Nearly half of sales leads are generated by reps

When asked whether they use commercial sales intelligence or sales analytics/big data, a significant majority (58.2 percent) identify the former and 13.4 percent the latter.

"The reason SI is becoming a must-have for salespeople is that they need to earn the right to have a prospect agree to let them be part of their buying process," the report states. "This means reps need to do their homework before they make their first call to try to get into the game.

Turning to the utilization of sales analytics and big data, the study reveals the following:

• Generate more and/or better leads – 50.8 percent;
• Triggers/sales alerts – 45.8 percent;
• Develop targeted lead generation messaging – 45.8 percent;
• Improve customer segmentation – 45.8 percent;
• Identify key stakeholders – 40.7 percent;
• Improve competitive differentiation strategies – 33.9 percent;
• Develop a perfect prospect profile – 33.9 percent; and
• Other – 5.1 percent.

In regard to the ability to prioritize accounts to focus selling efforts, 42.9 percent indicate that sales performance needs improvement. Nearly half (47.2 percent) indicate their sales performance "meets expectations" while 8.3 percent say their sales performance  "exceeds expectations."