The State of Sales Performance in SaaS: 2025 Research Synthesis

2025 Research Synthesis: What the Industry Data Reveals About Sales Execution

After years of prioritising growth over efficiency, mid-market SaaS sales organisations face a fundamental reckoning.

The data from multiple industry research sources tells a consistent story: sales performance has deteriorated significantly, creating a widening gap between top performers and those struggling to meet quotas.

This research synthesis examines findings from leading industry benchmark reports including Ebsta/Pavilion’s analysis of 4.2 million opportunities worth $54 billion, Benchmarkit’s survey of over 500 B2B SaaS companies, Bridge Group’s compensation and metrics research, and data from Pavilion, SaaS Capital, and others to understand what’s happening in mid-market SaaS sales and, more importantly, what’s working for companies that continue to succeed despite challenging market conditions.

Executive Summary: Five Critical Findings

1. Quota attainment has reached historic lows

In 2024, 69% of sales representatives missed their quotas—even after quota targets were reduced by 19% from the previous year.

Had quotas remained consistent, 79% would have missed targets.

Only 15% of sales teams had more than half their reps achieve 80%+ of quota.

2. Win rates continue to decline across B2B SaaS

Average B2B win rates decreased to 19-21% in 2024, down from 23% in 2022.

For enterprise deals with ACV over $100,000, win rates fell from approximately 26% to just 17% in 2023.

This represents a challenging environment where roughly 4 out of 5 qualified opportunities are lost.

For deeper context on how to improve these metrics, see our guide on 15 Sales Performance Metrics Every Leader Should Track.

3. The performance gap between top and average reps is accelerating

Top-performing account executives demonstrate an 8.9x velocity advantage over their peers.

A mere 17% of reps generate 81% of revenue in their organisations.

Top performers are 588% more likely to effectively follow sales methodology and 843% more likely to overcome objections.

4. Customer acquisition costs are rising whilst growth rates decline

The median New CAC Ratio increased 14% in 2024 to $2.00, meaning companies now spend $2.00 in sales and marketing to acquire $1.00 of new customer ARR.

Meanwhile, median growth rates dropped to 26% in 2024 from previous highs, with the top quartile threshold falling from 60% to 50% growth.

5. Sales cycles have lengthened significantly

The data shows sales cycles extending across the market, with some research indicating increases of 24-32% for mid-market deals and up to 36% for enterprise transactions.

This extension, combined with declining win rates, creates a compounding productivity challenge.

Learn practical strategies to counter this trend in our article on How Mid-Market SaaS Companies Can Shorten Sales Cycles by 30%.

Understanding Mid-Market SaaS: Defining the Segment

Mid-market SaaS companies occupy a unique position, large enough to require structured sales processes and dedicated teams, yet not large enough to afford the full enterprise sales infrastructure of ASX 200 organisations.

This research synthesis focuses on companies with the following characteristics:

 

• • 10-200 sales representatives

• • Average contract values (ACV) between $10,000-$250,000

• • Sales cycles typically 30-180 days

• • B2B focus with complex, multi-stakeholder buying processes

• • Annual recurring revenue generally between $5M-$100M

This segment faces distinct challenges: sophisticated enough to require methodology and process, yet resource-constrained compared to enterprise competitors.

The following analysis examines where these organisations are struggling and what high performers are doing differently.

Key Performance Indicators: 2024-2025 Benchmark Data

Multiple industry research sources provide a comprehensive picture of mid-market SaaS sales performance.

The table below synthesises key metrics from Benchmarkit, Pavilion, Bridge Group, and other authoritative sources:

Metric	2024 Benchmark	Source
Quota Attainment (% of reps achieving quota)	31% of reps exceeded quota; 69% missed	Ebsta/Pavilion 2024
Fully Ramped SaaS Rep Attainment	50-60% of quota	Drivetrain 2024
Average B2B Win Rate	19-21%	Bridge Group 2024; HubSpot 2024
Enterprise (ACV>$100K) Win Rate	~17%	Winning by Design 2023
Median ARR Growth Rate	26% (down from higher rates in 2022-23)	Benchmarkit 2025; Pavilion 2025
New CAC Ratio (Sales & Marketing spend per $1 New ARR)	$2.00 (median)	Benchmarkit 2025
Net Revenue Retention (NRR)	101% (median)	Pavilion 2025
Account Executive Median OTE	$190,000 (53/47 base/variable split)	Bridge Group 2024
Expansion ARR as % of Total New ARR	40% (median)	Benchmarkit 2025

These benchmarks reveal a challenging environment where the majority of sales representatives struggle to meet quotas, win rates hover around one in five qualified opportunities, and the cost of acquiring new customers continues to rise.

The Four Critical Breakdowns in Sales Execution

Analysis of the research data reveals consistent patterns in where mid-market SaaS sales organisations struggle.

The following four areas represent the primary execution gaps:

1. The Qualification Breakdown: Pursuing Unwinnable Deals

The Ebsta/Pavilion research found that 61% of closed-lost deals were attributed to ‘indecision’ by sales representatives.

Deeper analysis of conversation data revealed this often masks poor qualification; pursuing opportunities where budget, priority, or competitive position was never favourable.

The research showed that whilst 61% of businesses have adopted formal sales methodologies (with MEDDPICC being most common), only 15% of opportunities were fully qualified according to these frameworks.

More telling: only 5% of companies scored the confidence level of each qualification criterion, suggesting checkbox compliance rather than rigorous assessment.

The impact is significant. Opportunities that complete qualification methodology requirements by the ‘Solution Presented’ stage are 307-324% more likely to close, depending on the framework used.

Yet the data shows most organisations fail to enforce these standards consistently.

For more on effective qualification techniques, read our guide on Discovery Questions That Actually Uncover Pain Points.

2. The Objection Handling Gap: When Budget, Priority, and Competition Stall Deals

The research revealed that 77% of slipped opportunities featured key objections raised early in the sales process.

However, the difference between top performers and average performers in handling these objections was stark: top performers were 843% more likely to overcome objections.

For average performers, the common close-lost reasons were lack of budget (22%), not a priority (20%), or a competitor (14%).

Top performers, by contrast, lost deals primarily due to lack of features (25%) or ROI concerns (10%), suggesting they successfully navigated budget, priority, and competitive objections that stalled their peers.

The data shows that objections around ROI, when addressed early with economic buyers, can actually accelerate deals.

However, if ROI concerns surface after solution presentation, the likelihood of closing drops by 63%.

Timing and anticipation matter enormously.

Understanding the ROI of your sales enablement efforts is critical—learn more in our article on The ROI of Sales Enablement: What Leaders Need to Know.

3. The Stakeholder Engagement Failure: Selling to Individuals in Committee Decisions

The Ebsta/Pavilion 2023 research found that the number of stakeholders involved in buying decisions increased to 10 in 2022.

Yet their 2024 analysis revealed that most sales efforts remain focused on a limited number of contacts, with average performers engaging far fewer stakeholders than top performers.

The research showed that top performers engage key stakeholders 361% more effectively than average performers.

Critically, they involve these stakeholders before solution presentation, building alignment early rather than encountering resistance late in the process.

The data also challenged common assumptions.

Finance leaders, often viewed as deal blockers, actually had the third-highest velocity when properly engaged.

The challenge isn’t whether to involve finance, it’s when and how to involve them productively.

4. The Methodology Adherence Gap: Knowing the Framework But Not Applying It

Perhaps the most significant finding: top performers are 588% more likely to follow sales methodology effectively compared to average performers.

This statistic reveals that the problem isn’t lack of methodology, 61% of businesses have adopted formal frameworks, but rather inconsistent application.

The research found significant variance in how rigorously organisations enforce methodology.

Companies that required completion of qualification frameworks before advancing opportunities saw dramatically higher win rates.

Those who treated methodology as guidance rather than a requirement saw little benefit from the investment.

Learn about modern sales methodology frameworks in our article on The Modern B2B Sales Methodology: 5 Stages Every Mid-Market Team Needs.

What High Performers Do Differently: Insights from the Research

Across multiple research sources, several practices consistently correlate with superior performance:

Rigorous Qualification with Stage-Specific Exit Criteria

High-performing organisations don’t just adopt methodology; they enforce it.

The research showed that deals completing MEDDPICC or SPICED qualification by solution presentation are 307-324% more likely to close.

Top performers average 4.7-5.6 meetings and engage 3.4-5.2 contacts to complete qualification properly.

Importantly, top performers disqualify aggressively.

They recognise that pursuing poor-fit opportunities wastes capacity that could be invested in winnable deals.

Proactive Pipeline Generation and Account Prioritisation

The research revealed that organic inbound leads perform best for larger organisations (500+ employees), whilst outbound excels for smaller companies.

Top performers understand which channels work for their segment and focus accordingly.

More broadly, top performers prioritise sources of revenue, not just pipeline volume.

They focus on accounts and personas with the highest velocity (value × win rate ÷ sales cycle length), rather than pursuing any available opportunity.

Early and Comprehensive Stakeholder Engagement

The research showed that successful deals involve a significantly higher number of engaged stakeholders throughout the process.

Top performers identify key decision-makers early, understand their individual concerns, and develop strategies for engaging each appropriately.

The activity data revealed that top performers demonstrate intense stakeholder engagement early in the sales process, followed by focused activity with economic buyers during negotiation.

Average performers, by contrast, show one-directional activity (rep reaching out) without reciprocal engagement until deals are already at risk.

Disciplined Deal Management and Time Allocation

With deal slippage at 37% in 2024, time management became critical.

The research found that top performers consistently define next steps, update opportunities weekly, and resist skipping stages.

They also demonstrate discipline around discounting, deferring price concessions until strategically necessary rather than offering them early to rescue stalled deals.

The Investment and Efficiency Picture: Sales and Marketing Spending

Multiple research sources examined how mid-market SaaS companies allocate resources to sales and marketing:

 

• • SaaS Capital’s 2024 survey found sales spending at 10.5% of ARR (down from 15% the previous year) and marketing spending at 8% of ARR (down from 10%)

• • Benchmarkit’s research showed that private SaaS companies over $100M ARR invest 33% of revenue in sales and marketing—identical to public SaaS companies

• • The data revealed that VC-backed companies invest 47% of revenue in sales and marketing versus 33% for PE-backed firms, reflecting different growth priorities

These reductions in spending as a percentage of revenue suggest either improved efficiency or, more concerningly given declining growth rates and rising CAC ratios, insufficient investment to support growth targets.

The Retention and Expansion Imperative

With new customer acquisition becoming more expensive, the research highlighted the growing importance of customer retention and expansion:

 

• • Existing customers now generate 40% of new ARR (median), with this percentage exceeding 50% for companies above $50M in revenue

• • Median Net Revenue Retention compressed to 101%, down from approximately 110-120% in previous years

• • For bootstrapped companies ($3M-$20M ARR), median NRR of 104% with 90th percentile at 118% represents healthy retention dynamics

The compression in NRR, combined with the rising cost of new customer acquisition, creates a challenging dynamic.

Companies that fail to retain and expand existing customers face an increasingly expensive treadmill of replacement revenue.

Implications for Mid-Market SaaS Sales Leaders

The research data leads to several clear implications for sales leaders:

The Methodology Gap Is an Execution Problem, Not a Knowledge Problem

With 61% of organisations having adopted sales methodologies but only 15% of opportunities being fully qualified, the issue isn’t awareness of best practices.

The gap is enforcement and consistent application.

Sales leaders must treat methodology as a requirement, not guidance, with stage-specific gates that opportunities cannot bypass.

Understanding why training often fails is critical; read our analysis in Why Sales Training Doesn’t Stick (And What to Do Instead).

The 8.9x Performance Gap Demands Different Approaches for Different Performers

The dramatic gap between top and average performers, with 17% of reps generating 81% of revenue, suggests that traditional across-the-board training approaches miss the mark.

High performers need different support than struggling reps.

Coaching must be differentiated based on specific skill gaps revealed by pipeline and activity data.

Learn what makes effective coaching in our article on What Makes a World-Class Sales Coach? The 6 Essential Characteristics You Need.

Pipeline Quality Trumps Pipeline Quantity

With 61% of deals lost to ‘indecision’ (often masking poor qualification) and only one in five qualified opportunities closing, the research makes clear that pipeline coverage alone provides false confidence.

Organisations must shift focus from pipeline generation to pipeline quality, measured by rigorous qualification and realistic win probability assessment.

Rising CAC Demands Greater Sales Efficiency

The 14% increase in New CAC Ratio to $2.00—spending $2 to acquire $1 of new ARR—combined with declining growth rates, creates an unsustainable trajectory.

Organisations cannot simply increase sales and marketing spending to compensate for declining efficiency.

Improved sales execution, better qualification, higher win rates, faster cycles, becomes economically imperative.

Discover practical strategies in our guide How to Improve Sales Performance in 90 Days: A Practical Roadmap.

Conclusion: The Methodology Moment

The breadth of research data spanning millions of opportunities, billions in revenue, and hundreds of organisations tells a consistent story.

Mid-market SaaS sales performance has deteriorated significantly, with the majority of representatives missing quota, win rates declining, sales cycles lengthening, and customer acquisition costs rising.

Yet within this challenging environment, a cohort of high performers continues to excel.

The research reveals their advantages: rigorous qualification discipline, effective objection handling, comprehensive stakeholder engagement, and consistent methodology application.

Critically, these advantages stem from execution, not market position or product superiority.

The implication for sales leaders is clear: the organisations that invest in sales methodology implementation, enforce rigorous qualification standards, and develop consistent coaching practices will compound their advantages whilst competitors struggle.

The performance gap is widening.

The question isn’t whether to invest in sales execution excellence; it’s whether you’ll do it before the gap becomes insurmountable.

For a comprehensive framework on building high-performing sales teams, see our complete guide on Sales Performance Management: The Leader’s Guide to Building High-Performing Teams.

Research Sources & Methodology

This research synthesis draws on the following primary sources:

 

• • Ebsta & Pavilion (2024). ‘2024 B2B Sales Benchmarks Report.’ Analysis of 4.2 million opportunities from 530 companies representing $54 billion in revenue, plus over 1 million hours of sales conversations.

• • Benchmarkit (2025). ‘2025 SaaS Performance Metrics Benchmarks Report.’ Survey data from over 500 B2B SaaS companies across multiple revenue stages.

• • Pavilion (2025). ‘2025 B2B SaaS Performance Benchmarks.’ Compiled benchmark data on CAC, ARR, NRR, and growth rates from B2B SaaS companies.

• • Bridge Group (2024). ‘SaaS AE Metrics Report 2024.’ Annual survey of sales metrics and compensation benchmarks for B2B SaaS Account Executives.

• • HubSpot (2024). ‘2024 Sales Trends Report.’ Global B2B sales performance data including win rates, quota attainment, and sales cycle metrics.

• • Winning by Design (2023). ‘2023 Industry Analysis.’ Analysis of enterprise deal performance including win rate trends.

• • SaaS Capital (2024, 2025). Annual Survey and Bootstrapped SaaS Company Benchmarks. Survey data on spending patterns, growth rates, and operational metrics.

About SalesPerformance Group

SalesPerformance Group brings enterprise-grade sales methodologies to mid-market growth firms and corporate divisions.

Our SalesPerformance System™ integrates proven sales frameworks into a modern, actionable methodology that embeds into daily workflows and drives measurable results.