"It's like drinking from a fire hose!" "I'm busier than a one-armed paper-hanger!" "How do I cut through all the noise?" ...these phrases, and more like them, are increasingly being associated with the challenges that contemporary Business-to-Business (B2B) sales professionals face in trying to filter out all the data available to them about their prospects, customers and markets. As wonderful as web-based research has become as a sales prospecting tool, the core competencies of B2B salespeople - communicating, convincing and closing - are not only enhanced by information, but also threatened by it.

Setting the Stage for Success

In March and April 2012, Aberdeen surveyed 215 end-users organizations about their sales effectiveness practices and accomplishments, specifically to understand how sales intelligence is most effectively deployed. This research brief is a summary of their findings.