Statistics Every Salesperson Should Know in 2023

Sales teams rely on numbers, so it’s no surprise that sales statistics can be extremely useful. A good understanding of statistics and trends can help sales teams to streamline their sales strategies using cold, hard, data-driven facts. But any sales person will tell you they have a pretty busy schedule and certainly don’t always have time to source the stats themselves.

That’s why we have done the hard work for you and gathered some of the most useful statistics that every salesperson can benefit from knowing. 

Lead generation stats

• 46% of sales professionals say most of their time is spent lead prospecting while 36% of sales reps spend the majority of their time generating leads. (Pipedrive)
• 45% of sales reps say they need help figuring out which accounts to prioritise. (NuGrowth)
• A lead is 100x more likely to get on the phone within 5 minutes of filling out a form online. (CallPage)

Source: Zippia

Sales rep behaviour stats

• In B2B, 60% of customers will say ‘no’ four times before agreeing to a deal, but only 12% of sales reps are willing to try to continue trying after the fourth ‘no’. (Invesp)
• 59% of people are irritated by a generic sales pitch. (NewVoiceMedia)
  
  
  

Source: Gong

• On average, sales teams save 5 hours every week by automating day-to-day tasks. (Automate.io)
• 68% of people claim that a sales rep that listens to their needs and calls with relevant information is most likely to make the difference when it comes to committing to a sale. (Vonage)
• Only 33% of sales rep time is spent actively selling. (CSO Insights)
• Top salespeople are 10x more likely to use collaborative words in their conversations. Collaborative words are choices like “we” instead of “I” or teamwork-oriented words like “together.” (Chorus)
• Collaborative words can boost conversion by 35%. The use of collaborative words in a conversation can increase conversion rates by 35%. The idea is to make your customer feel like you’re both on the same team. (Gong)
• Close rate increases 7x if sales reps respond within an hour of the initial point of contact. (Harvard Business Review)
• The end of the month means 3x  as many closed deals. (Harvard Business Review)

Sales email stats

• 69% of recipients report spam based only on the subject line. (Zippia)
• Targeted emails helps to increase your open rates and response rates and initiate customer interactions. 80% of buyers say they prefer a personalised email to other methods of outreach. (RAIN Group)
• Only 24% of sales emails sent out are actually opened. (Gartner)
• Personalising email subject lines leads to a 22% increase in open rate. (Outreach.io)
• Adding the prospect’s company name in the subject line can increase open rates by 22%. (Outreach.io)
• Emails with 1-3 questions get 50% more replies than emails without any questions (Mashable)

• Subject lines that include numbers get 113% higher open rates. (Yesware)

  
  

Sales calls stats

• 60 phone calls a day is optimal for achieving sales goals. (SalesBuzz)
• The average voicemail response rate is 4.8%. (InsideSales)
• Research shows that sales reps talk the majority of the time (55%) in successful cold calls. (Gong)
• The best opening line on a sales call is “How have you been?” Even if you’ve never met or talked with the prospect before. It performed over 6x better than a baseline conversation. (MapMyCustomers)
• More than 50% of buyers want to see how your product works on the first call, while only 23% of reps are ready and willing to break it down. (Hubspot)
• 60% of buyers want to talk about pricing on the first call. (Hubspot)
• Organisations that don’t cold call experience 42% less growth than those who used the tactic. (Crunchbase)
• More than half of prospects are interested in a demo on the first call. (Email Analytics)
• 42% of people would be encouraged to make a purchase if the sales rep called back at an agreed or specified time. (Vonage)
• More than half of decision-makers prefer to be contacted by phone. (Rain)
  
  

Source: Revenue.io

• The worst times to call prospects are Mondays and the second half of Fridays. The best day to call your prospects is Wednesday. The best time to make sales calls is within an hour of receiving their initial inquiry. (Callhippo)
• 60% of people feel that in more than a half of cases, sales callers have not conducted sufficient, or in some cases, any research on their company. (NewVoiceMedia)
• When a sales person takes time to research and demonstrate an understanding of the aims and requirements of the company they’re calling, 86% of people said they would be more likely to make a purchase. (NewVoiceMedia)
  
  

Social media sales stats

• 71% of all sales professionals and 90% of top salespeople are using social selling tools, with 78% of Millennials saying they use social selling tools. (OptinMonster)
• 78% of salespeople using social media outsell their peers. (SlideShare)
• 31% of B2B professionals say that social selling has allowed them to build deeper relationships with clients. (OptinMonster)
• Companies with formalised social selling processes are 40% more likely to hit revenue goals. (SalesForLife)
• A lack of confidence about engaging on social networks is the most common problem sales teams face when it comes to social sales. (Forrester)

Source: Hubspot

Sales follow up stats

• It takes at least 5 follow-ups to close 80% of sales conversions. (Marketing Donut)
• More than 30% of salespeople say that budget is the most common reason deals don't come through, followed by timing (25.5%), decision-making (18%), value (12%), and connection (12%). (SalesInsightsLab)
• 91% of customers say they’d give referrals. Only 11% of salespeople ask for referrals. (Brevit)
• Referred customers are more loyal than other types of customers. As a result, referred customers have a 16% higher lifetime value (Signpost)
• On average, salespeople use 5.8 tools. The most common sales tools are CRM's like Salesforce, social prospecting, and data analytics tools (like Hurree). (SalesForLife)
• Following up via email 4-7 times gets a reply rate of 27%, while sending just 1-3 emails gets a reply rate of just 9%. (Woodpecker)