IDC provides an overview of the key issues in sales enablement and sales productivity. While sales enablement is a key cornerstone of sales productivity in this challenging economy, IDC finds that most organizations still do not understand the basics of sales enablement or the operational issues that deliver good sales enablement.

1. Don’t Understand Sales Enablement? You’re Not Alone! Lee Levitt Director, Sales Advisory Practice www.SalesAdvisoryPractice.com

5. What is Sales Enablement?

11. The Buyer’s Perspective Source: IDC Customer Experience Panel, January 2009 Number of respondents = 296

12. Buyer – Seller Alignment Q: Thinking of your initial meeting, what percent of reps were: Source: IDC Customer Experience Panel, January, 2009

13. Buyer – Seller Alignment Q: What percent did not win your business primarily due to: Source: IDC Customer Experience Panel, January, 2009

14. Buyer – Seller Alignment Q: Are vendors in general doing a good job at “solution selling”? Source: IDC Customer Experience Panel, January, 2009

15. Buyer – Seller Alignment Q: Which one of the following areas do sales reps need to know better about you and your company in order to improve the value of your relationship with the vendor they represent? Source: IDC Customer Experience Panel, January, 2009

16. Buyer – Seller Alignment Q: Which of the following is the #1 thing a rep can do to improve the value of your relationship with the sales team and the vendor they represent? Source: IDC Customer Experience Panel, January, 2009

17. Sales Enablement: What does “Good” Look Like? Source: IDC Sales Enablement Study, November 2008 Number of participants = 48

18. Sales Enablement Realities Q: How would you rate the overall sales productivity of your sales organization? Source: IDC 2009

21. Sales Enablement Realities Q: Do you employ a common sales process or methodology, common SFA environment? Source: IDC 2009

23. Sales Enablement Realities Q: On average, how much time does your typical rep spend on each of the following (in hours per week)? Source: IDC 2009 High Low Average Mode Median IDC Benchmark Customer Interaction 24 4 12 10 12 10 Prospect Interaction 20 1 8 5 6 10 Territory/Lead Development 10 2 5 2 5 5 Sales Call Preparation 20 1 8 5 6.5 15 Administrative Time 26 1 10 10 10 5

24. Sales Enablement Realities Q: On average, how much time does your typical rep spend on each of the following sales prep activities (in hours per week)? Source: IDC 2009 High Low Average Mode Median IDC Benchmark Looking for Marketing Collateral 25 .5 5 1 2 .5 Creating Presentations, Documents for Customers/ Prospects 30 1 8 5 5 5 Searching for Customer Info Inside Organization 30 0 5 5 4 1 Searching for Customer Info Outside Organization 25 0 4 2 3 1

25. Sales Enablement: Organizational Strategies

26. Sales Enablement Organizational Strategies Source: IDC 2009

27. Sales Enablement: Information Management

28. Sales Enablement Realities: Information Management Q: For all of the marketing collateral and sales tools provided to the sales organization, what percent is…? Source: IDC 2009 High Low Average Mode Median IDC benchmark Product-Centric 90% 0% 56% 50% 60% 20% Industry-Specific 80% 2% 21% 10% 20% 30% Customer-Specific 50% 0% 16% 5% 15% 35% Stage of Sales Cycle 25% 0% 10% 20% 10% 15%

29. Sales Enablement Realities Q: How is information distributed to your sales organization? Source: IDC, 2009 *Almost half of all respondents had more than one portal, with almost 10% reporting 10 or more portals High Low Average Mode Median IDC Benchmark Email 80% 5% 49% 50% 50% 5% Podcast 33% 0% 8% 10% 5% 15% CRM/SFA 80% 0% 14% 0% 8.5% 20% *Sales Portal w/Product/Service Hierarchy 70% 0% 25% 20% 20% 5% Sales Portal w/Industry/Solution Hierarchy 50% 0% 16% 5% 10% 50% Other 25% 0% 7% 0% 5% 0%

30. Sales Enablement: Goals

31. Sales Enablement Realities Q: Does your sales portal (or portals) provide the ability to: Source: IDC 2009

32. Sales Enablement Realities Q: What are the primary goals of your current strategic initiatives? Source: IDC 2009

33. Sales Enablement – Why do you care?

34. Sales Enablement – Why do you care? 10 minutes = $57,000

35. IDC Executive Guidance: Sales Enablement Best Practices

36. The Maturation of Sales Enablement Source: IDC 2009

40. The Sales Advisory Practice Team Lee Levitt Program Director Sales Advisory Practice Phone: 508-988-7974 Michael Gerard Research Vice President Executive Advisory Group Phone: 508-988-6758