139 Sales Training and Coaching Statistics (October 2026)

Updated October 2026

Most B2B sellers now miss their number, and most of them already know what would help. Representatives say coaching is the thing they want most and get least, while their buyers have quietly made most of the decision before the first call.

This page brings together 139 statistics on sales performance, buyer behaviour, coaching, sales management, training, AI and the UK sales workforce. Every figure links to the organisation that produced it, from Gartner, Forrester and Salesforce to the Office for National Statistics and the Department for Education, and every figure carries the date of its source.

It is written for revenue leaders deciding where to invest next. Even the people at the top feel the ground moving: 60% of CSOs say their revenue number is largely driven by elements outside their control (Gartner, Jul 2026). The data below is about the part they can control: the skills, habits and management of the people doing the selling.

Key Takeaways

  • 78% of sellers missed quota, up from 69% in the previous year's report (Ebsta x Pavilion, Apr 2025)
  • 14% of sellers generate 80% of revenue (Ebsta x Pavilion, Apr 2025)
  • 67% of B2B buyers prefer a buying experience without a sales representative (Gartner, Mar 2026)
  • Buyers first contact sellers 61% of the way through their journey, and the winning vendor is already on their Day One shortlist 95% of the time (6sense, Nov 2025)
  • Sales representatives spend 40% of their working week selling (Salesforce, Feb 2026)
  • 46% of sales representatives rarely get feedback on their sales conversations (Salesforce, Feb 2026)
  • 75% of sales representatives say they are more likely to hit their targets with a coach or mentor (Salesforce, Feb 2026)
  • Only 18% of sales managers report having high-performing teams (Gartner, Jul 2026)
  • 82% of people who become managers in the UK have had no formal management and leadership training (CMI, Oct 2023)
  • Organisations with strong coaching processes achieve 15% higher win rates (Korn Ferry, May 2026)
  • AI saves sellers 4.8 hours a week, but 72% of sales organisations report low reinvestment of that time in high-value selling (Gartner, May 2026)
  • New account executives now take 6.2 months to ramp, the longest in the Bridge Group's research history (Bridge Group, Jun 2026)
  • Sales skills were a factor in 20% of UK skill-shortage vacancies in 2024, up from 17% in 2022 (Department for Education, Nov 2025)

Table of Contents

  1. Sales Performance and Quota Attainment Statistics
  2. B2B Buyer and Pipeline Statistics
  3. Sales Coaching Statistics: The Coaching Gap
  4. Sales Manager Statistics
  5. Does Sales Coaching and Training Work? ROI Statistics
  6. AI in Sales and Sales Coaching Statistics
  7. Sales Talent Statistics: UK Workforce, Skills, Ramp and Turnover
  8. Glossary
  9. Methodology and Sources
  10. Sources

Sales Performance and Quota Attainment Statistics

Missing quota is now the normal outcome for a B2B seller, not the exception. The gap between the best sellers and everyone else keeps widening, which makes this a skills and management problem more than a market one.

Six Ebsta benchmark figures for 2025 compared with the previous report: missed quota, top-to-bottom performance gap, win rates, slipped deals, deal values and sales cycle length
Figure 1: Ebsta's analysis of 655,000 opportunities shows win rates, missed quota and the gap between top and bottom performers all moving the wrong way against its previous report. Source: Ebsta x Pavilion, GTM Benchmarks Report 2025, Apr 2025. Chart by The Sales Coach Network, redrawn from the source data.

What percentage of sales representatives hit quota?

Fewer than half on most measures. The figure depends on who is measured and how, so read each one with its definition rather than averaging them.

  • Representatives at 252 mostly US software companies report quota attainment of 43.6% in Q2 2026, up 2.47% year on year (RepVue, Jul 2026)
  • 48% of account executives achieved annual quota in 2026, down from 51% in 2024 (Bridge Group, Jun 2026)
  • Fullcast, which acquired Ebsta in 2025, reports that 78.3% of sellers missed quota in 2025 while revenue per seller fell 17.3% (Fullcast, Mar 2026)
  • At software companies, the share of ramped account executives hitting quota ticked up to 62% in 2025 (ICONIQ, Mar 2026)
  • 60% of SDRs were at quota, the lowest share in the study's history (Bridge Group, Feb 2025)
  • 35% of sales representatives expect to hit or beat quota this year, up from 16% a year earlier (our calculation from the report's quota expectation chart) (Salesforce, Feb 2026)
  • Only 45% of CSOs say their organisation met several of its 2024 strategic goals (Gartner, May 2025)

How big is the gap between top and bottom sellers?

Large, and growing. Top performers do more of the work that wins deals, which is the clearest case for coaching the middle of the team.

  • The performance difference between top and bottom sellers reached 11x, up from 8.9x in the previous report (Ebsta x Pavilion, Apr 2025)
  • The average seller spends less than two hours a day selling, while A-players spend four (Ebsta x Pavilion, Apr 2025)
  • Average new-business deal values rose 54% against the previous report, raising the cost of every lost deal (Ebsta x Pavilion, Apr 2025)

What are average B2B win rates?

Roughly one in five for new logos, and far higher with existing customers. Self-reported and CRM-measured figures tell different stories.

  • The new-logo win rate is 19%, a 10% relative fall on the previous report, against 45% for expansion deals (Ebsta x Pavilion, Apr 2025)
  • Win rates fall from 18% when a deal slips by one week to 3% when it slips by six months or more (Ebsta x Pavilion, Apr 2025)
  • 36% of deals slipped past their forecast close date, down from 44% (Ebsta x Pavilion, Apr 2025)
  • Win rates vary by where the deal came from: 52% for customer success-sourced opportunities, 43% for sales-sourced, 39% for partner-sourced and 27% for marketing-sourced (ICONIQ, Mar 2026)
  • Despite this, 91% of sales professionals say their win rates are stable or improving (HubSpot, Sep 2025)

Are B2B sales cycles getting longer or shorter?

The sources disagree. CRM and buyer data point to shorter cycles, while sellers report buyers taking longer to decide and stalling more often.

  • New-business sales cycles shortened by 9% and average 91 days, against 52 days for expansion deals (Ebsta x Pavilion, Apr 2025)
  • The average B2B buying cycle fell from 11.3 months in 2024 to 10.1 months in 2025 (6sense, Nov 2025)
  • At software companies, average sales cycles shortened by about six weeks in 2025, from 25 weeks to 19 (ICONIQ, Mar 2026)
  • 57% of sales professionals say customers take longer to decide than they used to (Salesforce, Feb 2026)
  • 57% of buyers hit multiple moments where they stopped making progress and unnecessarily delayed the purchase (Gartner, May 2026)
  • 86% of B2B purchases stall during the buying process (Forrester, Dec 2024)

B2B Buyer and Pipeline Statistics

Buyers now settle most of the decision before a seller is invited in. The representatives who still win are the ones a buyer actively wants in the room, and that is a skill, not a channel.

Bar chart of rising customer demands reported by sales professionals, above a stacked bar showing how a sales representative's working week splits between selling and non-selling tasks
Figure 2: Sellers report rising buyer demands for ROI, personalisation and education, while most of a representative's week still goes on work that is not selling. Source: Salesforce, State of Sales, 7th Edition, Feb 2026. Chart by The Sales Coach Network, redrawn from the source data.

Do B2B buyers still want to talk to sales representatives?

Less often, but they still want a person when the stakes are high. Buyers lean on representatives to confirm what AI tells them and to feel confident in the decision.

  • 69% of B2B buyers prefer to validate AI-generated insights with sales representatives (Gartner, May 2026)
  • Buyers were 39 percentage points more likely to say a representative understood their needs than GenAI, and 32 points more likely to say a representative made them feel confident in the purchase (Gartner, May 2026)
  • 73% of B2B buyers actively avoid suppliers who send irrelevant outreach (Gartner, Jun 2025)
  • 69% of sales professionals say measurable ROI matters more to customers than it did last year, and 67% say the same of personalisation (Salesforce, Feb 2026)
  • 67% of sales professionals say their customers require extensive education (Salesforce, Feb 2026)

How far through the buying journey are buyers before they contact sales?

More than halfway, with the shortlist largely set. Sellers who arrive late are usually arriving to a decision already made.

  • The vendor a buyer favours before first contact still wins four out of five deals (6sense, Nov 2025)
  • Buyers now average eight to nine prior purchase journeys per category (6sense, Nov 2025)
  • 62% of buyers said economic pressure drove them to engage sellers earlier (6sense, Nov 2025)
  • Buyers initiated 79% of engagements with sellers in 2025, compared with 82% in prior years (6sense, Nov 2025)
  • 74% of B2B buyer teams show unhealthy conflict during the buying decision, and groups that reach consensus are 2.5 times more likely to report a high-quality deal (Gartner, May 2025)
  • On average, 13 internal stakeholders and nine external participants influence a buying decision (Forrester, Jan 2026)
  • 81% of buyers express dissatisfaction with the provider they chose at the end of a successful purchase (Forrester, Dec 2024)

How much time do representatives spend selling and prospecting?

Less than half their week, though the share is slowly rising. Prospecting is the task representatives like least and the one pipeline depends on most.

  • The share of time spent selling has risen from 28% in 2022 to 30% in 2024 (Salesforce, Jul 2024)
  • Representatives spend 22% of their week meeting customers and 18% prospecting, while 13% goes on manually entering data (Salesforce, Feb 2026)
  • UK sellers spend 41% of their time selling (Salesforce, Feb 2026)
  • Using a different method, Bain estimates sellers may spend only about 25% of their time selling to customers (Bain & Company, Sep 2025)
  • 47% of representatives say cold outreach is one of the worst parts of the job, and 47% say their team lacks the bandwidth to do it (Salesforce, Feb 2026)
  • In the UK, 44% of sales representatives call cold calling the worst part of their job, and 36% say they lack the bandwidth for adequate cold outreach (Salesforce, Feb 2026)
  • High-growth software companies source 60 to 80% of their pipeline from sales and channel teams, against 15 to 20% from marketing (ICONIQ, Mar 2026)
  • Fewer than 5% of sales leaders prioritise pipeline coverage, lead scoring or sales linearity (HubSpot, Sep 2025)

Pipeline problems usually start with how representatives open conversations with buyers who have already done their homework, which is where our sales training begins.

Sales Coaching Statistics: The Coaching Gap

Almost every sales leader says coaching matters. Representatives say they barely get it, and the distance between those two views is where a lot of quota goes missing.

Bar chart of the share of sales representatives who want coaching, rarely get feedback, lack roleplay practice and say managers lack time
Figure 3: Representatives say they want coaching, practice and feedback, and that traditional enablement and stretched managers are not providing it. Source: Salesforce, State of Sales, 7th Edition, Feb 2026. Chart by The Sales Coach Network, redrawn from the source data.

How often are sales representatives coached?

Not often. Only a minority of representatives get regular coaching, and structured practice is rarer still.

  • 41% of sales representatives say they are never or rarely coached, and only 28% are coached weekly or more (MySalesCoach, Sep 2026)
  • 41% of representatives don't get enough opportunities to roleplay before customer calls (Salesforce, Feb 2026)
  • Only 34% of sales teams offer regular one-to-one meetings with managers as part of enablement, and 26% offer roleplay sessions (Salesforce, Feb 2026)

How do representatives rate the coaching they receive?

Poorly, and quality matters more than quantity. Top performers are not coached more often; they are coached better.

  • 45% of sales representatives rate the coaching they receive as below average (MySalesCoach, Sep 2026)
  • 52% of representatives say traditional enablement doesn't provide the skills they need (Salesforce, Feb 2026)
  • Top-performing and other sales managers give deal coaching at similar rates (44% vs 42%), but top-performing sellers are 63% more likely to say their manager excels at it (RAIN Group, Jul 2026)
  • 81% of sales representatives say taking part in a sales community improves their performance, yet only 44% regularly participate (Salesforce, Feb 2026)

Why don't sales managers coach more?

Time, mostly, and a gap between how much coaching leaders think they give and how much representatives feel they get.

  • 40% of representatives say their manager's lack of time is an obstacle to enablement (Salesforce, Feb 2026)
  • 64% of sales leaders believe they are spending significantly more time coaching than 12 months ago, but their representatives disagree (MySalesCoach, Sep 2026)
  • 58% of sales managers say they struggle to accomplish all their tasks in the time allotted (Gartner, Jul 2020)

If this describes your team, it is worth seeing how structured one-to-one, team and deal sales coaching is set up to close the gap.

Sales Manager Statistics

The sales manager is the highest-leverage role in a sales team and usually the least prepared for it. Most were promoted for selling, then left to work out managing on their own.

Share of UK managers without formal training or qualifications, and the share of workers planning to leave under ineffective versus effective managers
Figure 4: CMI and YouGov's survey of more than 4,500 UK workers found most managers start without formal training, and that poor management pushes people out of the organisation. Source: Chartered Management Institute, Better Management Report: Take Responsibility, Take Action, Oct 2023. Chart by The Sales Coach Network, redrawn from the source data.

How many sales managers lead high-performing teams?

A small minority. Manager quality shapes how engaged a team is and how much of the manager's own number gets delivered.

  • Only about 3 in 10 sales managers are effective at getting maximum performance from sellers, have the skills to manage and coach, and prioritise coaching (RAIN Group, Jul 2026)
  • Managers account for 70% of the variance in team engagement (Gallup, Jul 2026)
  • Administrative burden can reduce a sales manager's overall quota attainment by 18% (Gartner, Jul 2020)

Are sales managers trained to coach?

Mostly not. UK data shows managers are the least likely staff to receive training, and management skills gaps are growing.

  • 66% of managers have never received any training on being an effective coach (MySalesCoach, Sep 2026)
  • 52% of UK managers do not hold any management or leadership qualification (CMI, Oct 2023)
  • Managers were the least likely UK occupational group to receive training, at 46% (Department for Education, Nov 2025)
  • A lack of ability to manage or motivate other staff was behind 38% of UK skills gaps, up from 31% in 2022 (Department for Education, Nov 2025)
  • Managing or motivating employees was a factor in 35% of UK skill-shortage vacancies, up from 31% (Department for Education, Nov 2025)

How do sales managers spend their time?

On work their job description never mentioned. Leaders want managers in front of customers, while process and admin pull them elsewhere.

  • Over half of managers say their day-to-day responsibilities are completely different from their formal job description (Gartner, May 2026)
  • 63% of CSOs and senior sales leaders rank selling and closing as a top activity where managers should spend their time (Gartner, May 2026)
  • 52% of sales managers say they have to work around organisational processes to get things done (Gartner, Jul 2020)
  • SDR teams now have 6.4 representatives per leader, down from 8 between 2021 and 2023 (Bridge Group, Feb 2025)

What does an ineffective manager cost?

Staff. People who rate their manager as ineffective are far more likely to be planning their exit.

  • 50% of UK workers who rate their manager as ineffective plan to leave their organisation within 12 months, against 21% of those with an effective manager (CMI, Oct 2023)

Most sales managers were never taught to coach, which is why sales manager training often has the widest reach of any sales investment.

Does Sales Coaching and Training Work? ROI Statistics

Coaching is one of the few sales investments with a measurable link to quota, win rates and retention. The catch is that it only works when it is skilled, regular and reinforced.

Paired bar chart comparing organisations using AI-enabled sales coaching with those using traditional coaching on goal attainment, engagement, retention, skill use, productivity, coaching ROI and customer satisfaction
Figure 5: Organisations using AI-enabled sales coaching reported better goal attainment, engagement, retention, skill use and coaching ROI than those using traditional coaching, with no difference in customer satisfaction. ATD surveyed 214 organisations and the research was sponsored by Highspot. Source: ATD Research, The Rise of AI in Sales Coaching, Jul 2025. Chart by The Sales Coach Network, redrawn from the source data.

Does sales coaching improve quota attainment and win rates?

Yes, when the coaching is skilled. Peer-reviewed research shows frequent coaching from an unskilled manager can make results worse.

  • Organisations with strong coaching processes achieve 14% higher quota attainment (Korn Ferry, May 2026)
  • 76% of representatives coached weekly hit quota, against 56% of those coached monthly and 47% of those coached quarterly or less (self-reported) (MySalesCoach, Sep 2026)
  • In a year-long study of 1,246 sales representatives in 136 teams, managers' coaching skill was directly related to representatives' annual goal attainment, and frequent coaching hurt results when coaching skill was low (Personnel Psychology, Oct 2015)
  • 91% of organisations using AI-enabled coaching said their median salesperson met or exceeded their goals, against 69% of those using traditional coaching (ATD, Jul 2025)

Does coaching reduce sales representative turnover?

The evidence says it helps. Coached teams report higher engagement and retention, and strong coaching cultures lose fewer people.

  • Organisations with strong coaching processes see nearly 20% lower voluntary turnover (Korn Ferry, May 2026)
  • 79% of organisations using AI-enabled coaching rated sales team retention good or excellent, against 63% using traditional coaching (ATD, Jul 2025)
  • 84% of organisations using AI-enabled coaching rated sales team engagement good or excellent, against 60% (ATD, Jul 2025)

Does sales training stick?

Only with reinforcement. Memory research shows learning fades quickly unless it is revisited, and one-off workshops rarely change behaviour on their own.

  • 78% of organisations using AI-enabled coaching rated their team's use of skills learned in coaching good or excellent, against 49% (ATD, Jul 2025)
  • 66% of organisations using AI-enabled coaching rated the ROI of their coaching programme good or excellent, against 46% (ATD, Jul 2025)
  • In a study of over 1,350 learners, the best gap before reviewing material fell from about 20 to 40% of a one-week retention period to about 5 to 10% of a one-year period, so longer-lasting skills need spaced reinforcement (Psychological Science, Nov 2008)
  • A modern replication confirmed Ebbinghaus's forgetting curve, with the steepest loss of learning in the first hours and days (PLOS ONE, Jul 2015)

How much do organisations invest in training?

Less than they used to, in both the US and the UK, even as leaders say seller skills need to change.

  • Average direct learning spend was $846 per employee, a $408 fall on 2024 (ATD, May 2026)
  • Employees used an average of 16.7 learning hours a year, up from 13.7 in 2024 (ATD, May 2026)
  • UK employers spent £53.0 billion on training and development in 2024, a 10% real-terms fall on 2022 (Department for Education, Jul 2025)
  • That equates to £2,710 per trainee and £1,700 per employee, the lowest real-terms amounts in the survey's history (Department for Education, Nov 2025)
  • 74% of CSOs say a significant change in seller skills is required, and they expect 58% of their sellers to need reskilling or upskilling by 2026 because of AI (Gartner, May 2025)

To estimate what better coaching could be worth for your own team, try the Sales Accelerator Calculator or read our client results.

AI in Sales and Sales Coaching Statistics

AI is giving sellers time back. What they do with that time is a coaching and management problem, not a software one.

Bar chart of the share of account executives at quota in 2024 and 2026, and by lowest versus highest AI engagement
Figure 6: Among 158 B2B companies, those in the top tercile for AI engagement reported a higher share of account executives at quota, though the Bridge Group stresses this is observational data. Source: The Bridge Group, AE Models, Motions & Metrics: 2026 Research Report, Jun 2026. Chart by The Sales Coach Network, redrawn from the source data.

How many sales teams use AI?

Nearly all of them, on both sides of the deal. Adoption figures vary with how "use" is defined.

  • 87% of sales organisations use some form of AI for tasks like prospecting, forecasting, lead scoring or drafting emails (Salesforce, Feb 2026)
  • In the UK, 90% of sales organisations use some form of AI (Salesforce, Feb 2026)
  • 54% of UK sales professionals use AI for prospecting, and another 37% plan to (Salesforce, Feb 2026)
  • 56% of sales professionals use AI every day (LinkedIn, Mar 2025)
  • 45% of B2B buyers used AI during a recent purchase (Gartner, Mar 2026)
  • Measured across the whole buying process, 94% of business buyers use AI (Forrester, Jan 2026)
  • Nearly 90% of buyers report AI features are now part of the solutions they bought (6sense, Nov 2025)

Does AI improve sales performance?

It is linked to better results, but most of the evidence is correlational, and few organisations have scaled it.

  • Organisations in the highest AI engagement tercile reported 57% of account executives at quota, against 39% in the lowest (Bridge Group, Jun 2026)
  • A plurality of respondents rated 10 of 11 AI use cases in the account executive workflow as hit or miss (Bridge Group, Jun 2026)
  • Sales professionals using AI daily are twice as likely to exceed their targets (LinkedIn, Mar 2025)
  • 69% of sellers using AI cut their sales cycles by an average of one week (LinkedIn, Mar 2025)
  • Sellers who partner effectively with AI tools are 3.7 times more likely to meet quota (Gartner, Sep 2024)
  • Sales organisations that give sellers AI-enabled next best actions are 2.6 times more likely to achieve commercial growth (Gartner, May 2026)
  • Organisations that prioritise upskilling sellers on AI are 2.4 times more likely to achieve strong revenue growth (Gartner, May 2026)
  • Organisations that reinvest AI time savings are 2.2 times more likely to exceed customer growth goals (Gartner, May 2026)
  • Growth leaders that have embedded AI in core workflows name seller efficiency (59%) and better customer experiences (53%) as the main benefits (McKinsey, Jul 2026)
  • High-growth companies are three times more likely to have increased AI investment by double digits in 2026, 71% against 25% (McKinsey, Jul 2026)
  • Fewer than 10% of organisations have scaled AI in any given function (McKinsey, Jul 2026)
  • Early AI successes in sales show win rates improving by 30% or more (Bain & Company, Sep 2025)

Does AI replace the need for sales coaching?

No. Sellers and leaders say AI has raised the need for human coaching, and high performers use AI to practise more, not to coach less.

  • 75% of sales representatives and leaders believe the need for human coaching has increased, not decreased, because of AI tools (MySalesCoach, Sep 2026)
  • 34% of sales teams with AI agents use them for coaching, and high performers are 1.4 times more likely than underperformers to do so (Salesforce, Feb 2026)
  • 81% of UK sales leaders with AI agents say they are critical for meeting business demands (Salesforce, Feb 2026)
  • Gartner predicts AI agents will outnumber sellers 10 to 1 by 2028, yet fewer than 40% of sellers will say agents improved their productivity (Gartner, Jul 2026)
  • Gartner predicts that by 2029, sales organisations with AI-driven enablement will achieve 40% faster sales stage velocity than those using traditional enablement (Gartner, Apr 2026)
  • Gartner predicts 95% of sellers' research workflows will begin with AI by 2027, up from less than 20% in 2024 (Gartner, May 2026)

Sales Talent Statistics: UK Workforce, Skills, Ramp and Turnover

Around half a million people in the UK hold B2B sales roles, and employers say the skills those roles need are getting harder to find. Training budgets are moving the other way.

Paired bar chart of people and personal skills lacking among UK employees with skills gaps in 2022 and 2024, highlighting sales skills and managing or motivating staff
Figure 7: Among UK employers with skills gaps, the share citing sales skills and the ability to manage or motivate staff both rose between 2022 and 2024. Source: Department for Education, Employer Skills Survey 2024: UK report, Nov 2025. Chart by The Sales Coach Network, redrawn from the source data.

How many people work in B2B sales in the UK?

About half a million in core B2B sales roles, inside a wider sales and marketing workforce of nearly a million. Figures marked approximate are our totals from ONS survey estimates.

  • Approximately 356,000 people work as sales accounts and business development managers (SOC 3556) (ONS, Jun 2026)
  • Approximately 161,000 people work as business sales executives (SOC 3552) (ONS, Jun 2026)
  • Approximately 254,000 people work as marketing, sales and advertising directors (SOC 1132) (ONS, Jun 2026)
  • 964,700 people work in sales, marketing and related associate professional roles (SOC 355), 2.9% of UK employment, in the year to March 2026 (ONS, Mar 2026)
  • Skills England lists sales accounts and business development managers, a group of 331,000 jobs, among the occupations in critical demand (Skills England, Sep 2024)

How much do UK sales professionals earn?

Experienced B2B sellers earn well above the UK median, with a meaningful share of pay tied to results.

  • Median full-time gross pay is £57,625 for sales accounts and business development managers and £37,924 for business sales executives, against £39,039 for all full-time employees (ONS, Oct 2025)
  • Median annual incentive pay is £7,825 for sales accounts and business development managers and £5,736 for business sales executives (ONS, Oct 2025)

Is there a sales skills shortage in the UK?

Yes, and it is getting more visible. Employers report sales skills gaps in existing staff and difficulty hiring, while fewer employers are training.

  • Sales skills were lacking in 25% of UK skills gaps in 2024, up from 22% in 2022 (Department for Education, Nov 2025)
  • 49% of UK skills gaps were partly due to a lack of sales and customer skills, up from 45% in 2022 (Department for Education, Nov 2025)
  • 27% of all UK vacancies in 2024 were skill-shortage vacancies (Department for Education, Jul 2025)
  • 59% of UK employers had provided training for their staff in the previous 12 months, down from 66% in 2017 (Department for Education, Jul 2025)
  • Training days per trainee fell to 5.7 in 2024, the lowest in the survey's history (Department for Education, Nov 2025)
  • Only 21% of UK sales professionals find it easy to hire sales talent, and just 4% believe the UK education system adequately prepares candidates (small sample) (Warwick Business School, Dec 2024)
  • Only 31% of UK sales professionals are satisfied with their professional development opportunities (Warwick Business School, Dec 2024)

How long do new sales representatives take to ramp, and how long do they stay?

Longer to ramp and not long enough to repay it. These benchmarks are mostly from North American software companies, so treat them as a direction rather than a UK norm.

  • The experience required to hire an account executive rose to 3.7 years, from 2.7 years in 2022 (Bridge Group, Jun 2026)
  • SDR ramp time fell to 3.0 months, the lowest since 2010 (Bridge Group, Feb 2025)
  • Average SDR tenure is 1.9 years (Bridge Group, Feb 2025)
  • Median annual SDR attrition is 40% (Bridge Group, Feb 2025)
  • 44% of UK employers say talent is more difficult to retain (CIPD, Sep 2026)
  • 48% of UK employers increased their efforts to develop talent in-house over the past year (CIPD, Sep 2026)

Glossary

  • AE (Account Executive): the seller who runs a deal from qualified opportunity to close
  • SDR (Sales Development Representative): the seller who prospects and books first meetings
  • CSO / CRO: Chief Sales Officer / Chief Revenue Officer
  • Quota attainment: the share of representatives who hit their sales target in a period
  • Win rate: the share of qualified opportunities that close as won
  • Ramp time: how long a new representative takes to become fully productive
  • Deal slippage: a deal pushed past its forecast close date
  • Enablement: the training, content and tools that equip sellers
  • Point of first contact (POFC): how far through the buying journey a buyer first speaks to a seller
  • ONS: Office for National Statistics
  • ASHE: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ONS)
  • SOC: Standard Occupational Classification, the UK's job coding system
  • SSV (skill-shortage vacancy): a vacancy that is hard to fill because applicants lack the required skills
  • ROI: return on investment

Methodology and Sources

Every statistic on this page links to the organisation that produced it: the survey, report, journal article or official dataset, never a roundup. Each link was opened and the figure checked against the source before publication. Where a figure comes from a vendor's own research (including Salesforce, Ebsta, HubSpot, RAIN Group, MySalesCoach and the Highspot-sponsored ATD study), the vendor is named so readers can weigh it. Where sources disagree, as they do on quota attainment and sales cycle length, both are shown with their definitions. Figures marked approximate or "our calculation" are derived from the cited dataset. US and North American benchmarks are labelled as such. This page is reviewed and updated monthly, and the next update will add the ONS earnings data due on 22 October 2026.

Sources

Government and official statistics

Analyst and research firms

Professional bodies and academic research

Vendor research