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Miller Heiman Debuts Sales Performance Index

Market Indicator Measures Sales Leader Confidence and Performance

RENO, NV -  January 31, 2005  -   Miller Heiman today introduced the Miller Heiman Sales Performance Index, a new and unprecedented market indicator that measures the confidence companies have in effectively selling products and services in current market conditions.

Miller Heiman's Sales Performance Index is a statistically supported gauge of North America sales performance based on the confidence levels of senior sales executives. It is the first nationally published Index of its kind. When announced, the Index reflects the opinions of a select group of sales leaders for the previous quarter's sales performance.

The Q1 2005 Miller Heiman Sales Performance Index unveiled today is 107.3. This reflects an improvement against the Index's baseline of 100, which was established in October 2004 for Q4 2004 using the same group of sales leaders.

Three primary factors contributed to the Index's rise. They include diminishing discounting pressures, increasing deal sizes, and a higher percentage of salespeople achieving quota.

"An increase in the Index indicates we're beginning to see improvements within our current selling environment," said Sam Reese, president and CEO, Miller Heiman. "In the past quarter, sales leaders felt less pressure to discount. This factor had the greatest impact toward driving the Index upward."

The Q1 2005 Sales Performance Index reports 51.7% of respondents were required to discount 10% or more to win sales opportunities. This compares to 75.2% of respondents during the Q4 2004 Sales Performance Index.

"Reducing the overall percentage of discounting, even by a few basis points, can have dramatic impact on a company's bottom-line performance," said Reese. "If discounting pressures continue to subside and we continue to see average account billings increase, sales leaders should be anticipating a strong first quarter."

About the Sales Performance Index

The Index is comprised of responses by a fixed group of 250 sales leaders representing small, medium, and large companies in various industries throughout North America. The members are referred to as the Sales Performance Index 250. Each quarter, members of the Sales Performance Index 250 are ask the same ten questions relating to their confidence in the overall market and toward specific performance-related metrics.

Each question focuses on a specific driver reflective of overall sales performance. Questions range from the sales leader's ability to achieve quota in the current quarter to lead quality, sales cycles, discounting pressures, and growth or decline in average billing per customer.

The Sales Performance Index 250 is a managed sample of senior-level sales executives, which employs a consistent composition based on company size. Company size is determined by total number of employees. The Index number itself is a summation of the mean responses of the participants.

The announcement schedule for the Sales Performance Index is as follows: Q2 2005, April 25th; Q3 2005, July 25th; Q4 2005, October 31st. For the Q1 2005 Sales Performance Index, 218 of the Sales Performance Index 250 participated.

About Miller Heiman: The Sales Performance Company

Miller Heiman is a global leader in sales performance solutions with more than 30 years of documented results. The company works with leading organizations to improve sales effectiveness through issue-based consulting and training. Headquartered in Reno, Nev., Miller Heiman has additional corporate offices in the United Kingdom and Australia and representation in more than 30 countries. For more information, contact 877.506.2973 or visit www.millerheiman.com.