State of Field Sales 2021

Last year, we conducted a survey to see how organizations adapted to the changes triggered by COVID. Now, we're excited to launch our latest research project to help you refine the long-term strategy for field sales. We're sampling sales teams across industries and markets to better understand how field sales will change moving forward.

Please take 10 minutes to share your perspective on field sales going forward. For completing the survey, you will receive a free summary report once the research has been analyzed. Your responses will remain anonymous, and company-specific details will not be shared.

What's the right mix of virtual and face-to-face? How do you balance vertical focus and territory coverage? Do you need more product specialists or generalists?

Just when we thought we hit our stride adapting to a new selling environment, things continue to shift.

We've moved from fighting daily fires to more internal collaboration around bigger issues. We're also embracing different customer engagement models and exploring new growth opportunities.

The good news is, many of us are finding ourselves more effective and efficient than ever before. At the same time, even the strongest and most experienced sales leaders are struggling with tough questions about the way forward. 

Top-performing sales organizations have embraced the changing world. They're exploring new ideas - taking notes on what works and what doesn't. They're latching onto changes they thought would only be temporary, while bringing back the most impactful activities from their pre-COVID model.

Bottom-line: this is a period of change, but also a time for innovation.

So what is the 'right' model for your field-based sales team going forward? There are many elements to get right:

• Finding the right mix of virtual and in-person customer meetings
• Re-skilling sellers on the new requirements for success
• Equipping front-line managers to support sellers in a continuously changing environment
• Investing in the right tech stack and tools
• Deploying creative ways to collaborate, internally and with customers
• Elevating team culture, morale, and connectedness in a more remote structure

At the highest level, sales leaders must decide how to deploy their field sales teams, balancing what their teams want with their customers' expectations.