A new report sheds light on the challenges sales reps face when it comes to preparing for, presenting at, and following up after sales meetings.

1. State of the Sales Rep
Benchmarks for the way reps prepare
for, present at, and follow up after sales
meetings
A 2013 survey conducted by

2. Overview: State of the Sales Rep
Think selling in a difficult economy is a challenge? Try doing so without the right sales
materials. That’s a struggle many sales reps are facing, according to our 2013 State of
the Sales Rep survey. One in 3 sales reps (33%) reports that they’re “often” or “always
(on a daily basis)” frustrated by their inability to quickly locate sales materials. How
dire is it? More than 1 in 5 (22%) say they’d “need a GPS to find the materials *they+
need.”
We collected responses from 416 sales professionals at companies across industries.
Results show that providing easy, central access to content might alleviate some
struggles. In fact, more than 1 in 4 reps (28%) say their company’s approach to
organizing sales materials makes finding the right content chance-driven at best.
Respondents were surveyed about processes and challenges related to how they
prepare for, present at, and follow up after meetings. You’ll find the complete results
in this exclusive report. Enjoy!
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3. Prepare
Prepping for Meetings Comes Down to the Wire
How far in advance do you typically prepare for sales meetings?
Several days beforehand
44%
The day before
21%
At least a week in advance
16%
The day of the meeting
40% typically start preparing within a
day of an impending meeting
10%
12% wait until the day of the meeting
The night before
8%
I improvise (don't prepare in advance)
2%
En route to the meeting
Just 16% are early birds – starting at
least a week in advance
1%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%

4. Prepare
Where to Prep for Meetings Gets Creative…
Have you ever prepared for a sales meeting…
In a restaurant or coffee shop
93%
At your desk
86%
In the car
64%
On a plane
58%
On your iPad or tablet
53%
In the parking lot of a prospect
44%
On vacation
42%
In the bathroom
33%
While working out
24%
On the train
22%
At a kid's event
14%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%

5. Prepare
…And Even More Creative
When asked the most unique place
reps have prepared for a meeting, the
answers were all over the board.
Disneyworld
Hospital
Running
Dentist’s Office
Cooking
Boat
Poolside
Ice Fishing
Beach
Museum
Hotel
Church
Helicopter
Mall

6. Prepare
43% of Reps Spend More Than Half a Day Preparing
How much time per week do you spend preparing for sales meetings?
1-4 hours
Where do customer-facing
materials come from?
50%
5-8 hours
33%
9-12 hours
materials
prepared
by others
49%
8%
Less than an hour
7%
13-16 hours
2%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Learn ways to help reps better prepare for meetings. Download the Sales Enablement Ebook
materials
prepared
by reps
51%

7. Prepare
76% of Reps Use Materials Saved on Their Hard Drives
Where do you access the materials you need to prepare for sales meetings? Check all that apply.
They're saved to my computer hard drive
76%
From a central location (Salesforce, intranet, portal, etc.)
74%
I find them in email attachments
39%
I ask colleagues to help me find the materials I need
36%
They're in the cloud (Box, DropBox, etc.)
34%
They're saved to my iPad/Tablet
27%
They're in a filing cabinet
Other
19%
10%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Find out how to make reps more productive. Download Effective Sales Content: The Key to Sales Success Whitepaper

8. Prepare
Sales & Marketing Collaboration Could be Better
When creating presentations and
customer-facing materials, does
marketing make you part of the
content development process?
From whom do you get sales materials? Check all that apply.
Marketing
71%
I create them myself
68%
Sales operations/sales
enablement
Often
25%
56%
From other reps
Always
14%
52%
Sales managers/executives
52%
Other
Rarely
24%
8%
0%
20%
40%
60%
Never
13%
80%
100%
Sometimes
24%

9. Prepare
Reps Can’t Find Materials Quickly Enough
How often do you get frustrated at your inability to quickly find sales material?
Never
3%
Sometimes (on a
weekly or bi-weekly
basis)
All the time (daily)
6%
19%
Rarely (monthly)
45%
27%
78% of reps get frustrated on a bi-weekly
basis or more frequently with their inability
to quickly find material.
Often (several
times a week)

10. Prepare
Reps Have Many Content Challenges
What challenges do you face when preparing for meetings? Check all that apply.
51%
I have to spend time modifying existing materials
Materials are often out-of-date
41%
There aren't enough hours in the day to sufficiently prepare
41%
39%
It's hard to know if what I'm accessing is the most current version
30%
There are lots of different product lines I need to brush up on
28%
The materials I have aren't relevant to my prospect or customer
Materials are in formats that aren't useful to me
I'd need a GPS to find the materials I need
I don't have the materials I need
24%
22%
19%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Find out ways to overcome sales content challenges. Download the Effective Content Strategy Whitepaper

11. Present
Reps Love Presenting with Tablets
When going to a sales meeting, would you rather forget your tablet or
the item below?
My business cards
Do you ever use an iPad or other tablet
during sales meetings?
68%
Matching socks
61%
Directions to the meeting
No
41%
51%
Underwear
Yes
59%
47%
Deodorant
32%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Find out how industry leaders are using iPads in the enterprise. Download the whitepaper

12. Present
Reps use a Variety of Tools in Meetings
What tools do you use to present during meetings? Check all that apply:
66%
Laptop
61%
PowerPoint
51%
Print-outs
47%
Tablet
38%
Web conferencing
36%
Projector
31%
Whiteboard
28%
Smartphone
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%

13. Present
50% of Reps Present Without Key Decision Makers
What challenges do you face at meetings? Check all that apply:
50%
Key decision makers aren't in the room
45%
Difficulties connecting to Internet
39%
The customer takes conversation in a different direction
33%
Other technology issues
22%
My audience isn't engaged
13%
I don't feel well-prepared
12%
Hard to differentiate my offerings from the competition's
0%
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

14. Present
Reps Present at Many Non-Business Locations
Have you ever given a sales presentation… Check all that apply:
81%
In a formal business setting
78%
Over the phone
63%
At a restaurant
54%
At a social event
35%
In a bar
26%
While vacationing
21%
At a sporting event
12%
At a kid's event
11%
On an airplane
10%
At the doctor's office
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%

15. Present
Reps Are Bound to Have Presentation Mishaps
“My iPad, laptop and phone all worked perfectly. Then my pen broke.”
“Instead of giving a prospect my business card, I accidentally gave
him the key to my hotel room.”
“The sprinkler system went off in the room.”
“A bird flew in an open window.”
“I forgot to turn off my GPS, and it started talking during the meeting.”
Recalculating!

16. Follow Up
92% of Reps Follow Up with Emails
How do you follow up after meetings? Check all that apply:
@
92%
Via email
70%
With a phone call
37%
With sales/marketing collateral
33%
In person
32%
With a presentation deck
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%

17. Follow Up
Reps Can Tell Prospects are Interested by their Actions
How do you tell if a prospect is interested? They… Check all that apply:
74%
Set up an additional meeting
71%
Answer my email right away
70%
Contact me directly
67%
Request more information
64%
Take my call
36%
Connect with me on LinkedIn
10%
Follow me on Facebook
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%

18. Follow Up
Reps Face Many Follow Up Challenges
What challenges do you face following up with prospects? Check all that apply:
55%
It's difficult to reach them
49%
I don't know who else is influencing purchasing decisions
38%
My contact is not a key decision-maker in the organization
26%
It's difficult to know if they're interested
17%
I don't have appropriate follow-up materials to send them
10%
I don't know what additional matierals to send them
0%
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Learn effective ways for reps and managers to follow up. Download the Sales Enablement Ebook

19. Making the Grade – Room for Improvement
85% of reps gave themselves a “B”
grade or worse for their prep work.
Prepare
Present
78% of reps gave themselves a “B” grade
or worse for their presentations skills.
Follow up
79% of reps rated themselves with a “B”
or worse for post-meeting follow-up.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%

20. About Brainshark
Brainshark enables companies to improve productivity with cloud-based business
presentation solutions for sales, marketing and training. With Brainshark’s easy-to-use
solutions, customers transform static documents such as PowerPoints into
dynamic, mobile-ready content that can be accessed quickly and viewed as on-demand
video presentations or presented live – anytime, anywhere. They can also measure the
effectiveness of their communications in ways never thought possible and use these
insights to take action. Thousands of companies – including half of the Fortune 100 –
and millions of individuals rely on Brainshark to increase the impact and reduce the
cost of their business communications. Learn more at www.brainshark.com.
Contact
Brainshark Inc.
130 Turner Street
Waltham, MA 02453
781.370.9020
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