On the Internet, sales stats can be a dime a dozen. However, every once in a while, you find pieces of information from credible sources that can actually help your sales organization make better decisions. While conducting our own research, we found seven sales statistics that we think every sales team should know and use within their own organizations: 1. Email marketing has been proven to have 2x higher ROI than other sales techniques, such as cold calling, networking or trade shows. (Source: Marketing Sherpa) Despite the fact that most sales team encourage their reps to call prospects, email marketing is actually a great way to stay top of mind with prospects in the midst of prospecting and trying to set appointments. Whether the emails are coming from marketing or sales, use this tactic to keep your customers engaged and track their click through rates to glean insight into their interests. 2. The best times to email prospects are 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. (Source: GetResponse) Need to follow up to schedule another call? Well, you should do it at the beginning of the day at 8:00 a.m. or in the middle of the afternoon at 3:00 p.m. If you're worried about emailing in the morning, then prep your emails the night before and save as draft, or use an automated solutions to send them. 3. 78% of salespeople using social to network and sell outsell their peers. (Source: Forbes) People do business with people, not businesses. The more your sales reps are out there and networking online or in-person, the more likely they will make the necessary connections and stay engaged with their potential buyers. 4. 63% of people remembers stories after a sales presentation. Only 5% remember statistics. (Source: Authors Chip and Dan Heath) Have some great stats or percentages on how you've improved your clients' lives? Those are great, but they shouldn't be the main focus of your sales teams' presentation. Have your sales reps become familiar with your customer case studies or stories so that they can relay them in sales meetings. 5. An average of 7 people are involved in most buying decisions for a firm of 100 - 500 employees. (Source: Gartner Group) The days of one big head honcho making all of the decisions are over. Most of the time, there are multiple people involved in making a purchase decision, and, ideally, you need to be connecting with all of them. Try to find ways to get their contact information so that you can share relevant collateral to them as well. 6. 70% of people make purchasing decisions to solve problems. The other 30% make decisions to gain something. (Source: Impact Communications) When it comes to the big picture, solving problems and gaining something generally fall hand-in-hand. However, take note of language and prospect behavior to glean which kind of prospect you are dealing with. Most of the time, you can tell by the questions they are asking or their answer to "what is the goal?" 7. The average salesperson makes 8 dials per hour and prospects for 6.25 hours to set 1 appointment. (Source: Ovation Sales Group) Wow. That's a lot of work to set one appointment. What if you knew exactly how many phone calls it took to connect with prospects? While all of these statistics are important, we think #7 is the most startling one. One reason we think this stat is true is because people don't have the insight or the analytics they need to share the most relevant information they need to their sales team. Salesvue, a sales force automation solution, integrates with Salesforce.com to fill in the gaps and provide you with the information you need to truly make better decisions. Our sales business intelligence (SBI) software provides:

  • How many calls, on average, it takes to connect with your prospects.
  • How your team is performing individually and as a whole.
  • Proprietary data based on activities and sales that will help you plan staffing and more accurate forecasting.
  • Actionable insight and a prospecting cadence that will increase sales connections by 40% or more.