Sales

Trends
Report
Sales Trends Report

Table of Contents

FOREWORD 3
Challenges + Opportunities in the 2024 Sales Landscape

INTRODUCTION 6
The Evolution from Sales Rep to Consultant

CHAPTER 1 11
The Informed Buyer + Self-Service Sales

CHAPTER 2 17
How Sales Teams are Using AI + Automation

CHAPTER 3 21
The Impact of Tighter Budgets

CHAPTER 4 24
The Importance of Maintaining Relationships

CHAPTER 5 26
Sales Performance Benchmarks

CHAPTER 6 31
How to Better Enable Sales Teams

CHAPTER 7 41
Sales Team Culture + Hybrid Work

2
Sales Trends Report

Foreword:

Challenges + Opportunities
in the 2024 Sales Landscape
Christian Kinnear
Chief Sales Officer, HubSpot

Sales teams are continuing to grapple with the lingering impacts of

the very challenging 2023 macroeconomic environment—but we’re
approaching the light at the end of the tunnel.

Sales professionals’ primary goal is to exceed their target or quotas

— but this past year, it has taken more work to get there. Over half
of them, 54%, say selling has been harder this year than it was
before, due to inflation, stiff competition, a lack of high-quality leads,
challenges reaching decision-makers, and longer deal cycles.

Challenges sales teams are facing in 2023

Inflation

Standing out from

competition

Lack of high-quality leads

Reaching decision-makers

Longer deal cycles

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

Many are dealing with budget constraints, and they’re being asked to
do more with less—in terms of resources and team-mates.

3
Sales Trends Report

How are sales pros performing this year?

60%

40%

20%

0%
Exceeding goals Meeting goals Underperforming

However, despite headwinds, most sales pros are still meeting or exceeding their
goals—and there are many exciting opportunities on the horizon for 2024.

First, inflation is finally slowing down, so we can expect that companies’ iron grip on
their budgets may finally loosen a little next year, making it easier for sales pros to sell.

And after three years of experimenting with different working models, one of the most
popular approaches — hybrid work — has been shown to also be the most effective
setup for sales teams. In fact, our new research found that hybrid teams are 28%
more likely to outperform fully in-person or fully remote teams. There’s no reason a
call-heavy day can’t be done from the comfort of home, but coming into the office
for team meetings, and visiting prospects in person, help make hybrid workers feel
connected and effective.

This coming year, we’ll be continuing to emphasise the importance of relationship

building — one of the top ways sales teams receive high quality leads is through
referrals from existing customers. This is especially important during times where
buyers still have some trepidation around spending money: even in challenging
economic times, a trusted peer will be able to convince their colleague that a product
is worth investing in more than a sales rep ever could.

4
Sales Trends Report

We're particularly excited about the opportunity to increase sales efficiency using
AI tools. Sellers want to sell, but research shows they spend just 33% of their time
actively selling.

We've found that sales pros that use AI tools to accomplish administrative tasks
save two hours a day. That’s two extra hours for connecting with customers, building
relationships, progressing pipeline, and of course, closing more deals.

Companies also feel that targeting new markets, improving sales and marketing
alignment, improving efficiency, boosting personalisation, and using data more
effectively can result in future growth for their company.

We think it’s going to be a great year, and hope this research can shape your sales
strategy and help you build better relationships in 2024.

Accelerate Revenue with Smarter Sales Tools

Prospect more efficiently and generate sustainable pipeline with the new
prospecting workspace, which consolidates your prospecting activities in
one unified pane. Try new sales features to up your team’s win rate like
A/B testing in sequences and AI-powered email generation.

HubSpot Sales Hub and AI tools can also:

Accelerate revenue growth with new intelligent deal management

tools like deal inspection and AI forecasting

Give teams access to deal journey analytics, lead funnel reports,

and more

Automatically log calls and track sales rep performance

Get started

5
Sales Trends Report

Introduction:

The Evolution from Sales

Rep to Consultant

Relationship-Building and Connection

are More Important than Ever
Sales reps used to be able to close deals by simply walking their
prospects through the many features and benefits of their product
— but today, the role of the sales rep is changing.

Since consumers have the ability to research the tools they’re

considering — and 96% of them do so before speaking to
any rep from a company — they already know why your tool
is worth considering.

How many prospects do their own research

before speaking with a rep?

Today, with AI making it so

quick and easy to compare
tools, to learn about their
features, and to even compare

96% pricing options, sales reps need

to behave more like consultants
of prospects have
and partners than vendors.
done their own
research

6
Sales Trends Report

When a prospect is talking to a rep, it’s because they’ve already

moved past the phase where they want to learn the basics about
the tool — they want to know exactly how a tool will benefit
them. They want tailored use cases for their industries and
circumstances, and they want expert-level consultation about the
ROI your tool brings to users with similar needs.

That means sales calls need to get deeper, be more personalized,

and prioritize connecting person-to-person, expert-to-expert. Reps
are also realizing that building and maintaining relationships with
customers in the time before, during, and after they sign on the
dotted line can bring in more long-term revenue.

Sales Orgs Will Keep a Focus on Efficiency in in 2024

In 2023, sales leaders were also very interested in making the sales process more
efficient — which makes sense, as many teams have been asked to stretch their
resources after an economically challenging year.

However, the proliferation of AI tools will only make it easier to increase

efficiency and work faster in 2024.

Only 2 hours ~1 hour

per day per day AI tools can
are spent actually is spent on
save sales pros
selling administrative tasks 2 hours a day

AI tools are making it easier for sales reps to automate the more repetitive parts of their
job, saving them 2 hours a day — time that can now be better used by connecting with
prospects, checking in on customers, and building lasting relationships.

7
Sales Trends Report

Sales reps know that building relationships and connecting are

the most important part of selling, and they also find it to be
the most enjoyable part of the job. Thanks to AI tools, they can
now actually spend time doing it.

82% 82%
of sales pros say building of sales pros say building
relationships + connecting with relationships + connecting with
people is the most important people is the most enjoyable
part of selling part of their job

Instead of spending time digging through a CRM and trying to figure out the most
important points about a customer before an upsell call, AI tools like HubSpot AI can
create the perfect talk track based on all the customer data available.

“Let's say you want to send a message to an existing customer about a new product you
just launched. Your customer platform has the demographic data for the customer. Every
webpage they visited, every transcript from every sales call, every customer support
interaction. You have deep contextual data.

Now you take an LLM, pair it with that deep contextual data and you can write the
message that is the most useful and most effective for that individual customer.”

Dharmesh Shah
CTO and Founder, HubSpot

81% 78%
say AI can help them say AI can help them
spend less time on be more efficient in
manual tasks their role

8
Sales Trends Report

What You’ll Get in this Report

Useful stats and sales performance benchmarks

for planning your sales strategy for the year ahead

Information about the growing importance of

providing self-service options

Data about the impact of AI on the sales process

— for buyers and sellers

Discussion about the impact of tighter budgets

Learnings about maintaining sales relationships

Data on enabling sales teams with the right tools

and a supportive culture

9
Sales Trends Report

Key Findings

Here are the top insights for sales pros and sales
leaders to know going into 2024.
1. 54% of sales pros say selling has been harder this year than it was before.

2. 96% of prospects do their own research before talking to a human sales rep — and
71% prefer to just do their own research instead of talking to a rep.

3. Sales reps only spend 2 hours per day actually selling.

4. Sales reps spend ~1 hour per day on administrative tasks.

5. AI tools are saving sales pros 2 hours a day.

6. 82% of sales pros say building relationships and connecting with people is both the
most important part of selling — and the most enjoyable part of their job.

7. 81% of sales pros AI can help them spend less time on manual tasks.

8. 52% of sales pros say B2B customers use self-serve tools more than last year.

9. 63% of sales leaders say AI makes it easier for them to compete with other
businesses in their industry.

10. 62% of sales pros say their org is taking fewer risks in 2023 than in 2022, and 70%
say budgets are more scrutinized in 2023 than in 2022.

11. 28% of sales pros say the sales process taking too long is the biggest reason
prospects back out of deals.

12. There’s an average of five decision-makers involved in every sales process today.

13. 72% of company revenue comes from existing customers, with 28% coming from
new customers.

14. In 2023, the average sales win rate is 21%.

15. 45% of sales pros are overwhelmed by the amount of tools in their tech stack.

10
Sales Trends Report

Chapter 1:

The Informed Buyer +

Self-Service Sales

Buyers aren’t going into sales calls anymore without knowing

plenty about the company and its products. That’s why reps are
starting to find ways to go above and beyond, providing a tailored,
value-packed experience for every prospect.

But the other way that companies are helping facilitate more
purchases, more quickly is by providing a self-serve experience.
Even business-to-business (B2B) companies that used to require
every transaction go through sales have started coming up with
pricing packages that can be bought independently, like their
business-to-consumer (B2C) peers.

of B2B sales pros offer self-service tools

64% to help guide buyers’ purchase decisions. +
85% of them say it’s an effective strategy.

52% of sales pros say B2B customers

use self-serve tools more than last year.

Many companies are trying something in between: letting simple

transactions be completed entirely independently, and leaving the
more complex contract-based sales to go through sales pros.

11
Sales Trends Report

Most Effective Self-Serve Tools

Sales pros who offer buyers self-service tools are 47% more likely to
be over goal this year than those who don’t. Luckily, there are plenty
of ways for sales pros to start incorporating self-serve processes
into their sales flow. Here are five of the most effective approaches:

1. Product demos
Previously, they were done mostly in-person or over a video call
— but today, it’s easy to upload pre-recorded demo videos for
different products and different use cases. Sales pros can send
out the demo video that best suits their needs, and prospects
can watch them on their own time.

2. Free trials
There’s no better way to get a sense of a tool than to try it out,
so free trials are becoming a common way to let customers get
to know a product before bringing any questions or concerns to
a sales rep.

3. Customer stories
Creating well-written, short articles that show the ROI and
use cases of your products in action can help prospects move
themselves down the sales funnel.

4. User reviews
Sharing a curated list of relevant user reviews can help
prospects understand the potential of your tools, and lets them
better understand if they can get similar use out of it.

5. Chatbots
Whether they’re purely AI-powered and pull from your
knowledge base, or they’re partially run by AI and pass things
off to a human if a question is too complex, chatbots can be a
helpful self-serve sales tool.

12
Sales Trends Report

Buyers are Better-Informed than Ever —

and They’re Using AI to Research
Reps can’t just read off value props — buyers can get that info easily
doing a few minutes of solo research. Instead of having discovery calls
with various reps at three different companies, buyers can just ask a
chatbot to compare all three options.

“ Buyers using AI to self-educate could be threatening,

but I believe it makes my expertise in advising and
customizing solutions even more important for

”
building trust. I can focus on building relationships and
addressing their specific needs.

shared by an anonymous sales professional

13
Sales Trends Report

How reps feel buyers using AI to research

will impact their work

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

43% 44% 13%

0%
Posotive impact Neutral impact Negative impact

How sales pros say buyers using AI to

research will make an impact

Easier to make sales

Improve business performance

Shorten sales cycle

0% 20% 40% 60%

14
Sales Trends Report

Sales pros say Al will empower buyers to do independent

research, which increases their confidence and decision-
making ability, leading to shorter and more productive
sales cycles.

67% of sales pros say that by 2024, AI will enhance buyers'

ability to do research so much that they’ll be able to make
informed decisions without engaging with sales reps.

Even today, prospects prefer to do

solo research instead of talking to

71% a person — so when they do end up

on the phone with a sales rep, it’s
of prospects prefer doing important for the conversation to
their own research vs.
speaking to a human provide true value.

When sales reps first speak with a prospect,

how many know about the company,
services, and competition?

100%

75%

50%

25%

88% 84% 83%

0%
Know about company Know how products/ Know about products/
services compete services
with others

15
Sales Trends Report

"AI can streamline the buyer's decision-making process, potentially leading to shorter
sales cycles," a CRO based in Australia shared in a HubSpot Sales Research Survey.

Considering that so many buyers will be better educated about products, sales reps will
be able to cut out significant time spent doing that work themselves. Maybe it’s one
less meeting, or a call that’s half as long, because the buyer already knows the primary
value props of your tools. And these days, if a buyer has made it onto the phone with a
rep at all, it shows very high intent — so reps just need to harness it by truly connecting
with the prospect and taking the deal over the finish line.

Instead of just providing basic research, sales pros must be able to:

• Expertly contextualize their products for each customer

• Show usefulness and value for each customer’s unique needs
• Build and maintain relationships
• Personalize products, pricing packages, and services
• Boost buyer confidence

Thanks to AI tools, "buyers will know more about my products and I will know
more about customer needs," a B2B sales rep from the U.S. said in a HubSpot
Sales Research Survey.

16
Sales Trends Report

Chapter 2:

How Sales Teams are

Using AI + Automation

It’s not just buyers who have easier access to information today
thanks to AI tools. Sales pros are finding many creative, effective
ways to build AI tools into their process, and it’s already making a
major impact.

of sales leaders say AI makes it easier

63% for them to compete with other businesses
in their industry

From reducing the time they spend on manual tasks, to

better understanding their customers, to providing increased
personalization, to generally being more efficient, there are so many
reasons to start implementing AI tools into the sales process.

“AI tools can consider each buyer's unique business needs,

preferences, and past interactions to offer tailored product
recommendations, increasing the relevance of the information
presented,” a sales leader from a HubSpot Sales Research Survey
pointed out.

17
Sales Trends Report

How do sales pros say AI tools help them in their work?

100%

75%

50%

25%

81% 78% 66% 66%

0%
Reduce manual Be more efficient Better understand Provide personalization
task time customers

Top Sales Use Cases for AI Tools

1. Personalization

With AI tools built for sales, reps can quickly research about
each customer’s company and their needs to better tailor
product recommendations and have more context going into
conversations.

18
Sales Trends Report

2. Drafting and Sending Outreach

Generative AI tools can help sales reps draft different types of

email templates with different tones, products, and sales tactics.
For example, reps can input one email template into ChatSpot,
and ask the system to create versions that are more or less
formal or friendly — instead of rewriting the template several
times manually.

AI-powered outreach tools can also automate scheduling emails

and texts.

Finally, sales reps and marketers can also set up nurture flows
that get triggered by prospect or customer behavior, sending
them messages relevant to the actions they’re taking across your
website and other channels.

3. Understanding Emotions and Identifying Buyer Stage

Not every prospect and customer is great at communicating

— and sales reps are often left guessing what stage they’re at.
That’s why 41% of sales pros use AI to recognize and respond to
buyer emotions or sentiment — and 83% of them say it’s effective.

Plus, sales pros who use AI this way are 52% more likely to
be over goal this year than those who don’t.

19
Sales Trends Report

4. Competitive Analysis

Sites like G2 have made it easy for prospects to research

about various competitive options and compare them to your
product — but these sites, as well as AI tools that parse all the
information available across multiple review and product sites,
can also be leveraged by sales teams.

Sales pros can use AI research to prepare how to reply to

common questions about their competitors.

Ultimately, this can help sales pros showcase product fit better
than their competition.

Smarter Selling with AI in 2023

5. Predicting Objections

With AI research tools, and AI-powered CRMs, sales pros

can quickly parse all the history and activities of a prospect
— which can help them come prepared with replies for their
most likely objections.

“AI has made salespeople more effective by automating many

of the routine tasks and providing users with deep insights
into a variety of topics, such as the best time to reach out or
how to optimize marketing collateral. In doing so, AI is helping
salespeople communicate more effectively and successfully.”

Karen Ercoli, Co-Founder, Se Chauffe

20
Sales Trends Report

Chapter 3:

The Impact of
Tighter Budgets

2023 was, from beginning to end, an economically tumultuous

year. As a result, budgets have constricted and companies are
generally treading more cautiously before jumping to invest in a
new product or tool.

62% of sales pros say their org is taking fewer

risks in 2023 than in 2022

70% say budgets are more scrutinized in 2023

than in 2022

21
Sales Trends Report

Tighter budgets can mean more

stakeholders and longer sales cycles

During economic challenges, it’s harder to convince

prospects to buy.

“When the market is good, and there’s a lot of demand for your
product, [doing sales] is just a transaction. You’re a glorified
accountant… closing one deal after another,” shared Adarsh
Noronha, sales leader for the Indian subcontinent at HubSpot.
“But in these times, you have to be their friend,” he added,
saying it’s important to approach every conversation with
empathy, context, and understanding.

When the macroeconomic climate is challenging, more company

stakeholders — and more senior leaders — become involved in
buying processes, making them take longer.

28%
There's an average of five of sales pros say the sales process
decision-makers involved in taking too long is the biggest
the sales process today reason prospects back out of deals.

Noronha also suggests multithreading, which involves building relationships with

multiple stakeholders at target companies. Not only do sales pros never know if a
contact will be at the company long-term, but it’s also a great way to establish trust
and lay the foundation for a sale — especially when so many stakeholders are involved
in every deal.

To learn more, check out How to Sell in a Market Downturn, a new episode from the
Asia Growth Forecast from HubSpot. The insights here apply to sales pros across the
globe facing economic challenges.

22
Sales Trends Report

Sales teams are prioritizing leads

from highest quality sources

So much of sales is prioritizing: how do reps know which leads are the ones to
pursue at any given moment? CRM data can help.

On a micro level, a great CRM can surface individual opportunities with alerts
when a prospect’s behavior has changed. But on a macro level, a CRM can
also show largest trends, like which lead sources have been more consistently
bringing in deals for the company.

This year, the top sources for high quality leads across our
survey participants were as follows:

1. Social media 4. Telemarketing

2. Referrals from existing customers 5. Website/blog/SEO
3. Email marketing 6. Tradeshows and events

Bonus insight: This year, webinars were at the very bottom of the
list. This strategy seems to have slowed down since the height of the
pandemic, and buyers now favor independent research.

23
Sales Trends Report

Chapter 4:

The Importance of
Maintaining Relationships

Sales teams know that building relationships is important, but in the

past year or two, there's been an increased emphasis on maintaining
existing relationships — because existing customers bring a majority
of revenue and they refer the highest-quality leads.

Where does revenue come from?

New
customer

28%
Existing
customer

72%

Cross-selling and upselling are lower lifts than finding

net new customers, especially in today’s market.

24
Sales Trends Report

How to Maintain Sales Relationships

"Calling only when a renewal is due is so 2014. Set up four quarterly updates — if only
for 15 minutes — with the client to check in every three months, create a quick agenda,
consider using an NPS survey to gauge value, and make sure your customers have
your cell number. And never forget to ask for referrals periodically," suggests sales icon
Dan Tyre, HubSpot Sales Director.

1. Check in regularly — not just near the end of the billing cycle.

2. Use the right channels for each prospect. Use AI tools to create a range
of correspondence types (email, text, social media DM, phone script)
based on your contact’s preferences.

3. Tailor your scripts. Use AI tools to adjust the tone of all your scripts -
some customers are formal, some prefer a friendlier approach.

4. Come prepared for each interaction with tailored scripts. Check your
CRM and use AI tools to research your customer before you send that
message or email, or make that call — and choose which talk track
makes the most sense at this time.

5. Take a consultative approach. Get in touch regularly, not just near the
end of the billing cycle, to address any issues the customer may have.
That way, when you get in touch when a new product or integration has
launched, you don’t come off opportunistic. By building real trust with
regular check-ins and effective problem solving, suggestions for new
add-ons are more likely to be well-received.

6. Celebrate customer wins. Keep in touch and send congratulations when

customers are able to grow their business — no CTA included.

Keep reading: Learn more about Relationship Selling

25
Sales Trends Report

Chapter 5:

Sales Performance
Benchmarks

It’s always helpful to understand where industry benchmarks are

at when planning for a new year, quarter, or month. But as the tech
industry has evolved in the past few years, especially with global
economic challenges, it’s helpful to redefine what success looks
like. One VC firm, OpenView, has radically reimagined what their
benchmarks are for their yearly report.

“As SaaS companies have pivoted away from growth-at-any-cost,

we’ve updated the report’s definition of ‘fast-growing’ from 100%
to 75% year-on-year growth,” says VC firm OpenView in its fourth
annual Product Benchmarks Report.

26
Sales Trends Report

With that in mind, here are the sales benchmarks to consider for 2024,
based on 2023 performance:

21% The average

sales win rate 29% The average sales
close rate

• The median deal size is $4,000

• 47% of all deals are between $1-5k

• 91% of sales pros upsell, and they say it brings in an average of 21%
of company revenue

• 87% of sales pros cross-sell, and they say it brings in an average of

21% of company revenue

27
Sales Trends Report

Top 3 Sales Strategies for B2B and B2C Businesses in 2023

Selling at a B2B company is different than doing so at a B2C.

Here are the top sales strategies for each business type:

B2B B2C

Establishing rapport
with customers during the Offering discounts/promotions
sales process

Establishing rapport
Setting up a face-to-face
with customers during the
meeting
sales process

Conducting market research

Understanding the key business
to understand your target
challenges prospects face
demographic

It’s important to note that the only overlap between these two
approaches is about establishing rapport with customers during
the sales process. No matter if you’re selling a yearly contract for a
complex business software, or you’re selling a desk for a home office,
connecting with the customer is essential.

Though many B2C companies don’t involve sales reps in most

simple transactions, there are still other ways to forge a connection
with your community.

1. Social media 3. Influencers

2. Creative copy in sales 4. Email newsletters

confirmation email flows
5. Text campaigns

28
Sales Trends Report

What are high-performing sales teams doing differently?

Across the surveyed sales pros, there were some clear differences in approach taken
by high-performing sales teams compared to those who are underperforming.
It comes down to company and team culture and easy access to data.

Which aspects of internal sales culture are most

important to keeping you or your team motivated?

1. Prioritizing trust among reps

24% of high-performing sales teams highly rank the importance of

building a culture of trust among reps. Only 13% of underperforming sales
teams have done the same.

Some may see sales as a dog-eat-dog profession, but really it’s about
lifting together. Model how reps need to trust one another to look out for
one another’s best interests. Create a sales team culture that shows that
if one of us wins, we all win.

2. Collaboration and knowledge sharing

20% of high-performing sales teams highly rank the importance of

collaboration and knowledge sharing. Only 14% of underperforming sales
teams have done the same.

By encouraging collaboration and knowledge sharing, natural

mentorships can emerge among your team. More established reps
can help newer reps as they ramp, and newer reps can bring in an
understanding of younger buyers and new ways to sell.

29
Sales Trends Report

3. Provide transparent performance data

17% of high-performing sales teams highly rank the importance of

making performance data available. Only 11% of underperforming sales
teams do the same.

Transparent performance data, that’s accessible to all, can help sales

pros stay motivated and on track to hit their goals.

30
Sales Trends Report

Chapter 6:

How to Better Enable

Sales Teams
There are so many things that sales leaders can do to better enable their sales pros to
succeed. We’ll get into some of the most impactful opportunities to consider in 2024.

Create More Enablement Content

Enablement content both helps sales pros sell, and can bring in higher
quality leads. For both B2B and B2C go-to-market (GTM) teams, the
content types with the highest ROI are as follows:

Social media content

Work with your marketing team to create assets that sales pros can
share from their personal social media, and in DMs to prospects.

Product demos
Full-length demos are great, but when was the last time you made
sure the video that’s going out all the time is fully up to date? New
features and software changes need to be reflected in product demos.
Well-edited, bite-size walkthroughs of product capabilities are a great
place to start.

Videos
Video is an extremely engaging format, so sales teams can benefit
from short videos to share with prospects and customers. Whether
it’s a short video showing how to use a certain feature, a roundup of
top use cases, or a front-facing video announcing a sale or a promo,
experiment with different video types and see what sticks.

31
Sales Trends Report

“ Given the sales landscape is rapidly changing, content can easily

become outdated and stale. Teams that can make content easy to find
for reps have a clear edge over other competitors. Sales enablement
tools ensure that sales teams always have access to the content they
need when they need it. Additionally, having content organized by tags
such as persona, product category, industry, or other team-specific

”
topics can help drive efficiency.

Dailius Wilson on the HubSpot Sales Blog

52% of sales pros use sales enablement content

+ 79% of them say it’s important to making a sale.

If you work with the marketing team to create content

that actually helps close deals, sales pros will be
enthusiastic to use it. That means trying different types
of enablement content, testing it, providing sales team
feedback, and investing more in what works.

This year, among U.S. sales pros, use of sales

enablement tools jumped 48% YoY — 40% vs. 59%.

32
Sales Trends Report

Sales enablement tools use among

US sales pros, 2022 vs. 2023

60%

40%

20%

0%
2022 2023
use use

Top 5 Most Effective Sales Enablement Content

for Helping Reps win Deals

Sales pros who use sales enablement content in their role are 58%
more likely to be performing over goal this year than those who
don’t use it. Here are some types of enablement content to test out:

1. Social media content 4. Customer testimonials

2. Market research 5. Product demos

3. Reviews

33
Sales Trends Report

Trim Your Tech Stack

For the past decade (or longer!), companies were
understandably excited to implement new technologies
all the time.

And during the early pandemic, when everything went

online only, companies brought on even more apps and
software.

But we’ve reached a bit of a breaking point: companies

use, on average, over 200 apps and tools. And because
so many tools don’t integrate well together, sales teams
are wasting time doing double data entry, cleaning up
incorrect data, and syncing systems that don’t do it
automatically. It makes digging for information about
prospects and customers time-consuming, and wastes
time that teams could spend actually connecting with
customers.

As a result, sales leaders are considering trimming their

tech stack to boost efficiency.

Consider a tech stack audit. If a tool doesn’t play well with others, or if its ROI
isn’t up to par, give it the boot.

1 in 4 sales 45% of sales pros are

leaders
overwhelmed by the
amount of tools in
their tech stack
say they have too many tools

34
Sales Trends Report

How would reducing the tech stack impact

the work of sales pros?

30%

20%

10%

29% 26% 26%

0%
Make them Let them spend Let them have higher
more efficient more time selling quality data

Higher quality data, greater efficiency, and more time to actually

sell are all great reasons to cut back a bloated tech stack.

Learn about the must-haves for any sales tech stack.

35
Sales Trends Report

Ceros Achieved 180% Deal Generation

Growth Through Smarter Prospecting
with HubSpot Sales Hub
As Ceros, an interactive suite of design tools, grew, they realized that disparate sales
processes and siloed documents wouldn’t allow them to scale. “Our approach to
prospecting was 'volume over value.' Our systems and processes got so complex and
disjointed. Our reps were wasting time and lacking insight. Their productivity tanked.
They were playing darts in the dark. The worst part: our customers suffered as a result.
Because reps were so bogged down, they lost sight of what they do best: actually
connecting with prospects," shared Director of Revenue Operations at Ceros,
Douglas Botchman.

By getting the team onto Sales Hub, they streamlined their prospecting, empowered
reps to have more relevant conversations and make stronger connections, increased
deal generation, and accelerated growth. With a shared dashboard, reps can pursue
higher-quality leads that are more likely to become loyal customers. They now have
automated alerts that flag reps when a customer is actively looking for information
or ready to buy.

180%
< 5-minute
increase in deals 18%+
response time moves leads
generated from open average SQL growth
through the funnel faster
meeting opportunities

“Sales Hub helps us prospect smarter. It makes our prospecting reps more
productive, enables more relevant and personalized outreach, and empowers reps
to get back to what they do best: connecting with prospects.”

Douglas Botchman, Director of Revenue Operations, Ceros

Read the full Ceros story

36
Sales Trends Report

Improve Marketing + Sales Alignment

Sales pros at companies with aligned sales and marketing teams are 103% more
likely to be performing better than their goals this year than sales pros at
companies that aren’t aligned.

Great alignment between sales and marketing means better sales enablement content,
higher quality leads, and more deals won. That’s why 61% of sales pros say alignment
between these teams is more important now than it was last year — in challenging
economic times, sales and marketing alignment feels higher stakes.

However, consistent GTM alignment is out of reach for a lot of companies.

Only 30% of sales pros say sales + marketing are

strongly aligned at their company.

However, things have also been improving this year: 61% also say their sales and
marketing teams are more aligned this year than they were last year.

37
Sales Trends Report

How aligned are sales + marketing teams

this year, compared to last year?

75%

50%

25%

0%
More aligned Same as last year Less aligned

One of the top asks from sales to marketing has to do with leads: 43%
of sales pros say they need higher quality leads from their marketing
team — only 59% say the leads they’re getting today are high quality.

And 39% say what’s needed is

alignment on goals and strategies.

59% Consider a short monthly standup

between sales and marketing
of sales reps who say leads leaders to ensure that things are
from their marketing team still working as expected.
are high-quality.

Try our free Sales Plan Template

38
Sales Trends Report

Nakul Kadaba, a Customer Success Manager at HubSpot, shared that

having access to the same data, in one source of truth, can help align
sales, marketing, and customer success. “Removing data silos, and
sharing information between departments not only fosters collaboration
but leads to a more consistent customer experience. When all employees
have the same understanding of your customer base, you'll create an
attractive offer that's uniform throughout your flywheel.”

39
Sales Trends Report

Implement AI Tools
As mentioned in the AI chapter, sales pros see AI significantly boosting
their ability to upsell, cross-sell, and down-sell.

• 86% of sales pros who upsell say AI will make it easier to upsell
• 86% of sales pros who cross-sell say AI will make it easier to cross-sell
• 92% of sales pros who down-sell say AI will make it easier to down-sell

Generative AI tools like ChatSpot save sales teams time by helping them write
and customize talk tracks, email templates, and social posts. And AI-powered
CRM tools save sales teams time spent digging for information about which
prospect to pursue next.

And since buyers are better educated about products thanks to AI research,
and sales pros can also save time when researching the customer’s needs, AI
tools can help shorten the sales cycle.

Provide a Great CRM to be

a Single Source of Truth
A great CRM is at the heart of every sales pro’s daily
tasks. 78%of sales pros say their CRM is effective at
improving sales and marketing alignment

Plus, sales pros using a CRM are 79% more likely to

say their teams are strongly aligned.

Learn about HubSpot Sales Hub and how it can help

sales teams stay on track, hit quota, and connect
more effectively.

40
Sales Trends Report

Chapter 7:

Sales Team Culture +

Hybrid Work

Sales is an increasingly hybrid job: 71% of U.S. sales reps are hybrid, up from 45%
in May of 2022. 20% are in person and 10% are fully remote.

“Sales leaders have to adapt in order to maximize the success of their teams in
a remote or hybrid world, where driving results and providing support need to be
balanced,” shared Chris Gell, Dialpad's Sales Enablement Program Manager.

How many sales reps are hybrid? 2022 vs. 2023

75%

50%

25%

0%
Hybrid sales reps in 2022 Hybrid sales reps in 2023

Selling remotely has made it easier to sell, according to 56% of sales

pros who work remotely or in a hybrid setup. But even hybrid sales
pros say meeting in person is the most effective sales channel.

41
Sales Trends Report

The most effective sales channels

according to sales pros:

1. Meeting in person

2. Phone calls

3. Email

4. Social media

5. Video calls

6. Live chat tools

Hybrid sales pros are 28% more likely

to be performing better than their
sales goals this year than in-person and
fully remote sales pros.

After overcoming the many curveballs of the last

three years, many teams have fallen into hybrid life
as the default — and it’s working out well. But it’s
still important to keep an eye on your sales team
culture, and make active efforts to grow and evolve
it for this new reality.

42
Sales Trends Report

Here are a few ways to stay on top of your hybrid sales culture:

1. Incorporate all-in days: schedule time for the whole team to work from
the office on the same day, and schedule a team lunch for that day.

2. Encourage hybrid sales pros to combine selling on the phone and via
email with getting out into the world and selling face-to-face.

3. Prioritize transparency. Regularly crucial metrics in team meetings to

keep all teammates working in the same direction, with an aligned
strategy.

4. Weekly standups. Even if they’re in the office together occasionally, it’s

important for managers to show direct reports that they want them to
know they’re there for that weekly check-in, no matter what they need —
from advice to growth opportunities.

5. Invest in high-quality video calling platforms that integrate with your

sales tools.

6. Encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing. If one teammate has

been killing it lately, ask them to share their approach with the broader
team.

7. Schedule social events. Offsites, team outings to fun activities, and

quarterly dinners can encourage teammates to connect.

43
Sales Trends Report

Building Better
Relationships
is as Easy As AI-B-C
After a challenging few years, with each one
adding a layer of complexity, sales teams have
learned to be flexible and adaptable. Today, as
many teams continue to do more with less, sales
teams are embracing AI tools that help them
forge stronger relationships, have more productive
conversations, and shorten the sales cycle.

Learn more about how HubSpot AI tools can help

sales teams get back to the fun, connected side of
selling: building lasting relationships with prospects
and customers.

44
 Regain Productivity and Power
Connection with Sales Hub
Sales Hub has all the tools and resources
for your sales team to scale.

Access collaborative sales features for teams, including:

Sales engagement tools CPQ capabilities

Deal management functionality Coaching tools

Reporting & analytics features Seamless integrations with

1,500+ tools in HubSpot’s App
Payments
Marketplace
Quotes

Get a demo

Report Methodology
HubSpot surveyed 1,400+ sales professionals in August 2023 from B2B and B2C
organizations in the U.S., UK, Japan, Canada, Australia, France, and Germany.

Report created in collaboration with CXD Studio.

www.cxd.studio | [email protected]