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Sales Statistics that determine success

I recently came across some insightful sales statistics. Based on that strike a chord of familiarity with a lot of sales people.

Here they are:

• 48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect
• 25% of sales people make a second contact and stop
• 12% of sales people only make three contacts and stop
• Only 10% of sales people make more than three contacts
• 2% of sales are made on the first contact
• 3% of sales are made on the second contact
• 5% of sales are made on the third contact
• 10% of sales are made on the fourth contact
• 80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact

As the statistics I shared above point out, your greatest opportunity to control your own success lies in your willingness to be persistent. And, I would go one step further to suggest that you not stop at persistence, but that you establish Planned Persistence.

Only 10% of people have a good and experienced “Sales” mindset. This isn’t anything magical or special, just a way of using the Sales tools / automations at your disposal and having an open-minded, positive mindset and the ability to judge, gauge and read people and situations, which most Sales people are inherently good at anyway. 

How should I follow up? What method works best?

Visits

1.   In-person contact are the most effective & important method to close new business

2.   Humans retain 80% of what we see including the sale person’s face

3.   In-person meetings contribute to a 50% higher likelihood of closing a deal compared to remote communication, emphasizing the importance of building trust through face-to-face interactions.

Email

1.   1.Email marketing has a 2x higher ROI than cold calling or trade events 

2.   33% of recipients open an email because of a subject line 

3.   64% of people make spelling / grammatical errors in their emails, so it's important to do a grammar check on them before sending 

4.   Including the prospects first name in the subject line can boost open rates by 29.3% 

Phone calls

1.   55% of high growth companies stated that cold calling is very much alive 

2.   One study showed that phone calls out-converted emails by a significant margin – 8.21% vs 0.03% 

3.   The average salesperson makes 52 calls a day

4.   The average response rate for a voicemail is 4.8% 

5.   80% of calls go to voicemail. 90% of first-time voicemails are never returned 

Texting

1.   Prospects who are sent text messages have a 40% higher conversion rate than those who don’t receive texts 

2.   Texts are better used as a follow-up than an initial point of contact. Texting before having had a phone conversation decreases the likelihood of the prospect ever becoming a lead 

3.   Texting someone after having made contact leads to a 112.6% higher lead to engagement conversion 

Social media

1.   Sales reps who are active on social media get 45% more sales opportunities than those who aren’t 

2.   Sales reps that use social media as a sales channel are 51% more likely to hit their sales quota than those who don’t 

3.   98% of sales reps with more than 5,000 LinkedIn connections meet or surpass their quota

4.   78% of salespeople who use social media perform better than their peers 

Sales success is a journey of persistence, with 80% of sales occurring between the fifth and twelfth contact. The data highlights missed opportunities as 48% of salespeople never go beyond the initial outreach, emphasizing the significance of consistent engagement. In the world of sales, lasting connections and conversions often unfold not in the first few contacts but through sustained effort and perseverance.

Sam Krishnan | Results Guaranteed Business Coach