Gartner Blog Network

Dave Egloff
Senior Director
1 years at Gartner
20 years IT Industry

Dave Egloff is a Senior Director, Analyst in the Gartner for Sales Leaders practice. His current work focuses on key initiatives in sales strategy, sales operations and sales compensation. Read Full Bio

Monetizing Quota Setting Accuracy

by Dave Egloff  |  October 22, 2019

Many sales leaders lament the inaccuracy of quota setting. It is so commonplace that one could ask “why don’t more leaders invest in improving this process?” There are likely two reasons why quota setting issues persist: Lack of ROI assessment Subjectivity in quota setting practices Lack of ROI assessment Many sales and sales operations leaders […]

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Are Fields Sales Feeling a Squeeze?

by Dave Egloff  |  October 9, 2019

Whether it be a matter of sales strategy or perhaps sales force design, many sales leaders are exploring future investments in key account programs or inside sales functions. Some are even exploring both, which begs the question, why is field sales getting squeezed? Before we look at field sales, let’s examine: Key Account Programs – […]

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Managing the Cost of Sales

by Dave Egloff  |  September 26, 2019

Last week, Gartner hosted their annual CSO & Sales Leader Conference in Las Vegas.  In my experience, it was the most impressive gathering of Chief Sales Officers, sales operations leaders, enablement leaders, and other senior executives looking to improve commercial outcomes. During the event, the one-on-one sessions are my favorite activity.  These sessions are where […]

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Holistic Sales Performance Management

by Dave Egloff  |  September 11, 2019

Sales performance management can be simply defined as an ongoing engagement where seller activities and results are assessed and improved. Sales leaders typically leverage sales performance data to inform compensation planning, job advancement, and training needs.  Sellers look to performance management to provide evidence of being aligned to key priorities and to help identify development […]

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Use High Water Mark Compensation Plans to Reward Sellers on Recurring Revenue

by Dave Egloff  |  August 26, 2019

Recurring revenue presents a challenge when used to measure seller performance.  Unlike new business metrics, which more easily allows a sales leader to monetize seller influence, recurring revenue can paint a blurry picture. First, let’s understand the origin of the problem.  At the start of a sales year, recurring revenue streams do not start at […]

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Sales transformation requires vision and execution

by Dave Egloff  |  August 6, 2019

There is a proverb that says, “Vision without action is a daydream; action without vision is a nightmare.”  This is a great saying with broad appeal and application.  Clearly, we can use it to examine sales transformations. Most Chief Sales Officers recognize that change is the new normal.  Continually, CSOs must respond to shifts in […]

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Getting Sellers to Embrace E-commerce

by Dave Egloff  |  July 26, 2019

Omnichannel sales strategies are not a new concept and continue to evolve.  While sales leaders have long embraced a mix of routes to market, including direct and indirect sales channels, e-commerce is occupying more mind share.  In fact, according to a recent Gartner study, 52% of sales leaders said they planned to deploy or pilot […]

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Sales Compensation Redesign Pre-work

by Dave Egloff  |  July 15, 2019

It’s getting to that time of year where sales compensation design discussions are about to kickoff.  For many stakeholders — including compensation plan designers, sales leaders, and senior executives  — the process starts with two simple questions: How is the sales compensation plan performing? Is the compensation plan design fit for the next year? How […]

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Sales Productivity Improves Decision Making

by Dave Egloff  |  June 26, 2019

In my last blog post, I talked about the intricacies in calculating sales productivity in a complex sales environment.  I ended that post with this statement, “Despite being nuanced, creating a good sales productivity metric is worth the effort.” Calculating sales productivity is indeed beneficial and allows sales leaders to improve decision making and assess […]

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Complexity of Sales Productivity

by Dave Egloff  |  June 10, 2019

Seller productivity is a popular metric for many sales leaders. Simply stated, sales productivity can equal the revenue generated by the seller’s book of business.  However, as sales organizations evolve and sales roles expand, productivity metrics become complicated. Here are a few wrinkles that may pose a challenge: Team-based Selling How do you measure seller […]

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