Salesforce Report: 66% of Sales Reps in UAE Say Their Role is More Challenging Than a Year Ago

Only 33% of sales professionals in UAE expect their team to make its full annual quota this year. 

Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the global leader in CRM, has released the fifth edition of its State of the Sales report that shares insights from more than 7,700 sales professionals from 38 countries, including the UAE. The research shows how sales organizations are optimizing tech for peak efficiency, addressing customers’ increasing demands, and maximizing rep productivity to drive success now. 

Key insights of this year’s State of the Sales report include:

• The New Sales Mantra: Maximizing Impact. Companies are moving away from high-risk strategies as they battle inflation, supply chain bottlenecks, regulatory uncertainty, and political disruption. And yet, sales reps are under pressure to hit targets. 66% of UAE sales professionals say selling is harder now.

• Reps Strive to Meet Rising Buyer Expectations. Buyers are looking for sales reps to meet them wherever they are, regardless of channel — and then to act as trusted advisors. Sales teams in the UAE said that adapting to hybrid or virtual selling was their number-one strategy for growth in the coming year.

• Sales Operations Boosts Efficiency. Operational efficiency is taking on growing importance. Sales ops is expanding into a more strategic role, tasked with enabling reps to spend more time in customer conversations. Sales teams in the UAE use an average of 10 tools to close deals — everything from account management solutions to forecasting applications. However, more does not necessarily mean better as clicking between applications can be time consuming. Not surprisingly, sales teams in the UAE list improving training on tools and technologies, and modernizing tools and technologies, as their fourth and fifth top strategies for growth over the next 12 months.

• The Seller Experience Gets a Second Look. Companies are reviewing training programs and benefits, while optimizing territories and sales enablement tools to set employees up for success and retain star players. Adjusting sales KPI’s emerged as the second highest top strategy for growth among UAE sales teams over the next 12 months. 

Thierry Nicault, Area Vice President, MENA, Salesforce, said: “Amid global headwinds and increasing fears of a global economic slowdown, companies are keen to keep a tight rein on budgets across the board. For sales teams this will likely mean increased pressure to achieve more with less, which could be daunting for UAE sales teams who already feel that their roles are becoming more challenging. But there is room for optimism: By consolidating tech stacks, increasing collaboration across teams, and prioritizing initiatives, sales teams can boost productivity, close dealers faster and drive growth.”