Each year, we survey salespeople, marketers, business owners and their colleagues to understand what matters to them.
In the fifth edition of Pipedrive’s The state of sales and marketing report, we discovered what sales professionals really think about AI, how vital maintaining a work-life balance is and what benefits people are getting from remote working.
The state of sales and marketing 2024
Salespeople are hitting their quotas
The headline statistic from this year’s report is that 71% of respondents said that they hit their sales quota either usually or always, up from 52% last year.
In fact, only 3% said that they rarely or never hit their sales quota, compared to 14% last year.
There was also a slight uplift in the number of people hitting their annual personal sales targets, up from 60% in 2022 to 61%. Sales professionals at larger companies are hitting these targets more regularly than those at smaller businesses: 67% of individuals from companies with more than 100 employees reached their goals.
How technology is affecting sales and marketing
There is a clear association between companies effectively using technology and achieving success.
82% of respondents who are “very satisfied” with the tools available to them are likely to hit their sales quotas. By comparison, 62% of unsatisfied respondents are hitting quotas.
Sales and marketing professionals are using automation tools to be more productive and efficient, with 81% already using customer relationship management (CRM) software with automation.
In total, 87% of respondents use a CRM tool, meaning that only around 7% of them aren’t taking advantage of the CRM automation features available.
AI is already having a big impact
A third of sales and marketing professionals are already using AI in their work days.
AI isn’t the only new trend professionals are using to succeed: 83% of respondents have implemented at least one new approach or technology in their sales process in the last couple of years.
These approaches and technology include:
Hybrid sales (remote and in-person selling): 41% of respondents
Value-based selling: 41% of respondents
Social selling: 36% of respondents
Remote selling: 35% of respondents
Smarketing: 29% of respondents
Influencer and affiliate relationships: 20% of respondents
Multi- and omnichannel: 14% of respondents
IoT (Internet of Things): 5% of respondents
AR/VR (Augmented reality/Virtual reality): 2% of respondents
Blockchain: 1% of respondents
Overall, respondents are very positive about the impact AI is likely to have on their work.
Employees benefit from support and a work-life balance
Technology isn’t the only factor in employee work satisfaction and success. For example, respondents who are able to maintain a good work-life balance are more likely to hit their sales target.
Thankfully, almost two-thirds of respondents (64%), rate their work-life balance good or even very good.
However, only 31% of respondents said that they don’t work additional hours, while 16% work over 10 additional hours a week.
The amount of support you receive from your colleagues and managers can also have an impact on your success. However, less than half (45%) said that their colleagues and only a third (33%) said that their managers were among those who supported them the most in their professional lives in 2023.
The results of our survey show that providing this support has a direct impact on success.
Those who feel supported by managers and colleagues find it easier to meet their annual goals and sales quotas, while their overall satisfaction with their employer is higher.
Final thoughts
Thanks to the extra time and data provided by the right tools, sales and marketing professionals are able to make the right decisions to move deals forward.
For more key statistics and analysis of the last year for sales and marketing professionals, and the businesses they work for, download The state of sales and marketing 2023/24 report now.
