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Y2G Associates Reports Over 75 Percent of Software Companies Sales Cycles Increasing Independent of Price Point

Y2G Associates, the premier provider of custom market research and executive outsourcing services for software companies, announces the availability of its newest “Software Vendor Sales Management Best Practices” report. The report highlights that while optimism is on the return for software sales — sales cycles are increasing or remaining the same regardless of the average selling point. The report finds companies that incorporate objective customer feedback as part of win/loss analysis into their sales execution process outperform others in terms of sales cycles, larger deals, and forecast accuracy.

Atlanta, GA April 27, 2004 -- Y2G Associates, the premier provider of custom market research and executive outsourcing services for software companies, announces the availability of its newest “Software Vendor Sales Management Best Practices” report. The report highlights that while optimism is on the return for software sales — sales cycles are increasing or remaining the same regardless of the average selling point. The report finds companies that incorporate objective customer feedback as part of win/loss analysis into their sales execution process outperform others in terms of sales cycles, larger deals, and forecast accuracy.

“An interesting finding was that vendors considered “best-in-class” within their software sales operations were able to move the average sales revenue above the average $250K threshold while reducing their sales cycles much more aggressively then those selling at the under $100k range”, said David Cahn, CEO Y2G Associates. “These leading vendors were much more formalized in their opportunity tracking methodologies than others. This knowledge enabled vendors to optimize their resources by opportunity revenue size and maximize their profit margins.”

Almost all software vendors have a pipeline tracking mechanism in place to monitor opportunities through the pipeline. That is where the difference ended. Those software companies that moved opportunities based on specific sales events versus opinions from the sales teams performed much better. In addition, those companies that integrate objective win and loss analysis from customers into sales training and into sales performance metrics benefit dramatically.

About The Report
Y2G Associates recently surveyed over 600 software vendors on their sales planning and sales execution practices. The survey collected data points on duration of existing sales cycles trends, utilization of training techniques, management of pipeline tracking tools, and sales performance metrics. Correlations were then available to be made based on the findings to determine some leading best practices and opportunities for improvement. The report helps software vendors and distributors focus on three areas for the next year: reduce sales cycles to better align with cost of pipeline opportunities; improve sales pipeline tracking methodologies; and involve customer interaction as part of sales execution performance.

About Y2G Associates
Y2G Associates is the premier provider of custom market research and executive business process outsourcing services for software companies worldwide. Based on industry Best Practices, we work with each client to increase their competitive market share by identifying areas for improved performance and provide the hands on execution services they require. Launched in 2001, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, Y2G Associates team is comprised exclusively of technology executives with proven track records and decades of software industry leadership and implementation experience.