10 Sales Statistics & Lessons 2022 to blow your Mind
?? Raghu Pokala ??
CEO of eDesk – Leading A Team Of 150 + Managed Virtual Assistants for US Insurance Agents, Specializing in Customer Service, Accounting & Marketing from the US, India & the Philippines!
Let's be honest & straightforward typical hard sales methods don't work anymore.
When it Sales, it is not what it used to be. Things have been changed, and how people buy things is completely changed throughout the years. so sales professionals have to change their old-school tactics and adopt new changes.
So here are 5 new Sales Statistics with actionable tips to help you adopt the changes and level up your sales game-
Lesson: Usually sales reps focus on volume prospecting instead of quality prospecting. They try to get as many leads as possible into the pipeline instead of researching & finding qualified prospects who are the best fit for the product/service.
In volume prospecting, your attention is spread across multiple opportunities even though more than half of the prospects aren’t even a good fit for your business offerings. It also increases the chance of high-quality leads getting overlooked or lost to competitors.
Every sales professional should put a strong lead qualification process in place to ensure the best opportunities get the most attention.
One way to do this is through lead scoring using customer relationship management (CRM) software.
Ask your prospects qualifying questions and give them a score based on every single answer. Once you feel like the prospect is not qualified don't waste any more time on it.
Additional Tip: While you are putting qualifying filters make sure they don't become a barrier for your customers, If they don't feel comfortable while navigating through your sales process most likely they are not gonna buy from you.
2. It takes even the best salesman up to five contacts, and an average salesman eight contacts to generate a meeting or have any progress with a prospect
Lesson: Consistently keep in touch with your contacts.
Don't let them go cold, Don't let them forget about you before they bought from you.
Follow up until they buy or die.
Additional Tip: Don't follow up too often and become a pain for them. Aggressively following up too often with pushy sales messages will make them hate you.
Follow up with them in a very friendly manner without any hard sales tactics. Keep in your mind that you don't wanna be a pain for them, they will never buy from you if they hate you.
3. 82% of the buyers accept sales meetings if the sales rep has reached out positively
Lesson: Cold outreach still works & still very effective if done correctly. So whenever you are approaching a prospect to be in a sales meeting, approach him with positive energy and convert the environment into a positive environment - The prospect is more likely to say yes for a sales call/meeting.
Additional Tip: Never directly start your sales pitch before getting a positive response from your prospect that he/she wanna hear what you have to say. If they agreed to hear your pitch in the first place they are more likely to accept your offer.
4. 71% of buyers prefer to speak with the sales team early in the process, rather than be taken through several stages
Lesson: Make your sales process simple & straightforward. Don't make your qualifying process to much complicated and don't put too many gatekeepers. You can use some automation forms to know some general info about your client to qualify them before the sales call and hand over other qualification materials to your sales team.
Make sure the entire sales process is super easy to navigate from your client's end.
5. 80% of the buyers purchase between the 5th to 12th point of contact
Lesson: Don't expect any sales from a cold prospect within the first interaction. People buy things from the source they trust and it takes a lot of different touch points from different angels to build solid trust.
People don't buy something immediately after watching an ad or the first interaction with the salesperson. So instead of being pushy ask them questions, understand their problems, identify their pain points and help them to solve their problems.
Again Most importantly follow up with them until they buy or die, once they see you are appearing again & again as a problem solver the prospect will be more likely to buy from you.
6. 57.9% of sales reps ask for fewer than one referral per month, 40.4% rarely ask for referrals, and only 18.6% regularly ask for referrals from everyone they talk to
Lesson: If you don't ask the answer is always no - keep that in your mind always.
Make sure to ask for referrals, and make it a part of your sales process after closing. Join the exclusive 18.6% sales professionals club who are generating extra sales by doing nothing, just simply asking.
7. 79% of buyers believe a sales rep should be an expert advisor
Lesson: Customers expect sales professionals to be knowledgeable experts who act more as consultants. So Behave like a problem solver, not like a salesman - That's the secret to closing the deal in this modern sales game.
By having extensive knowledge about the market & the product you are selling will transform you into a knowledgeable trusted consultant.
Now most buyers research a product online before buying, so while they are in front of a sales rep they have more than enough knowledge to find out if the salesperson has a deep understanding of what he/she is selling.
8. 55% of the cases Budget is the most common reason why stronger sales opportunities fall apart
Lesson: More than half (55%) of respondents said that budget was either the first or second most common reason that stronger opportunities fall apart in sales.
Budget is absolutely critical.
Usually, the salesperson doesn’t build real value throughout the discovery conversation, that's why when they start talking about budget, it becomes an uphill battle with the prospect.
The takeaway is that you must have to be stronger, upfront, in creating real value for prospects.
So by the time you start talking about budget, you want to be strolling across a level field, not fighting up a steep hill.
Budget is always going to be an issue in sales. It’s never going to suddenly just disappear as a concern. But you can avoid so many headaches just by making sure you’re stronger up front, creating value in the discovery phase.
9. 51% of sales professionals focus on increasing customer retention through deeper relationships
Lesson: Top sales reps care just as much about creating long-standing & return customers through memorable experiences as they do about making the sale.
So while you are having a sales discussion with the prospect don't just focus on closing the deal, make an effort to build a deep connection with the prospect as well. It will help you in long run to retain the customer for a very long time. And If they feel a deep connection with you they will open up with you more comfortably so you will be able to understand and resolve every objection & issue going on in your prospect's head.
10. 80% of the high-performing sales teams rate their sales training “outstanding” or “very good”
Lesson: Proper sales training plays a big role. It can drastically increase or decrease the performance of a sales professional.
Most of the high-performing sales reps have gone through excellent sales training. So If you are a sales professional or you lead a team of sales reps, investing in proper sales training which is up to date with the modern sales tactics is completely worth it.
Investing in good sales training can provide you with the most ROI - It's completely worth it.
Conclusion
Sales statistics differentiate myth from reality and show real data that can be used to improve your sales operation.
Sales professionals and Business owners should view this data closely to identify bottlenecks in their sales process and ensure the best possible output from their sales process.
How people buy things have been changed throughout the years. So adopting the changes based on real-life statistics is the only way to sustain & grow in this rapidly changing competitive market.
Sources to back the data we provided in the Post: