Revenue.io Releases Data-Backed Sales Engagement Predictions for 2023 and Beyond

Here at Revenue.io, we’ve been reviewing millions of sales engagements and conversation outcomes to bring you the key challenges, opportunities and predictions that will empower you to succeed in 2023 and beyond.

This benchmarks and trends report reveals how top-performing companies are booking 20.1% more meetings than their peers. The best sales leaders are focused on using AI-assisted real-time rep support and are increasing their automation of digital channel engagement.

Key Challenges

These are some of the top challenges facing sales development representative (SDR) teams going forward:

• SDR teams find it increasingly difficult to generate conversations with qualified buyers. SDRs are having 11.7% fewer conversations relative to dials than just one year ago.
• SDRs are booking 8.6% fewer meetings than they did in 2021.
• Qualified conversations average $411 each and will become more expensive over the next several years.
• SDRs typically take over three months to ramp to full productivity, which is far too long given high rep attrition rates.

Key Opportunities

At the same time, there are lots of key opportunities for sales teams ready to seize them:

• SDR teams who have adopted AI-powered live call guidance are booking an average of 20.1% more meetings than those without guided conversations.
• Automating live sales engagement and conversation guidance is key for Sales Leaders to scale their reach, impact and development of reps across the enterprise.
• Data-driven conversation behavior, context and situational awareness will be necessary to improve sales conversions across all channels.
• Multichannel buyer engagement is now a must, and progressive sales leaders will have a RevOps model to support all channels.
• Companies will benefit from selecting vendor technologies that integrate with large data-aggregators (i.e. Dun & Bradstreet, Hoovers) to supply reps with simple views of buyer intent, activity and suggested engagement methods.

Sales Engagement Predictions for 2023 and Beyond

Based on our review of 11.5 million conversation outcomes and sales engagements, here are our top 5 predictions for 2023 and beyond:

1. SDRs will have 9-11% fewer conversations annually between now and 2026
2. Adoption of real-time conversation guidance will increase from 11% to 58% by 2025
3. SDR teams that adopt real-time conversation guidance will see a 20.1% increase in booked meeting rates
4. By 2025, SDR ramp time will shrink by 51.6% from 3.1 months to 45 days
5. Despite investments in sales tech, the average cost of qualified conversations will rise from $411 12% each year to $647 by 2026

This report explores these predictions, supported by original research from Revenue.io, showing a clear path forward for SDR leaders looking to maximize their team’s success rates. Get your free copy of the report here.