Phone Prospecting: How Many Calls Does it Take to Make a Sale?
18 July 2008
Read by 2314 persons
In phone prospecting, how many calls do you and your sales team need to make before making a sale? You dreamed of it... I reveal the golden number.
You do phone prospecting. So you may be wondering how many calls are needed to close a sale?
I give you the answer in this document. It's surprising.
In phone prospecting, 45% of prospects convert
Salespeople think that out of 100 prospects, only 10 to 15 turn into sales. That's wrong. Almost one in two prospects (45%) buy after phone prospecting. This is revealed by an American study (conducted by the Sales & Marketing Executives Club of Los Angeles).
Why is this figure so high?
Because the study designates the purchase to someone. That is to say, not necessarily to you but perhaps to one of your competitors. It is therefore up to you to ensure that the prospect goes to you and not elsewhere. This gives you a 45% chance that a prospect will buy from you. And not from someone else.
I'm almost at the number you're waiting for. Patience...
In phone sessions, 48% of salespeople give up after the first call
That is to say, according to a Dartnell Corp study, one in two salespeople do not follow up on their prospects. So, if you make a second call to the same prospect, you have already knocked out 48% of your competitors.
Salespeople abandonment rates based on the number of phone calls:
• 48% give up on the 1st call,
• 24% give up on the 2nd call,
• 12% give up on the 3rd call,
• 6% give up on the 4th call,
• 10% give up on the 5th call.
I'm almost at the number you're waiting for. Patience...
Buy… or die: 88% of salespeople miss 80% of potential sales
I told you earlier: during a prospecting phase, the chances of success are 45% for the salesperson patient enough to win the sale from their competitors.
The reason is simple: salespeople give up their prospecting too quickly. They give up their prospecting before the prospect is even ready to buy.
This leads us to the concept of "buy or die": salespeople should continue their phoning until a prospect says no. A no is a "die".
The salesperson who shows patience and perseverance has an 80% chance of reaching a "buy or die". That is to say, to know whether the prospect decides to buy... or not. I'll get to that with numbers.
Number of calls needed to close a sale by a "buy or die":
• 2% of sales are concluded on the 1st call,
• 3% of sales are concluded on the 2nd call,
• 4% of sales are concluded on the 3rd call,
• 10% of sales are concluded on the 4th call,
• 81% of sales are concluded on the 5th call.
You read that right. According to statistics from the Sales & Marketing Executives Club of Los Angeles, 5 calls are needed to know in 81% of cases whether a prospect decides to buy or not.
But as we have just seen, 48% of salespeople have given up on the first call and 88% have given up before reaching the 5th call...
Why salespeople give up on a prospect
In most cases, it's for one reason only: fear.
Fear of rejection, fear of bothering the prospect, fear of being too pushy. Fear of failure.
The way to remedy this abandonment rate can be summarized in two words: patience, perseverance. All things come to those who wait, as the saying goes.
Patience and perseverance in phone prospecting mean the salesperson's ability to keep calling when other salespeople give up. Where others decide to give up on the prospect, the patient and persevering salesperson continues to pick up their phone without fear. If the prospect hasn't said no, the salesperson keeps looking for a conclusion: the buy or die.
The best way to look for the buy or die is to continue phoning calls with something new up your sleeve. If you call the prospect back each time with a "good reason", you give yourself as many opportunities to close the sale with a yes or a no.
In conclusion: the number of calls needed to succeed in your phone sessions
Let's recap.
During a phone prospecting session, there's a 45% chance that a prospect will buy anyway: either from you or from someone else. The decision to buy or not to buy is only made on the 5th call in 81% of cases. Meanwhile, 88% of competitors have given up.
When you do phoning, you therefore have on average 5 calls to make to the same prospect to know whether or not you have succeeded in your sale.
Published May 9, 2008
Posted online July 18, 2008
gautier-girard.com
You do phone prospecting. So you may be wondering how many calls are needed to close a sale?
I give you the answer in this document. It's surprising.
In phone prospecting, 45% of prospects convert
Salespeople think that out of 100 prospects, only 10 to 15 turn into sales. That's wrong. Almost one in two prospects (45%) buy after phone prospecting. This is revealed by an American study (conducted by the Sales & Marketing Executives Club of Los Angeles).
Why is this figure so high?
Because the study designates the purchase to someone. That is to say, not necessarily to you but perhaps to one of your competitors. It is therefore up to you to ensure that the prospect goes to you and not elsewhere. This gives you a 45% chance that a prospect will buy from you. And not from someone else.
I'm almost at the number you're waiting for. Patience...
In phone sessions, 48% of salespeople give up after the first call
That is to say, according to a Dartnell Corp study, one in two salespeople do not follow up on their prospects. So, if you make a second call to the same prospect, you have already knocked out 48% of your competitors.
Salespeople abandonment rates based on the number of phone calls:
• 48% give up on the 1st call,
• 24% give up on the 2nd call,
• 12% give up on the 3rd call,
• 6% give up on the 4th call,
• 10% give up on the 5th call.
I'm almost at the number you're waiting for. Patience...
Buy… or die: 88% of salespeople miss 80% of potential sales
I told you earlier: during a prospecting phase, the chances of success are 45% for the salesperson patient enough to win the sale from their competitors.
The reason is simple: salespeople give up their prospecting too quickly. They give up their prospecting before the prospect is even ready to buy.
This leads us to the concept of "buy or die": salespeople should continue their phoning until a prospect says no. A no is a "die".
The salesperson who shows patience and perseverance has an 80% chance of reaching a "buy or die". That is to say, to know whether the prospect decides to buy... or not. I'll get to that with numbers.
Number of calls needed to close a sale by a "buy or die":
• 2% of sales are concluded on the 1st call,
• 3% of sales are concluded on the 2nd call,
• 4% of sales are concluded on the 3rd call,
• 10% of sales are concluded on the 4th call,
• 81% of sales are concluded on the 5th call.
You read that right. According to statistics from the Sales & Marketing Executives Club of Los Angeles, 5 calls are needed to know in 81% of cases whether a prospect decides to buy or not.
But as we have just seen, 48% of salespeople have given up on the first call and 88% have given up before reaching the 5th call...
Why salespeople give up on a prospect
In most cases, it's for one reason only: fear.
Fear of rejection, fear of bothering the prospect, fear of being too pushy. Fear of failure.
The way to remedy this abandonment rate can be summarized in two words: patience, perseverance. All things come to those who wait, as the saying goes.
Patience and perseverance in phone prospecting mean the salesperson's ability to keep calling when other salespeople give up. Where others decide to give up on the prospect, the patient and persevering salesperson continues to pick up their phone without fear. If the prospect hasn't said no, the salesperson keeps looking for a conclusion: the buy or die.
The best way to look for the buy or die is to continue phoning calls with something new up your sleeve. If you call the prospect back each time with a "good reason", you give yourself as many opportunities to close the sale with a yes or a no.
In conclusion: the number of calls needed to succeed in your phone sessions
Let's recap.
During a phone prospecting session, there's a 45% chance that a prospect will buy anyway: either from you or from someone else. The decision to buy or not to buy is only made on the 5th call in 81% of cases. Meanwhile, 88% of competitors have given up.
When you do phoning, you therefore have on average 5 calls to make to the same prospect to know whether or not you have succeeded in your sale.
Published May 9, 2008
Posted online July 18, 2008
gautier-girard.com
