18 Surprising Sales Statistics to Help You Sell Better

Salespeople, want to start closing more deals sooner? Learn from the following sales statistics — some of which are amazing, some of which are rather alarming.

47% of high-performing sales organizations think they need to adopt a process to streamline proposals, contracts, ordering, quoting and sales collateral workflow. (Source: Aberdeen #2; see below for all sources.)

• Tip: Integrations and add-ons can link your sales CRM to to proposal, quoting and dozens of other useful apps.

High-performing sales organizations are 38% more likely to use sales analytics to collect customer data that informs ongoing customer interactions. (Source: Aberdeen #3.)

• Tip: In your sales CRM, leverage analytics to help better understand the dynamics of your sales funnel.

43% of companies think that sales representatives need to improve their ability to prioritize accounts to focus selling efforts. (Source: CSO #1.)

• Tip: In your CRM, prioritize your accounts by distilling your activity goals and qualifying your leads.

51% of companies think that sales representatives need to improve their ability to identify trigger events that indicate a likeliness to buy. (Source: CSO #1.)

• Tip: Maintain your sales momentum by ensuring that your team agrees on what sales triggers in your CRM relate to each stage in the sales process.

26% of sales organizations think that their CRM effectively enables them to collaborate across departments; for world-class sales organizations, it’s 85%. (Source: MHI.)

• Tip: Cloud-based CRMs increase your team’s ability to collaborate.

36% of sales organizations think that their sales leadership is highly confident that their salespeople will adopt their CRM system; for world-class sales organizations, it’s 80%. (Source: MHI.)

• Tip: Adoption rates are just one factor to consider when choosing a sales CRM. Others include training, user reviews, customization and mobility.

Sales teams that follow a defined sales process average more than 33% in production and revenue than sales teams that don’t. (Source: CSO #2.)

• Tip: Defining your sales cycle into stages — such as Target, Contacted, Meeting Agreed, Proposal Sent and Close — increases your ability to establish activity expectations and fix leaks in your pipeline.

The average cost of replacing a B2B sales representative is more than $29,000, with an average of seven months to hire and onboard them. (Source: Aberdeen #4.)

• Tip: When an employee accepts a job offer, consider implementing a pre-hiring plan that includes incentivizing onboarding activities such as building product knowledge and performing a sales collateral review.

47% of of total leads are self-generated by sales representatives (and aren’t, for instance, generated by marketing, customer referrals or customer service). (Source: CSO #1.)

• Tip: Tracking which companies visit your website and their activity is one way to help you increase qualified leads.

55% of companies think that sales representatives need to improve their ability to incubate promising leads for the future. (Source: CSO #1.)

• Tip: Tracking cold, warm and hot leads in separate pipelines in your CRM is one way of improving your likelihood of closing deals.

After a sales call, 57% of prospects thought that the caller had a clear understanding of their needs. (Source: New Voice Media.)

• Tip: Call tracking mobile apps that are linked to your CRM can allow you to log phone calls, link calls to deals and schedule follow-ups. But before picking up the phone, research the prospect and establish your goal.

Salespeople who contacted prospects within an hour of receiving a query were 60 times as likely to qualify the lead as those who waited 24 hours or longer to contact the prospect. (Source: Harvard Business Review.)

• Tip: If your sales team aren’t hitting their targets, investigate if they’re using ineffective sales techniques.

80% of sales require five follow-up calls after a meeting; 44% of salespeople give up after one follow-up. (Source: Scripted.)

• Tip: Incorporate follow-ups into your activity goals.

Only 46% of sales representatives feel their pipeline is accurate. (Source: Altify.)

• Tip: The accuracy of the deals in your pipeline directly relates to how steady and dependable your revenue will be.

The best sales representatives are 250% better at qualifying leads. (Source: Altify.)

• Tip: Weed out unqualified leads as early as you can.

46% of all sales organizations know why their top salespeople are successful; for world-class sales organizations, it’s 96%. (Source: MHI.)

• Tip: In your CRM, consider using weekly metrics and multiple pipelines and dashboards to improve your performance.

57% of people said they would be encouraged to make a purchase from a salesperson who doesn’t try to apply pressure or hassle them when following up. (Source: New Voice Media.)

• Tip: See the sales process from the buyer’s perspective.

42% of people would be encouraged to make a purchase if the sales rep called back at an agreed-upon, specified time. (Source: New Voice Media.)

• Tip: Time management is just one quality of sales superstars. Others include trainability, goal-orientedness and a willingness to assume responsibility for engagement outcomes.

Lee Bob Black is a writer and editor.

Sources:

• Aberdeen #1: “What Do You Mean, There’s a Debit on My Commission Check?”
• Aberdeen #2: “Modern Sales Workflow.”
• Aberdeen #3: “End-to-end Sales Automation.”
• Aberdeen #4: “What’s In Your Revenue? Why Quality Matters More than Quantity in B2B.”
• Altify, “10 Things Every Sales Manager Should Know about Sales Performance.”
• CSO #1: Chief Sales Officers Insights, “Sales Performance Optimization (SPO).”
• CSO #2: Chief Sales Officers Insights, as quoted in a National Association of Sales Professionals article, “How to Handle Underperforming Sales Reps.”
• Harvard Business Review, “The Short Life of Online Sales Leads,” James B. Oldroyd, Kristina McElheran, David Elkington.
• MHI Global, “MHI Sales Best Practices Study.”
• New Voice Media, “The Real Cost of Poor Prospecting and the Best Practices of Winning Sales Professionals.”
• Scripted, “5 Statistics to Motivate You to Make Sales Calls,” Puranjay S.

Image source: Lucas.