Research Finds U.S. Sales Reps Lose Six and a Half Weeks a Year to Admin Tasks
Lack of automation capabilities syphon significant time, decreasing the value of CRM software investments
New research from NewVoiceMedia, a leading global provider of cloud contact center and inside sales technology, reveals that sales professionals who use a CRM system are losing an average of six and a half weeks a year completing manual administrative tasks that could be automated with the right computer telephony integration (CTI) investment. When applied over an entire inside sales team, this represents a productivity loss equivalent to one and a half reps per year¹.
The study, conducted by global market research firm Opinion Matters, finds that despite the increase in CRM software spending, automation remains underutilized, and 79 percent of sales reps say their business would benefit from advancing its inside sales technology. Universally, companies are making significant investments in their CRM platform. A September 2015 survey from Forbes Insights and Brainshark revealed that 55 percent of US executives were investing in sales enablement technologies to improve sales productivity and more than half were making analytics and CRM software investments (54 percent and 53 percent respectively.) However, according to NewVoiceMedia’s research, 68 percent of sales reps must still manually update their CRM record after a call. On average, they spend 32 minutes a day in data entry, which, over the course of a year, amounts to 17 complete workdays. Additionally, the average sales person spends 28 minutes a day manually dialing prospects’ phone numbers, amounting to 15 workdays a year – time that could be focused on closing deals.
Specifically, sales teams are neglecting elements of automation that could be modernized with CTI, and the cost vs. value perception of CTI is largely misunderstood. The majority of companies (65 percent) believe cost is the top obstacle to adopting CTI, even though CTI solutions that integrate with CRM platforms absorb massive costs from administrative duties.
With NewVoiceMedia’s ContactWorld technology, Six Pack Shortcuts reported a savings of 276 minutes per day thanks to its click-to-dial function, which, coupled with other features, has allowed the organization to achieve a 500 percent growth in sales.
BrightCurrent also increased its productivity with ContactWorld, handling a 350 percent increase in lead volume since implementation.
“Sales reps who don’t have the best, up-to-date technology often feel behind the curve,” says Dennis Fois, President and COO of NewVoiceMedia. “Our research makes it clear that companies have made definitive efforts to improve their sales processes, but we are surprised at the amount of manual effort many sales people still have as part of their position. Businesses should be investing in automating monotonous and time-consuming administrative functions, so that sales teams can focus more on selling.”
Other key findings
- Only 42 percent of sales professionals can identify corresponding previous interactions with their prospects and customers, and only 27 percent have a system in place to intelligently route callers to the most appropriate team member.
- 14 percent of reps reported that they cannot present a local number to their prospect, regardless of the region they are currently calling from.
- 29 percent of sales professionals’ lack technology that can show them the hottest leads to follow-up on first.
- After a lost deal, only 54 percent of sales people solicit feedback every time, and five percent never ask.
For more information about NewVoiceMedia and to download the full research report, visit www.newvoicemedia.com.
¹ Based on The Bridge Group’s 2009 Inside Sales Report, which states that the average inside sales team is 12 reps. 6.4 weeks a year are lost on average to administrative tasks, per rep.
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