skills mostly while on the job.
While specific skills like sales qualification and methodology overviews are critical elements to any sales training program, soft skills are highly regarded, with 88% of respondents say they regularly work on improving them.
There’s a strong correlation between soft skills and hitting sales quota, as 10% of respondents who work on their soft skills also claim to always hit their quota, in comparison to 7% who do not.
Download the Pipedrive State of Sales Report 2020-2021
Download this free 82-page report with dozens of insights, statistics and discoveries about the sales industry at the start of 2021.
