The importance and status of sales in Sweden 2023

What we asked

The survey asked two kinds of questions. First, how important sales and sales competence are, for Sweden as a trading nation and for the respondent's own company. Then, how satisfied they are with the situation today in the same areas. Both were answered on a scale from one to five.

The questionnaire was web-based and anonymous and went to Norval Institute's network. The sample is therefore not random, and the answers should be read as an indication from people who work close to sales, not as a picture of Swedish business as a whole. That the answers point so consistently in the same direction is still worth taking seriously.

The clearest pattern is the gap

In every area surveyed, a large majority answered that the issue is very important. Almost as consistently, they answered that the situation today is not satisfactory. The distance between how important something is considered to be and how satisfied people are with it, the gap, recurs everywhere.

For companies, the gap is largest in sales competence and customer service. Next comes the ability to meet the customer and adapt the selling to the customer and the business situation. Only a couple of per cent of respondents were very satisfied with sales representatives' ability to adapt the way they sell to the situation, while the majority were somewhat or fairly satisfied.

For Sweden as a nation, the largest gap lies in the questions about growth and about society's efforts to facilitate trade and sales. Nine out of ten considered sales very important for Sweden's economic development. Only a couple of per cent were very satisfied with society's understanding of this.

What the report concludes

The report's main conclusion is that Sweden is a strong industrial country that needs to become a better trading nation. Knowledge about sales is described as fragmented and rarely evidence-based, and sales is given low priority in academic education. The need for skills development applies to both managers and sales representatives, and it is possible to start now: learning, in a structured way, to use the right methods, models and sales techniques for the business situation you are actually in.

How you can use it

Ask the same two questions in your own organisation. How important do we say sales is, and how much do we actually invest in competence and in the ability to adapt our sales work to the customer? The difference between the answers is your own gap, and it is often a better starting point for development work than a new target figure.