Sales Planning

Knowing what course to take and which investments to make will determine your success in the new fiscal year. Read our research-based insights to navigate the annual sales planning process.

Discover how Forrester supports B2B sales leaders.

Insights

Blog

Shift From Manual To Automated Account Planning To Deliver Results

Steve Silver November 13, 2023
I’ve been involved with account planning programs for over 30 years — first as a sales rep, then as a sales manager, then as a sales operations leader, and, finally, as an analyst and advisor. And in all that time, resistance by sellers to the process of creating and leveraging account plans remains high. Why? […]
Blog

Conversation Intelligence Is The Key To Unlocking Sales Productivity

Seth Marrs July 31, 2023
This blog describes how conversation intelligence solutions can reverse the seller productivity decline and increase win rates.

Fuel Growth With Strong Marketing-Sales Alignment

Download our alignment handbook to thrive in a complex buyer landscape with teams, processes, and objectives aligned across the customer lifecycle.

Blog

How B2B Companies Will Win The Competition For Growth

John Arnold July 25, 2023
The competition for growth is fiercer than ever for B2B companies. To win, marketing, product, and sales leaders need to build a growth engine based on three fundamentals that are also simple, powerful, challenging, and achievable.
Blog

Revenue Enablement: Why Forrester Has Made The Change

Peter Ostrow June 5, 2023
Forrester is adapting along with the entire B2B sales space, pivoting from “sales enablement” to “revenue enablement” in describing the discipline of ensuring that all customer-facing roles receive consistent enterprise support so that they have the confidence, competence, and content to drive customer value and revenue results.
Blog

Sales Technology: Saturated To Simplified

Steve Silver March 7, 2023
Maximizing value from sales technology is more important than ever while budgets are lean and the economy continues to waver. Explore findings from our recent Tech Tide and what they mean for sales leaders.
Blog

Sales Kickoff: Four Things The Best CSOs Do Well

Rick Bradberry December 23, 2022
To set the tone for a successful year, sales leaders should make a point of celebrating past-year wins and equipping their teams to be effective in the months ahead.
Blog

A Sales Performance End-Of-Year Review — Forrester’s SPM Landscape Can Help

Robert Muñoz December 22, 2022
Congratulations on making it through another turbulent year! As we toast our glasses to hopes of new opportunities and growth in 2023, it’s important to take some time to review what we’ve learned through the year and adapt to changes that are unfolding into the new year. This was an important year of discovery as […]
Blog

What’s Next For Sales Intelligence Solutions?

Anne Slough December 20, 2022
(Part two of a two-part series) Sales intelligence, in concept and in practice, has experienced a significant evolution (see part one of this blog series). Today’s sales intelligence providers give insight into buyer behaviors and provide data to salespeople. This helps sales professionals identify, analyze, present, and utilize data to increase win rates for acquisition, […]
Blog

The Future Of Account-Based Selling Technology

Steve Silver December 19, 2022
When properly selected and implemented, account-based selling solutions deepen teams’ understanding of key accounts. Sellers can then focus on winnable deals, increase average deal value, and maximize customer lifetime value.
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Account-Based Selling Technologies: What You Need To Know

Anne Slough December 14, 2022
(Part one of a two-part series) Effective and actionable key/strategic account plans are an elusive quest for many sales organizations. Throughout my 30-year sales career, I’ve pursued this quest as both a rep and a sales leader. Still, it remains one of the more challenging sales issues I’ve faced. The good news is that help […]
Blog

What I Learned About Sales Technology In 2022

Seth Marrs December 12, 2022
In the past tumultuous year, cash flow into sales technology companies dried up. How were vendors and customers impacted?
Podcast

How A Sharper Customer Focus Will Fuel B2B Growth In 2023

What It Means December 8, 2022
As inflation woes, market turbulence, and supply chain disruptions cloud the 2023 landscape, B2B organizations will look to their existing customers to forge a more predictable path to growth. On this week’s What It Means, VP, Principal Analyst Ross Graber discusses this and other 2023 predictions for B2B marketing and sales leaders.
Blog

B2B Revenue Engine Alignment: A Cultural Transformation That Begins With Customer Obsession

Laura Cross November 21, 2022
A customer-obsessed organization requires an optimized revenue engine. Revenue engine alignment maximizes the buyer’s experience and, in turn, the success of the organization.
Blog

Four Key Investment Areas For Sales Operations Leaders In 2023

Steve Silver September 1, 2022
Sales operations planning will have to account for economic turbulence, but will find big opportunities in smart tech deployment.
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Three Key Areas For Sales Enablement To Focus On In 2023

Peter Ostrow September 1, 2022
Competencies, culture, and compensation — find out where you should invest your sales enablement budget in the year ahead. Read highlights from our new report, Planning Guide 2023: Sales Enablement.
Blog

B2B Sales Leaders: Balance Strategic And Tactical Investments In 2023

Mike Pregler September 1, 2022
Experience from past economic slumps indicates that B2B sales leaders’ budget plans must balance essential strategic investments with “quick win” tactical investments.
Blog

Sales Leadership, Assemble! At Forrester’s B2B Summit EMEA In London, October 11–12

Anthony McPartlin July 21, 2022
B2B organisations face a range of macroeconomic uncertainties as they head into the second half of 2022 that pose risk to growth and profitability objectives. While you may not have control over these changing conditions, you can determine your own path through them to ensure that you thrive rather than just survive. Forrester’s B2B Summit […]
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The B2B Sales Leader’s Strategy Guide For Economic Downturns

Nancy Maluso July 12, 2022
Discover actions you can take now to position your organization for a fast recovery.
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Sales Leaders Can Improve Sales Productivity By Focusing On Four Wellness Steps

Nancy Maluso April 20, 2022
Sales leaders want to continuously improve sales productivity. What many may not realize is that high seller engagement and wellness directly correlate with higher productivity. However, evidence from Forrester’s Q3 2020 US Future Of Work Survey shows that B2B sellers feel fatigued, less engaged, and more frustrated at work compared with other B2B professionals. This […]
Blog

Recycle Opportunities To Make The Most Of Your B2B Investments

Vicki Brown March 3, 2022
When you’re tracking B2B opportunities, some will inevitably take a detour. Learn how to manage those opportunities to successfully reengage these potential deals.
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