How much time do sales reps actually spend selling?

The average seller spends just 40% of the week actually selling; the other 60% goes to deal admin, research, data entry, and everything that is not a buyer (Salesforce State of Sales, 7th edition 2026, n=4,050). Your number is rarely an outlier.

What does administrative work cost my sales team?

Multiply the fully loaded cost of each rep by the share of the week spent not selling, then by headcount. That is revenue capacity you have already paid for and are not getting, which is why removing the work beats hiring more reps.

How do I calculate the cost of sales busywork?

Take fully loaded cost per rep, multiply by the percent of time on non-selling tasks, and scale across the team. The fix is a system that removes the work, because every hour moved from admin to selling is capacity you already bought.

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