Frost & Sullivan's Growth Team Membership™ (GTM) recently completed its 2012 survey of sales executives throughout Asia Pacific. The executives were asked to identify their most pressing challenges for 2012. GTM will focus its best practices research to address the prominent issues identified in the survey.
Sales Leadership in 2012 - A Snapshot from APAC
- Implementing lead generation strategies is the primary challenge facing sales executives.
- Having insufficient personnel is the root cause of Sales' primary challenge.
- In comparison to 2011, budgets are expected to increase, while staffing levels will remain the same in 2012.
- Companies attribute 15% of their sales to distribution channels and partnerships.
- Social media is used by sales to pinpoint needs and create awareness.
- LinkedIn is the primary social media platform used by Sales, and is typically used to improve sales reps' knowledge of customer needs and demonstrate topical expertise.
2012 Sales Leadership Survey Executive Summary
This year's survey results indicate sales executives' 2012 challenges are shaped by their need to increase productivity. Specifically, sales executives need to pinpoint the highest-value sales activities, streamline their sales processes to match, and invest in new tools and practices for team collaboration. The other prominent challenges are enhancing the ability to monitor the business environment for shifts in pricing pressures and customers' purchasing behaviors and needs.
To further explore this year's challenges, respondents were asked to "root cause" their top challenges - whether they derive from issues with staffing, process, technology/systems, or strategic alignment. Sales executives attribute their challenges to the gamut of process, tools, and people. While respondents foresee little to no increase in staff, budgets are on the rise.
