Getting acquainted with a couple of sales statistics in 2019 is important. In the current age, customers are cautious more than ever. Most of their buying decisions are influenced by a complex process.
This transformation in thinking has been brought about by the rise and rise of technology. Thanks to the vast informational resources available, a culture of risk aversion has developed.
Gone are the days when buyers would simply canvass a product and exclaim, “We like you, let’s give you a try.”
Today, people have a need to see a return on investment and insurmountable proof that your services will make a difference. One study showed that companies who switch the gut feeling tact with big data actually realize up to 6% higher profitability.
Most of the sales statistics show that there’s plenty of consensus-based decisions being carried out.
This means that sole decision-makers are almost a thing of the past. In many scenarios, you’re likely to encounter entire boardrooms eager to weigh in on buying decisions.
This tells you that nothing exists in isolation anymore.
The buying process is quite different from the sales process. Suffice to say, we’re living in interesting times.
Changing Tides of Sales Statistics 2019
As the Bob Dylan tune goes, “The times they are a-changin’.”
Indeed, the sales world is experiencing a revolution of sorts. Prospecting in contemporary times is quite different. While the phone is still a valued tool, new outreach methods now exist which are more effective. Technologies like email, mobile and LinkedIn have played a key role in this shift.
Content is the prime bait salespersons now use to draw in buyers by the bucketload. Impressively, once you get them through the door, you can research what they want.
Tracking devices allow you as a salesperson to monitor the digital footprint of your customers. A brief inspection of this data is sure to reveal some handy tips on areas of improvement.
Such knowledge can greatly influence your pipeline management system. You’ll be able to tell who wants what, the most interactive clients, and get a brief on the number of opened proposals.
To get further ahead, you can choose to incorporate digital signatures into the mix for enhanced win rates.
In essence, technology has greatly eased the collaboration between sellers and buyers. If you’re looking to gain a stranglehold of a vast majority of the market share, investing in sales is necessary.
Now that we’ve shared some interesting tidbits on the changing face of sales, it’s not time to dig deeper.
Our analysis today will focus on providing you with sales statistics. Not only will the numbers give you pointers on how to drive your sales campaign, but they’ll also inform how you perceive the market. It’s quite an insight.
47 Sales Statistics for 2019
1) More than 40% of salespersons believe prospecting is the hardest bit of selling. This is followed closely by 36% of respondents who find closing the trickiest part. Interestingly, 22% of salespersons confess qualifying to be most challenging. (Source)
2) Compared to cold calling, email marketing registers double the return on investment. (Source)
3) Email outperforms both Twitter and Facebook by about 40 times when it comes to landing new prospects. To save time while sending out emails, you can draft up templates for use at a later date. (Source)
4) About half of the prospects you’re eyeing are not a good fit for your business model. (Source)
5) An incredible 35% of recipients decide to open an email purely based on the subject line. Given the essence of first impressions, it’s wise to always step out with you’re A-game from the word go. (Source)
6) Using all caps on the subject line tends to negatively harm the response rate by about 30%. (Source)
7) The number of opportunities in your monthly pipeline influences your quota attainment. 72% of companies with less than 50 monthly opportunities fail to meet their revenue targets. Those with 51-100 monthly opportunities happen to fair better at 15%. Only 4% of companies with opportunities lying between 101 and 200 fail to meet their quota goals. (Source)
8) Prospecting should be a full-time venture. Reserving prospecting activities to specific moments can be disastrous. Usually, many salespeople tend to make more prospecting calls in the last month of a quota. If you do this, your conversion rate is sure to take a hit. (Source)
9) To improve your response rate, make sure to use no more than 3 to 4 words in the subject line. (Source)
10) About 60% of buyers want to talk about the price of a product and/or service on the first call. (Source)
11) Forming a relationship with buyers is integral to the selling process. About 19% of buyers feel the need to connect in the awareness stage as they get to learn about products. (Source)
12) 60% of prospects love to converse with sellers during the decisions stage. Usually, this is after they’ve decided which products resonate with them most. (Source)
13) A mere 24% of sales emails get opened. (Source)
14) 70% of B2B buyers usually watch videos at one stage of the buying process. You can create and share bespoke videos with clients in this phase to boost your brand identity. (Source)
15) Timely responses are important in business. You are 7 times more likely to have a meaningful conversation with buyers if your follow up within an hour. (Source)
16) A meager 7% of businesses usually respond within 5 minutes after a form submission. Incredibly, about 50% of companies fail to respond within 5 business days. (Source)
17) A remarkable 92% of customer engagement actually occurs via phone. As impressive as email is, one-on-one conversations reign supreme. Mastering the art of cold calling can go a long way in improving your conversion rate. (Source)
18) A significant 85% of prospects and clients usually leave dissatisfied with phone conversations from buyers. For a more productive phone call, make sure that you present all the facts and data. Having a detailed history of previous conversations with clients also massively helps in understanding the context. (Source)
19) On average, sales reps make about 52 calls per day. For seamless efficiency, you can opt to use various sales software in the market. (Source)
20) You are more than 100 times likely to get feedback from a lead if you call within 5 minutes after they’ve submitted a web form. To leverage this power, make sure that you track all form activity on your web page. Your speed in response is sure to gain you rewards. (Source)
21) Some 42% of salespersons believe they have insufficient information before they make a cold call. Expanding your outreach methods will allow you to have a detailed brief about clients before you call. (Source)
22) On average, many sales development reps make utility of 6 tools. (Source)
23) The most prevalent sales tools in the market are CRM, email engagement, social prospecting, sales cadence, and data and list services. (Source)
24) Data shows that 92% of salespersons give up after receiving 4 “no’s” from prospects. Incredibly, sales stats show that 80% of prospects usually say “no” to salespersons before consenting to the 5th (Source)
25) An average of 44% salespersons cease trying after a single follow-up call. To gain more prospects, you have to embrace a never-say-die attitude. With great persistence, nothing is impossible. You may find yourself landing more sales. (Source)
26) Sales reps only spend a third of their time actively selling. To better manage your time and land more leads, it’s wise to use quality CRM for tracking purposes. With such a tool by your side, you’ll be able to better interact with prospects. (Source)
27) Salespersons who use social selling have 50% odds of achieving their sales quota. B2B platforms like LinkedIn are ideal if you’re looking to venture into social selling. (Source)
28) Using collaborative words like “we” instead of I tends to have a lasting impact on prospects. Sales stats show that using these words can boost sales rates by as much as 35%. (Source)
29) Choice of words when booking meetings is very important. Using words like “Did I catch you at a bad time” lowers your chances by 40%. On the other hand, opening statements like “How are you” usually boost the odds by about 3.4 times. (Source)
30) 50% of sales reps rely on their peers for improvement tips. The breakdown shows 44% of sales reps turn to their manager for assistance. Another 35% make use of team training resources, while 24% make good use of the media. (Source)
31) Referrals are incredibly powerful. 92% of buyers admit to trusting recommendations from people they know. (Source)
32) About 83% of clients gladly provide referrals after enjoying a service. However, if salespersons fail to ask, a mere 29% of buyers decide to give out referrals. (Source)
33) 47% of top performers constantly inquire about referrals. This is quite different from the 26% non-performers who follow through with referral queries. (Source)
34) 25% of salespersons studied business as their major on campus. Unbelievably, some 17% of salespersons never set foot in college. (Source)
35) Surprisingly, only 39% of salespersons actually wanted to venture into sales before life happened. (Source)
36) About 60% of salespersons have confessed that they always stick to a winning strategy. True to the age-old idiom “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it”, that’s a good way to do business. (Source)
37) 44% of buyers believe that only 25% of sellers offer them help to maximize their value. To avoid being phased out by the competition, you need to focus on value addition. (Source)
38) An estimated 74% of buyers pick the first company that adds value to their business. The message is resoundingly clear, provide value and prospects will come flooding to you. (Source)
39) About 87% of workers are not proactive at their places of work. To realize enhanced productivity in sales, you need to embrace the owner mentality. (Source)
40) 25% of prospects are interested in discussing qualifying topics like timeline, budget, and authority. Many would rather see product demos, discuss pricing, and how the product can make a difference. (Source)
41) Videos are the most popular way to demonstrate product features. Other favorites include how-to write-ups and professional reviews. Ideally, you want to create content that captivates audiences and helps them learn, compare and research on their acquisitions. (Source)
42) Google recently divulged that about 50% of all buyers are millennials. (Source)
43) Using words that inspire confidence can help you land more leads. The most effective sales reps are 5 times more likely to use words like “definitely”, “certainly”, and “absolutely” than the unsuccessful ones. (Source)
44) 75% of enterprises use classroom training as their main way to equip salespersons with skills. (Source)
45) Successful salespersons typically spend about 55% of their time on cold calls talking. On the other hand, ineffective sales reps use 42% of their calls talking to prospects. Monologues during conversations with prospects can actually help boost conversion rates. (Source)
46) More than 40% of salespersons have recently closed between 2 to 5 deals from prospecting on social media. (Source)
47) Nearly 50% of deals fall by the wayside because of budgeting constraints. A further 25% of deals get lost because of timing. The remainder 25% of deals are lost because of issues with authority, review time, and urgency. (Source)
Conclusion
Having exhausted our list of sales statistics 2019, it’s now time to take inventory. We’re certain some of the sales stats surprised you. Still, you shouldn’t get caught up so much in the numbers. The figures represented do nothing more than give you certain shades of what’s happening in the sales world.
If some of the stats mentioned got you thinking, then it’s probably best to get to action. Embracing a CRM plan, social media, and email interaction could prove to be the difference in this age.
That said, feel free to share in the comment section which sales stats inspired you to take action.
