Developing a benchmark for company‐wide sales capability

Purpose – Based on a broad set of indicators of individual and company capabilities, this research sets out to establish a meaningful, straightforward benchmark of sales performance for a cross‐industry group of 19 companies, based on the perceptions of their salespeople. Design/methodology/approach – The establishment of the benchmark involved the completion of questionnaires by 426 salespeople across 19 companies. Findings – The research identified some areas for development common to most companies in the survey. Research limitations/implications – Although comprehensive, this survey needs to be repeated over time to maintain the benchmark. Benchmarking can be helpful to many companies trying to improve their sales capability. Originality/value – This is a practical case study of a benchmarking approach to developing the sales function in a number of organisations.