Arthur D. Little and the Leipzig Graduate School of Management recently undertook a cross-industry benchmarking study to identify the key levers to achieving marketing and sales excellence. Over the last 18 months companies have focused on cutting costs/downsizing and fuelling idle production capacity, often entailing price reductions or extended payment terms. Now, with the first signs of an economic recovery (with Asia as growth driver), executives need to ‘gear up’ to be able to take advantage of the increasing opportunities now presented, albeit at significantly reduced pre-crisis levels. The study finds that the engineering, manufacturing, and high-tech sectors have huge untapped potential for improving their performance across all categories that contribute to excellence in marketing and sales.