Why Sales Statistics Don’t Tell the Whole Story

How many attempts does it take to reach a prospect? Well, many sales pros will tell you it takes an average of 7.3 attempts, but that’s not enough information to help you close more deals.

Did those attempts happen in a single week or over the course of a month? And what are the outlying numbers that may be skewing the average? The answers to those questions will be more helpful than focusing on a single statistic.

Understand timing

One mistake some sales team managers make is letting sales reps establish their own cadence. If you have 10 people who are following their own schedule for making calls, you have no way to tell what’s working.

When you adopt a standardized process that establishes when calls should occur and tracks the results, you can begin to see what timing is most effective. You can analyze when conversations are more likely to occur and at what point most conversions happen – and you may find that an assumption you’ve made all along is incorrect, based on the results of the data you collect.

Incorporate automation

Automation should be a part of any process you adopt because it can provide some much needed support to your sales team. If you really want to find out how to effectively automate and improve your sales organization, then you need to invest in sales automation for your business. Sales force automation solutions are designed to provide you with real-time analytics that reveal who, what, when and how many of your team's activities are driving revenue and which are falling short. This allows you to refine and optimize your strategy effectively to increase sales conversions.

Measure, analyze, refine

When you read about industry averages, always keep in mind that there may be plenty of variables that aren’t explained. For example, the type of product you sell, or whether you’re a B2B or B2C organization, will have some impact on sales strategy. But when you implement a process and measure and analyze your tactics using sales automation, you’ll have real data that helps you refine your approach.

Salesvue helps you automate, integrate and accelerate your sales and marketing processes. Learn more about our solution by request a demo.