1. Increase time spent selling. Sales forces spend large amounts of time in nonsales activity: 30 percent of time, or 12 hours per week, is spent on administrative tasks, and another 30 percent of time is spent researching and qualifying opportunities.

2. Reduce the average sales cycle by improving presales and sales execution. For example, reducing the sales cycle from six months to two months allows for five additional deals to be closed per sales rep per year, more than a 50 percent increase in revenue per rep.

3. Increase the close rate, by streamlining presales activity and refining and focusing the value proposition. By increasing the 40 percent average close rate of survey participants to 60 percent, average revenue generated per rep would increase by 50 percent.

4. Increase average order size. Better positioning and targeting of the right economic buyer can dramatically improve the average annual revenue per sales rep.

Source: VizQuest survey of more than 300 software companies with average annual revenue of $33 million and an average sales force of 25 reps