Sales Training Press Release
For Immediate Release
Media Contact:
Jill Perez Marketing, CustomerCentric Selling®
jperez@customercentric.com, +1.800.993.1228, ext. 706
CustomerCentric Selling® Releases Key Findings from 2016 CCS® Index Survey
Despite Missed Numbers, More Discounting, Long Ramp-Ups and Sales Cycles, Sales Organizations Remain Optimistic about Hitting 2016 Revenue Targets
Boston, November 1, 2016 – Less than 
forty-five percent met their sales quota in 2015. This is according to the results of the 2016 CustomerCentric Selling® (CCS®) index survey, referred to as the “CCS® Index”, uncovering key sales trends and behaviors across sales organizations.
A common theme that reverberated throughout this year’s report was the lack of practice by most salespeople and following process. Fifty percent admit to “winging it” rather than follow a sales process, and a surprising sixty percent also admit to never practicing their sales skills at all. Key findings of the Fall 2016 CCS® Index include:
- Forty percent of those surveyed did not make their first or second quarter numbers this year.
- Twenty-two percent say their top-line numbers are flat, declining or “significantly” declining.
- Close to seventy-seven percent say their sales process is effective in helping them achieve their sales goals. This is up from seventy-three percent last year.
- Thirty-four percent say their sales cycles are currently longer than six months.
- Nearly forty-three percent of respondents admit to occasionally discounting, while twenty-five percent say they “almost always” discount to win the business. This is up from twenty-two percent in 2015.
- Thirty-seven percent say it takes their new sales reps more than six months to ramp-up to first sale.
On a more positive note, sixty-five percent still believe they will make their 2016 revenue target this year.
“These findings make clear sense since we often see many connections between lack of sales process and lack of performance in the organizations we’ve worked with,” says Frank Visgatis, President and COO of CustomerCentric Selling®. Visgatis adds, “Once organizations and their salespeople embrace the value of the sales process in a top-down manner, results follow and it’s impressive to see what can be achieved.”
The CCS® Index gathered a tremendous amount of data from primarily sales and sales management across several industries, including software, high technology, manufacturing and financial services. The full report and a visual overview presented in an infographic form is available at:
About CustomerCentric Selling® – The Sales Training Company
CustomerCentric Selling® (CCS®) specializes in world-class sales training. CustomerCentric Selling® (CCS®) is a proven methodology for predictably improving revenue growth and sales performance. Founded in 2002, CCS® helps clients worldwide to implement repeatable, auditable and scalable sales processes that, when combined with CustomerCentric Messaging® (Sales Ready Messaging®), guides marketing and sales to have meaningful conversations with customers and prospects. This results in winning high-value deals, retaining and growing client relationships and improving the predictability and accuracy of sales forecasts.
CustomerCentric Selling® is annually named to Training Industry’s list of Top Sales Training Companies and the CCS® Sales Blog has been named as one of the Top 50 Must-Read Sales Blogs (by Docurated). Stay connected to CustomerCentric Selling® via Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, Vimeo and YouTube. For more information, visit
www.customercentric.com and sign-up for the CCS® newsletter here:
http://www.customercentric.com