Statistically Speaking

More than half of companies say that fewer than 50 percent of their salespeople make their quota, according to "TAS Index Global Sales Effectiveness Benchmark Study 2007," by The TAS Group. While 72 percent of sales managers believe that their sales process is well defined, just 50 percent of sales reps agree. Forty-eight percent of managers think they spend time coaching (not chasing the reps for updates), but only 34 percent of reps agree. Fifty-eight percent of reps believe they close deals when originally forecasted, while only 46 percent of managers agree.

Of the 614 small businesses surveyed for IDC's "The Adoption of Software as a Service in Small and Medium Businesses: Perception Versus Reality," 5.1 percent plan on moving forward with an SaaS solution within the next year; 15.2 percent of the 418 medium businesses plan to do so.

Demand for workforce management (WFM) software and services reached $221 million in 2006, up 9 percent from 2005, according to the Pelorus Group report, "2007 World Contact Center Workforce Management Systems Market." WFM software and services now account for one-fifth of the $1 billion-plus market for workforce optimization products and services. Sales of WFM software and services are expected to grow at double-digit rates, reaching $443 million in 2012.

According to Media Logic's "The 2006 Higher Ed E-marketing Survey," 86 percent of the more than 120 respondents surveyed use some type of e-marketing. (During the fall of 2006, Media Logic emailed survey invitations to its higher-ed house list, and the American Marketing Association Academic Special Interest Group and CASE Communications listservs.) Email marketing is the most popular form of e-marketing among respondents (95 percent). Eighty-six percent of respondents use e-marketing to reach prospective students, while 62 percent use it to reach alumni and 38 percent to reach current students.

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