Chief sales officers (CSOs) have spent billions on tools to improve sales performance. Yet, sales productivity has declined over the past five years. We believe an inability to focus is largely to blame. Sales agents, sales leaders and customers now contend with different and growing sources of distraction. Too much information, too many choices, competing sales imperatives, and too many tools, processes and policies are taking their toll. By applying actionable insights and outcome selling techniques, CSOs can help cut through the noise and, in the process, shape sellers’ behaviors, as well as the outcomes customers demand and deserve.

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Selling in the Age of Distraction

2. Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.
One of the consequences of living in the digital
age is that we're all bombarded with information,
saturating both our personal and our work lives.
Sales is no exception.

3. Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.
All parties in
the customer
buying process
are affected.

4. Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.
For sales teams, distraction is an unintended consequence of sales
productivity investments, leaving them awash in overlapping sales
imperatives, an abundance of data, endless communication streams,
and multitudes of tools, processes and policies.
On one hand,
customers are more
informed and in more
control than ever.
On the other,
they are drowning in too
much information across
multiple channels, touch
points and offers.

5. Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.
Despite billions in investments, the numbers tell a troubling story:
Sales productivity
has declined from
41% to 36% over
the past five years.
55% of sales reps think
their company's sales
tools are an obstacle
instead of a facilitator.
59% of sales reps
say they have too
many sales tools.
Distraction has
reduced sellers’
performance by 14%.

6. Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.
Many of these investments reflect an obsession
with giving sellers more time.
But they may have actually hindered sellers’
abilities to build relationships and optimize
the customer experience.

7. Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.
Consider, too, the toll on an organization’s talent readiness.
51% of CSOs are unable to proactively identify sales
reps who might benefit from coaching.
57% admit they need to do a better job of hiring reps
who succeed.

8. Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.
Additionally, the increasingly complex selling environment and the
growing expectation gap between management and sellers
contribute to high sales rep attrition.
For many industries including High Tech, one-fifth of the sales
force turns over each year.
Because reps now have to become familiar with so many processes,
tools and data sources, the onboarding process of new hires takes
six months.
The opportunity costs associated with not having adequate
territory coverage because of sales rep rotation or learning “down
time” can be huge — as much as 15% of territories and customers
may be uncovered at any given time.

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The economic consequences of
distraction can also be seen in the
phenomenon of customer defection.
64% of customers switched at least
one of their providers last year.

10. Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.
What’s needed is:
a laser focus on outcomes
a more connected understanding of
the customer
a contemporary sales operating model
that translates predictive insights into
winning sales actions

11. LEARN MORE
about how to pivot your sales efforts
from productivity to outcomes with
our full report:
Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.
Selling in
the Age of Distraction