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The LinkedIn State of Sales Infographic: Some Numbers to Help You Hit Yours

LinkedIn’s third annual State of Sales report surveyed thousands of decision-makers and salespeople to pinpoint how sales are changing. The following infographic, “The State of Sales: Some Numbers to Help You Hit Yours,” summarizes some of the key trends impacting the sales profession in the United States.

Check out the infographic for the statistics that reveal just how much sales is changing in the areas of technology, personalization, sales and marketing alignment, millennial influence, and trust.

Here are five crucial ways that sales are changing, according to LinkedIn’s State of Sales report.  

Technology gives salespeople an advantage.

  • 73% of salespeople use technology to close more deals.
  • Adoption of CRM technology has grown by 113%, more than doubling since 2016.
  • 89% of top sales performers say networking platforms are “very important” or “important.”
  • 70% of sales professionals say they’re most active on LinkedIn for business purposes.

Deploy the capability to personalize interactions with prospects.

  • 93% of buyers are more likely to engage if a salesperson provides personalized communications.
  • 79% of buyers won’t engage with sales professionals who lack knowledge of their company.

Marketing and sales orchestration helps close deals.

  • Top sales pros are 13% more likely to engage closely with marketing.
  • 64% of sales pros say leads from marketing are “excellent” or “good.”
  • 89% of decision-makers say consistent messages from sales and marketing is important.

Millennial sales pros are different: They engage more closely with marketing.

  • Millennials salespeople are 23% more likely than GenXers to say they work “very closely” with the marketing department. They are 73% more likely than Baby Boomers to work “very closely” with marketing.
  • 19% of Millennials exceeded their sales targets by more than 50%. Just 13% of GenXers and Baby Boomers did.

Trust is essential (well, maybe that hasn’t changed).

  • 51% of decision-makers rank trust as the No. 1 attribute they want in a salesperson.
  • Virtually 100% of sales professional say trust if “very important” or “important” to winning new business.
  • 88% of decision-makers say sales pros are a “trusted partner.”

Learn more. Download the full 2018 State of Sales Report.

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