By Simon Mitchell, Bradford Thomas, and Paul Hughes
In order to understand how people responsible for corporate buying decisions feel about their interactions with salespeople, DDI has conducted a major Global study.
We specifically wanted to know how these people view their buyer-seller relationships:
- What qualities do they value in a salesperson?
- Have their expectations of salespeople changed?
- What value do salespeople provide to buying organisations?
Highlights of the study include:
- Often negative view of the sales profession. 46% percent of buyers would not be proud to call themselves a salesperson.
- Buyers have increasingly high expectations of sales people and these are not being met.
- Trusted business advisor or just order-taker? Just 54 percent of buyers said they view their sales contacts as business partners. Only 31 percent said that "Relationship Building" is a top quality they value in salespeople.
- Loyalty – Who owns the customer relationship? 43 percent of buyers feel more loyal to the salesperson than the company.
Survey respondents included 2,705 corporate buyers across six countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the U.K. and U.S.
Click here to read the 2007-2008 Global Sales Perceptions Report in Europe.
Click here for more information on the 2007-2008 Global Sales Perceptions Report in the United States & Canada