What Does Forrester Mean By “High-Performing B2B Sales Teams,” and Why Should You Care?

If you’re reading this, you probably recognize Forrester as a legitimate source of market research and have an interest in B2B sales and perhaps revenue enablement .? And yet, in a world full of fake news and “doing my own research,” one can never be too careful when consuming content.? Let’s get specific about best practices in objective business research, and understand “what great looks like” in sales:?

What’s the Agenda Underlying the Research?

?There’s a plethora of B2B sales data out there…what should you believe??

• If it’s conducted by a software provider, you’ll probably want to be on the alert for bias, because the results can be fundamentally prejudiced by their business model.? Such research is often designed to amplify only one outcome – buy some seats! – and they certainly don’t publish findings contradicting their value proposition.? This is why we pay more attention to independent political research than polls funded by partisan campaigns.
• If it’s conducted by an industry-specific community, there’s hope of authenticity, because they may prioritize research delivery and productize a reputation for objectivity and rigor.? Yet there exist many online communities that initially appear unaligned, but a quick look at who owns them will sometimes pull back the curtain to reveal subjectivity.? The true provenance behind numerous industry communities are actually software providers or business models that rely on their sponsorship.
• At Forrester and similar organizations, both the ownership and research mission are generally agnostic.? We may seek headlines and eyeballs for our work, but we don’t care whether the story is A, B, or C, as long as we report it accurately and translate it for customers who need solid, objective facts to guide their spending decisions and professional growth.? As a former high school newspaper editor , I was deeply impressed with the recent Marty Baron book showcasing journalistic integrity and how it applies to my industry analyst responsibilities.

What’s the Rigor Behind the Research?

First, take a closer look at the 6-point type at the bottom of every data slide, the research methodologies associated with every report, and the “companies we interviewed” behind every assertion (and if you don’t see this transparency, run away).? 16 years into my analyst career, I can promise you: my peers and I have no secret sauce; we just work hard, and we work smart.? Research is only valid if it’s a transparent process, with a published methodology and ample (preferably, hundreds or more) directly relevant and properly vetted responses. ?This is my third analyst firm since moving from sales into sales research in 2007, and I can honestly say the data standards have risen dramatically with each stop.? The extraordinary survey operations team and incredibly stingy (in a great way) Data Center of Excellence at Forrester keep our work far beyond any kind of reproach or challenge. Every time I think I’m rather talented at data stewardship, they elevate my game much further.

Next, beware of any research that’s too good to be true.? Once you start seeing comparative percentages beyond the very low hundreds, beware. ?If published headlines screaming about “1100% ROI” or “37X” ratios are true, you’d have heard from your stock broker long ago to invest.? In some cases, huge ROI is an accurate depiction of what can be achieved by marquis customer installations, but generally isn’t achievable for average customers.

Finally, think about the numbers you see before acting upon them.? Technically, if 15% of high-performing sales teams (see the definition below) are doing something and 3% of low performers are not, than sure, one cohort exhibits the behavior 400% more than the other. ?But in this example, 85% of top performers are NOT doing it, so that’s likely the example to follow.?

I’m a Revenue Leader.? How Should I Interpret Research Data?

Revenue teams worldwide recently finished calculating who has qualified for Winner’s Circle 2024, almost universally relying on some version of one metric: quota attainment.? So that’s how our 2023 B2B Sales Survey , for example, determines what success looks like: a “high-performing organization” is a selling team that achieved 91% or greater of its total assigned quota in both of the last two fiscal years; a “high-performing rep” achieved exactly the same on an individual basis.? This is simple and straightforward, but plenty of folks will argue that other metrics should apply. I’m happy to report that our HP cohort also reports substantive advantages around numerous related KPI’s:

• 45% higher total revenue growth
• 22% lower involuntary and 15% lower voluntary turnover within first 12 months from hire date
• 8% shorter sales cycle

B2B sales, channel, and revenue enablement leaders turn to us for guidance that’s informed by this research: What does good look like?? What are my peers and competitors doing? By revealing what behaviors are exhibited by high- and low performers, that’s how we leverage objective, accurate discovery to assist them.? In the revenue enablement arena specifically, we then generate hundreds of data points, such as:

• High-performing reps spend 12% less time searching for, editing, creating, and/or managing sales content.
• Revenue enablement in high-performing organizations is 9x more likely to report to sales leadership or sales operations, than to marketing (yes, 9x is both accurate and bold).
• High-performing first-line sales managers are 4.6x more likely to have been promoted or moved into the role from another type of selling role within the organization…and 42% less likely to have been promoted directly from an individual contributor role.

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Both we who produce, and you who consume, market research need to remember: with great data comes great responsibility.? We should only publish and rely upon business insights that pass extremely rigorous smell tests.