LOG IN

State of Sales Productivity Report for Today's Leaders

You got into sales for one reason: to spend your time building relationships and closing deals. Aka making money. But all those admin tasks and distractions chip away at your selling time. And your paycheck.

sales productivity hero

So, being productive means freeing yourself from the things that keep you away from selling. And that’s why Dooly exists, to carve out the freedom to sell. That’s our definition of productivity. Because reps shouldn’t have to work OT to hit OTE. But that’s the unspoken expectation today.

In fact, 91% of reps work after hours or on weekends occasionally or consistently, according to our Sales Happiness Index.

purple squares

91%

of respondents said they work after hours or on weekends either “occasionaly” (75%) or “consistently” (16%).

yellow squares

62%

work on weekends or after hours in order to catch up on administrative tasks.

52%

work on weekends or after hours to successfully close deals.

But how in the world do you achieve the zen of productivity (that freedom to sell)?

For this report, we surveyed 540 sales professionals about their time management habits, processes, and tools. Almost 80% of respondents scored in the Medium tier, which means they have good foundations but a lot of room for improvement.

Sales Productivity Scorecard: Overall Scores

(540 sales professionals surveyed)
circle graph

Paired with previous data from The Sales Happiness Index, we distilled the numbers to give you some recommendations on how to improve and master the 6 stages of productivity.

The 6 Stages of Sales Productivity

Purpose

When you tie your daily tasks to a higher purpose (whether making an impact, advancing in your career, or providing for your family), you’ll feel more motivated to work and will know what to prioritize — those things that get you closer to your purpose.

Big One

People with purpose are intrinsically motivated and display competitive characteristics. The good news is that this is true for most sellers.

Productive sales reps are intrinsically motivated and highly competitive

second set of pink squares

68%

are intrinsically motivated.

92%

are competitive.

Top performing reps are good at balancing pessimism and optimism. In fact, a healthy dose of pessimism is useful when preparing and planning for contingencies. However, most of our respondents are optimists.

84% of reps say their friends would describe them as optimists

When you have a purpose, you hold yourself to high standards and expectations. So, it’s no surprise that 73% of reps meet their own expectations when it comes to the quality of their work.

Goals

The second stage of productivity is setting tangible (S.M.A.R.T.) goals for yourself — goals that are aligned with your team and company goals.

Your most important and obvious goal? Hit quota!

Big Two

According to RepVue, 3% of sales teams hit 75% or more of their quota. How are individual reps doing? In our survey, we found that 43% of reps hit quota every quarter.

43% of reps hit quota every quarter

But don’t just set goals and forget about them. Have regular check-ins with your manager to review what worked well and what didn’t.


At Dooly, we set up individual and team pipeline boards to keep track of progress. Some reps even set up compensation boards for themselves in Dooly to help them forecast their own income as well as quota attainment.

Do you set weekly goals and check-in regularly?

Circle graphic

Would you say you always hit quota each quarter?

Circle graph

Reps who set goals and check in regularly with their manager are much more likely to hit quota (57% hit quota vs 38% who don’t set goals or check in).

Communication

Communication and collaboration are key to closing deals. But too much information or ineffective communication can derail your efforts and hurt your productivity.

big three

That’s why it’s important to set boundaries, expectations, and accountability. For instance, how often are you going to check emails, Slack messages, or attend internal meetings?

There’s not a one-size-fits-all answer to this, so find what works for you. According to Nick Cegelsky, the best reps batch and tackle Slack and email at a dedicated time instead of constantly checking and responding.

56% answer emails as soon as they come in; 35% set aside time throughout the day to respond to emails; 9% let emails stack up and get to them when they can.

How reps manage their email inbox

Circle graph

PRO TIP: Implement the Sales Communications Hierarchy. What does this mean? Some communications will make you money (sales calls and emails) and others won’t (internal admin conversations or talking to the wrong prospects and contacts). Prioritize and batch accordingly.

Most reps let the day control them instead of the other way around. We can talk about how the best reps batch and tackle Slack and email at a dedicated time vs. constantly checking and responding.

Nick Cegelski avatar

Nick Cegelski

Founder, 30 Minutes to President’s Club

Planning

Productivity is about being effective, not overplanning. For example, you should know your peak performance times — are you a morning person or do you work best in the afternoon?

85% of sales reps know the time of day when they’re most focused

14/85 graph

Planning will also help you break your day into the tasks that are going to make a bigger impact on your goals. For example, how much time should you spend prospecting vs following up?

37% of sales reps spend more than half of their time prospecting.

37%

Do you feel you have enough time and resources to hit your targets every month?

circle graph

A 20-minute task would take me two hours because I was doing a lot of things. So I started to block off time in my calendar and focus on one given task for 30 minutes and then give myself 5 minutes. So I’m hyper focused on a specific time but they’re dialed in on my calendar so I know exactly what task is next.

Anthony Natoli avatar

Anthony Natoli

Strategic AE at Lattice

Focus

Lack of focus is a big reason why sellers miss quota.

As Nick Cegelski says, “A great way to miss quota is to spend your day muddling around Slack and email. Cut the fat and make an impact.”

big five

What’s keeping you from selling?

stats and bars

Easier said than done:

  • 49% of reps told us they struggle to concentrate on one task at a time.
  • 57% of sales reps spend less than 40% of their time on sales calls.
  • 37% spend 50-75% of their time on sales calls.
  • Only 6% spend more than 75% of their time on sales calls.

Once you have a plan in place, it’s time to focus on the activities in your plan. Prioritize selling time — time in front of customers — and avoid distractions. Outsource all energy and revenue robbing activities to tools that automate or streamline the rest.

78% use systems, processes, or technology to manage and prioritize their time

86% finish what they started

Interestingly, 28% of reps said they don’t take regular breaks from work, which can eventually lead to losing focus and burnout. This is in line with our findings in the Sales Happiness Index:

Sales Rep Burnout

sales rep burnout stats

Tracking

Productivity tracking is not just using tracking software to log your activities but reviewing your success and failures to find opportunities to improve.

Manage yourself while being accountable to your manager. This requires you to be next-level organized with your CRM, your call notes, and your pipeline.

65% of reps rely on CRM data to prioritize time and accounts

5th set of pink squares

82% of reps say salespeople at their company are measured and held accountable for performance.

Dooly can help you create pipeline views and easily reference notes and data in Salesforce with a single command.

Find out how Dooly helps you stay organized, tame chaos, and save at least 5 hours per week, so you can close more deals with less work.

“What used to take 2 hours a day now takes 30 minutes with Dooly.”

Kyle Parrish

Head of Sales, Figma

How much time

See how you compare with the respondents by taking the quiz yourself.

The Sales Productivity Scorecard shows you the skills and habits you need to become a top performer and hit quota every time. In just 3 minutes.

Share
Tweet
Share