Sales industry statistics can be complex and confusing. I know when I was first starting out in sales, I had no idea where to begin when it came to learning about the industry. Thankfully, there are some great resources out there that can help you get a handle on things.
Here are the top sales industry statistics to help you stay ahead of the curve:
The Most Significant Sales Industry Statistics
We put together this huge list containing interesting stats about selling.
The key to success in selling is learning from peers.
Using data to make informed decisions about your sales process can help you improve the overall performance of your team.
Ready to learn some valuable sales tips that you can share with your reps?
These sales statistics will help you and your sales teams improve your overall sales process.
1. Sales Call Stats
92% of all sales conversations occur on the phone.
85% of clients are unsatisfied with their experiences.
58% of B2B customers like to speak to a sales rep about the price on their first phone call.
The best time to phone your prospects is between 8 am, and 9 am.
44% of salespeople give up on a lead after one “no.”
Only 8% of salespeople ever bother to call a prospect back.
According to research from Baylor, the average salesperson can secure 1.9 appointments per 209 phone calls.
Cold calling is not dead yet.
The 2018 State of Sales Report by The Rain Group revealed that 69% of sales professionals made at least one successful sale through a cold call.
80% of sales phone calls go straight to a recipient’s voice mail.
According to research, the optimal voicemail length is 18-30 seconds.
27% of salespeople still believe in the effectiveness of making sales through a cold phone call.
Are your sales reps doing as well as they could be?
The 6-conversation rule states that salespeople should have 6 conversations with customers daily.
93% of the effectiveness of your cold-calling efforts is attributed to your tone and voice during the conversation.
2. Direct sales stats
74% of Americans have bought products or services from direct sales companies.
The sales associated with direct marketing are estimated to amount to 9 billion dollars.
A door-to-door salesperson could speak to 160 people in 20 minutes each in eight hours.
85% of clients surveyed by salesforce.com were unhappy with their experience with phone calls.
While direct mail may not be as effective as it once was, it can still work for many businesses.
41% of Americans (of all ages) say that they enjoy checking the mailbox.
If you’re sending out a mailer, try to find a way to stand out from the competition.
The United States Postal Service estimates that an average American household receives 454 pieces of mail every year.
The average person keeps a piece of direct mail in their house for 17 days before throwing it away. Your advertisement will be visible to your customers for over 2 weeks!
The message is long enough for the person on the other end to have the time to absorb it.
According to recent stats from marketingcharts.com, direct mailings can return a 29% return on investment to sales professionals and business owners.
Some demographic groups prefer direct mail over email.
3. The statistics for sales emails and cold mailing
Emails can be a great way to reach and engage with customers. According to research from global management consulting firm McKinsey, email is 40 times more effective than social media marketing at attracting customers.
Recipients open 23.9% of salespeople’s emails.
So crafting a catchy, engaging, and irresistible email subject is incredibly important.
Email is still the preferred method of communication for business purposes, with 86% of professionals surveyed by HubSpot preferring to use email.
If you’re looking to increase sales, increasing engagement is a great way. According to a survey from eConsultancy, 74% of marketing professionals believe it can have a positive effect.
In 2022, 347 trillion emails will be sent every day.
9% of people use their phone to check their emails more than 5 times daily.
49% of businesses are using some automated email marketing.
The average person spends about 4 hours each week reading and replying to their email.
Email is a very popular way to communicate with your prospects.
8 out of 10 people prefer to be contacted by email over any other method.
4. LinkedIn and social selling statistics
LinkedIn is a social media platform with over 575+ million users and 260 million monthly active users, according to statistics from Kinsta.
38% of users on LinkedIn are Millennials.
And 11 million people between 18 and 34 hold decision-making positions in companies.
LinkedIn is a powerful social media platform for generating leads. According to HubSpot, LinkedIn is 277% more effective than Facebook and Twitter for lead generation. LinkedIn should be your go-to platform if you’re looking to generate leads through social media.
94% of B2B companies use Linkedin to share and distribute their content.
98% of companies see the value of using social networks for sales, but only 49% of those companies have a robust program in place.
43% of B2B marketing professionals say they’ve gotten a customer from Linkedin.
Sixty five billion is the estimated number of people using social media worldwide.
The number of mobile phone users worldwide is expected to hit 3.1 billion people by 2021.
84% of top executives will research companies on social media before purchasing.
5. Sales prospecting Stats
Do you struggle to make new contacts?
You’re not the only one who finds sales hard. 40% of sales reps find prospecting the hardest part of the sale process. Closing and qualification are close behind.
According to a Hubspot study, 6 in 10 customers want to talk about price on their first phone call.
A survey of 1,000 B2B decision-makers by The Rain Group showed that 62% of respondents wanted to hear from salespeople when actively seeking a solution. This shows that if you want to improve your sales figures, you need to prospect more!
Phones are an important part of any sales process. According to research from SalesForce, 92% of all business-to-customer interaction happens on the phone.
According to research from SalesForce, 51% of top salespeople spend most of their time building and nurturing relationships with their buyers.
Asking 11 to 14 thoughtful and insightful questions about your prospect’s business during a sales conversation increases your chances of closing the deal by 74%.
Prospects are getting more difficult to reach by phone, so sales reps have to be more persistent than ever before.
According to research by sales software provider SPOTIO, it now takes an average of 8.5 times to reach your prospect, up from 3.68 times in 2007.
Missed calls and unanswered messages mean you have to listen to many voice mails.
The average salesperson spends 25 hours of their month making phone calls to potential sales.
6. Sales follow-up Stats
According to a study by SalesForce, 50% of all sales will happen after five contacts with the prospect.
Sadly, most salespeople will give up on a prospect after only two attempts.
In 2016, 433 businesses were surveyed by a marketing company, Drift.
A study found that 7% of companies that received contact form submissions responded within 5 minutes. 50% of these companies took over 5 days to respond to these forms. This slow response time could cost you potential sales.
It might take several attempts to reach a prospect finally. The Telenet and Ovation sales groups found that, on average, it takes about 8 follow-ups to get through finally. So keep at it!
Sales are all about speed.
According to a study by the Harvard Business school, reaching out to potential customers within an hour of getting their contact information increases your chances of a meaningful conversation by seven times.
Many sales representatives will record a large number of messages every day.
According to a study by zoom info, 4.8% of callers who leave a voice mail receive a response.
96% of salespeople use Linkedin weekly, making it a valuable tool for keeping in touch.
75% of consumers would prefer to receive 2 to 4 calls from a business before giving up.
The speed of your response to a potential lead can make or break a sale. 35-50% of customers will purchase from a vendor that responds to them the fastest.
7. Sales closing stats
The hunger of salespeople is what drives them to close the deal.
A Hubspot survey revealed that 71% of salespeople said that getting more customers is their priority.
The 2017 CSO Insight report shows that the percentage of sales representatives who meet their quota has dropped from 63% to 53% over the last six years.
A study by SalesForce found that 63% of salespeople who identified a customer’s pain point closed the sale.
28% of salespeople who address their prospect’s pain point are likelier to make a sale.
Collaborating with your team is essential to achieving your sales goals.
According to a recent study from Sales Benchmark Index, 91% of top-performing sales teams are collaborating across multiple teams on their biggest accounts.
Providing a positive customer experience is incredibly important. This is because 50% of brand loyalty is based on that. By providing a pleasurable experience, you can increase customer retention and generate more repeat purchases.
The age of the lead determines how soon you can close them.
According to the Rain Group, 47% of sales proposals are accepted by customers.
What stands between you and getting the sale?
79% of sales representatives who employ many social media tactics achieve quota. This shows just how important social media and business are to each other.
8. Inside sales Stats
According to CSO, inside Sales Reps spend less than 33% of their time making phone calls.
According to iHire, only 18% of salespeople succeed.
78% of decision-makers in companies take appointments or attend industry events after getting a cold email or phone call.
Point clear looked into the cost of making an outside sale; it found that the average cost of a call was $308.
According to research firm research, 37% of fast-growing companies use an inside sales team, while 27% of other companies use outside sales reps. 23% of others sell online, while 8% of businesses sell through partners.
According to CSO Insights, sales reps often prioritize lead volume and quality over training and process.
According to a recent study by PwC, 60% of customers will switch to a competitor because of poor customer service, while 46% will switch because they don’t know enough about the product or service.
Personalizing your messages can help you connect with your prospects.
According to research, 70% of customers want to do business over the phone. This presents a great opportunity for sales professionals to get in touch without having to meet face-to-face.
9. Sales Funnel Stats
68% of companies fail to track their sales pipeline.
79% of sales in these businesses are never closed.
Nurtured sales opportunities drive significant revenue growth for businesses.
Nurtured leads contacted within 5 minutes are 47% more likely to purchase than those not.
According to Hubspot statistics, 72% of companies with less than 50 sales opportunities in their lead funnel fail to meet their monthly goals.
A healthy sales pipeline is essential to your organization’s success.
63% of audiences will remember a story you tell, while only 5% will recall your sales stats.
Only 5% of salespeople use a completely automatic marketing tool.
24% of sales forecasts in a typical sales funnel to end up dead.
51% of email marketing professionals think email list segmenting is the most efficient and effective way to nurture your lead.
10. Sales training stats
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4.3% of the population of the United States work in Sales.
According to an article in forbes.com, up to 55% of sales reps have poor selling skills and miss out on great opportunities.
According to research from Mediafly, 27% of businesses don’t offer formal or structured training or coaching for salespeople.
A study by consulting firm, Accenture, reveals that for every dollar invested in employee training and development, the company will receive a 353% return, or $4.53.
The importance of quality sales training cannot be overstated.
From the Bridge Group research, an average company will spend between $10,000 and $15,000 hiring a person, but only $2,000 yearly on sales training.
80% of top-performing teams received excellent sales training, and 20% of underperforming teams lacked this vital resource.
52% of organizations that don’t track their sales team’s training performance end up performing poorly.
Conclusion
Sales industry statistics can be complex and confusing. Thankfully, there are some great resources out there that can help you get a handle on things. The sales statistics above are a great place to start if you want to learn more about the industry. Stay ahead of the curve by keeping up with the latest sales industry news and trends!
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