Much like stats are the key to understanding a team’s performance in baseball, sales statistics can unlock your sales team’s potential. In my career, I’ve learned that the most effective sales strategies are built on understanding market dynamics and current trends.
Staying informed about key sales statistics is crucial for top-performing salespeople to prospect effectively, conduct thorough research, engage in well-received outreach, and improve their conversion rates.
I’ve compiled 94 essential sales statistics to help you achieve a higher success rate in 2024, including great insights from a HubSpot survey of over 1,400 global sales reps, managers, and leaders.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
Sometimes, finding prospects is the hardest part of sales for new sales reps. I always recommend that reps start building a network to help them find more leads. Prospecting is where the work starts, whether through referrals, cold calling, or social selling.
1. Most prospects (96%) research companies and products before engaging with a sales representative (HubSpot).
2. 71% of prospects prefer independent research over interacting with a salesperson (HubSpot).
3. 63% of sales professionals conduct cold outreach (HubSpot).
4. 37% of sales representatives produce the most leads from phone calls during cold outreach (HubSpot).
5. 72% of sales reps use social media to find new prospects, with Facebook (38%), Instagram (31%), and YouTube (29%) being the most used channels (HubSpot).
Reps often hear, “You’ll never make a sale if you don’t ask for the sale,” on the first day of sales training. Follow-up and asking for the sale is vital for every salesperson. Let’s look at the good and bad of sales follow-up statistics.
6. 82% of sales professionals see building strong relationships as the most crucial and rewarding aspect of the sales process (HubSpot).
7. 36% of sales managers think follow-ups sent to high-quality leads is the most important tracking metric (HubSpot).
8. 30% of sales managers consider the number of proposals sent the most important productivity metric (HubSpot).
9. 32% of sales managers count emails sent as their most crucial productivity metric (HubSpot).
10. 60% of customers reject an offer four times before buying (Invesp).
11. 80% of successful sales take five or more follow-up calls (Invesp).
12. Nearly half of all salespeople (48%) never make any follow-up attempts (Invesp).
13. 44% of salespeople give up after a single follow-up attempt (Invesp).
14. The first follow-up email can increase reply rates by an impressive 49% (Belkins).
15. The ideal number of follow-ups for optimal results in a B2B outreach campaign is two emails (Belkins).
16. Pausing for 2 and 5 days before sending a follow-up to a cold email yields the best outcomes (Belkins).
17. Cold email outreach campaigns using three email rounds typically generate the highest reply rates, averaging 9.2% (Belkins).
Over the years, I’ve learned that personalizing customer interactions heavily influences buying decisions and response rates. Improving the quality of interactions will boost your closing rates.
18. The average sales close rate in 2023 was 29% (HubSpot).
19. The average sales win rate in 2023 was 21% (HubSpot).
20. The median deal size in 2023 was $4,000 (HubSpot).
21. The top methods for building rapport on a sales call are being attentive and engaged (38%), finding common ground (29%), and researching the prospect before calling (25%) (HubSpot).
22. 42% of B2B sales pros say researching a prospect's company to determine its challenges and opportunities is the most effective way to make the sale (HubSpot).
23. 45% of sales reps attempt to up-sell the prospect, with understanding the prospect's needs and goals being the most effective closing strategy (31%) (HubSpot).
24. 48% of sales professionals offer free options to prospects, with a free trial being most effective for conversions (50%) (HubSpot).
25. 25% of sales professionals say social media content helps them win the most deals (HubSpot).
No one wants a modern-day boiler room with unrealistic sales quotas, but your sales staff must be actively engaged in efficient selling techniques. With multiple decision-makers involved in most sales (especially with B2B buyers), you can’t afford to get stuck in neverending games of voicemail tag. Your team needs to streamline its sales process.
26. Sales representatives dedicate only two hours daily to active selling (HubSpot).
27. Administrative tasks take up an hour of sales representatives’ time daily (HubSpot).
28. On average, five decision-makers are involved in every sale (HubSpot).
29. 62% of sales professionals believe their organizations are taking fewer risks in 2023 compared to 2022 (HubSpot).
30. 70% of sales professionals reported budgets were under greater scrutiny in 2023 (HubSpot).
31. 28% of sales professionals say lengthy sales processes are the primary reason for prospects backing out of deals (HubSpot).
32. 72% of company revenue is generated from existing customers, while 28% comes from new customers (HubSpot).
33. 24% of high-performing sales teams emphasize a culture of trust among representatives, compared to only 13% of underperforming teams (HubSpot).
34. 52% of sales professionals utilize sales enablement content, and 79% consider it crucial for closing deals (HubSpot).
35. Sales professionals incorporating sales enablement content in their approach are 58% more likely to exceed their targets (HubSpot).
36. Only 30% of sales professionals believe their sales and marketing teams are closely aligned within their company (HubSpot).
37. Just 34% of prospects are very knowledgeable about the company the sales professional represents (HubSpot).
38. Fewer than a third, 32%, of prospects are very knowledgeable about the company’s products and services (HubSpot).
39. Only 25% of prospects do significant research before taking a sales call (HubSpot).
40. 56% of sales professionals believe prospects will use generative AI to help them justify purchase decisions (HubSpot).
41. 52% of sales professionals believe generative AI can help them identify objections and address issues (HubSpot).
42. 53% of companies experienced longer sales cycles in 2023 (Lightspeed).
43. 48% of sellers struggle with effectively communicating value to potential customers (Prezentor).
44. 76% of sales leaders plan on investing in content creation initiatives (Prezentor).
45. B2B organizations don’t use 65% of the sales content they produce (Prezentor).
46. The content provided directly influences 95% of B2B purchasing decisions (Prezentor).
47. 40% of sales teams face challenges from lengthy onboarding processes (Prezentor).
Email marketing sometimes replaces cold calling, but without the emotional cues from voices, sales teams need an entirely new skill set to handle email selling well. Every part of the message must be carefully crafted, and teams need automation tools to help them track email follow-ups and responses.
48. 33% of people open or discard emails based solely on the subject line (SuperOffice).
49. 70% of salespeople only send a single email to a prospect (Invesp).
50. Subject lines with seven words have the highest open rate at 46.2% (Regie.ai).
51. Outbound email body copy with 144 words creates the highest reply rate at 2.7% (Regie.ai).
Even in our digital world, cold calls are effective for reaching out to new sales leads and for lead generation. I’d much rather my team make cold calls than be stuck on administrative tasks.
52. 37% of salespeople say that cold calls are the most effective form of cold outreach (HubSpot).
53. 31% of sales managers say total sales calls are a key productivity indicator (HubSpot).
54. Between 4:00 and 5:00 pm is the best time to make sales calls (Callhippo).
55. Wednesday is the most effective day for calling leads (Callhippo).
56. Between 11:00 am and 12:00 pm is the second-best time to call prospects (Callhippo).
57. Making sales calls within an hour of receiving an initial inquiry yields the best results (Callhippo).
58. Mondays and Friday afternoons are the worst times to call prospects (Callhippo).
Like baseball, I use stats to monitor and benchmark my team's performance. Conversions, sales lead generation, and retention are just some of the data I use.
59. The average sales win rate is 21% (HubSpot).
60. The average sales close rate stands at 29% (HubSpot).
61. 91% of salespeople engage in upselling, which contributes an average of 21% to company revenue (HubSpot).
62. 87% of sales professionals practice cross-selling, generating an average of 21% of company revenue (HubSpot).
63. Among sales managers, 43% believe CRM usage is one of the most important productivity measures (HubSpot)
64. 38% of sales managers think sales tools offer the most crucial metrics (HubSpot).
65. Scheduled meetings are the most important productivity metric, according to 29% of sales managers (HubSpot).
66. 19% of sales professionals believe using generative AI tools for product research will greatly improve their business's performance (HubSpot).
67. 41% of sales professionals leveraging AI use it to understand and respond to prospects’ emotional sentiments (HubSpot).
68. Only 38% of sales pros currently using AI for sentiment analysis think it is very effective for recognizing buyer sentiment (HubSpot).
69. Sales management tools (27%), sales engagement and productivity tools (26%), and sales prospecting tools (25%) have the highest ROI (HubSpot).
70. 81.2% of respondents believe the lack of flexible payment options hindered closing deals (Capchase).
71. 42% of companies experienced a decrease in win rates over the past 12 months (Lightspeed).
Leadership is vital to any team’s sales success and job satisfaction.
72. 68% of sales managers train and coach their team (HubSpot).
73. Of the sales managers who coach, 68% use internal training sessions (HubSpot).
74. 90% of sales managers believe that a positive sales culture is important to a sales rep’s job satisfaction (HubSpot).
75. 82% of sales professionals believe building relationships and connecting with people is the most rewarding part of their job (HubSpot).
Nothing will replace people in sales, but by utilizing automation tools and emerging technology, I can help my team work more efficiently.
76. 81% of sales leaders think AI can help reduce time spent on manual tasks (HubSpot).
77. 45% of sales professionals are overwhelmed by how many tools are in their tech stack (HubSpot).
78. 52% of sales professionals saw an increase in B2B customers using self-serve tools compared to the previous year (HubSpot).
79. 63% of sales leaders believe AI makes it easier to compete in their industry (HubSpot).
80. Sales professionals who provide self-service tools to buyers are 47% more likely to exceed their targets (HubSpot).
81. 66% of sales professionals believe AI helps them better understand customers and provide personalized experiences (HubSpot).
82. Adoption of sales enablement tools by sales professionals in the United States increased by 20% in 2023 (HubSpot).
83. 1 in 4 sales leaders believe they have too many tools in their tech stack (HubSpot).
84. 29% of sales professionals believe streamlining their tech stack would improve efficiency (HubSpot).
85. 78% of salespeople consider their CRM effective in enhancing sales and marketing alignment (HubSpot).
86. 69% of sales leaders plan on investing in prospecting technology (Prezentor).
Encourage your sales reps to stay active on LinkedIn to cultivate their network and enable another channel for remote sales.
87. 48% of sales professionals use email and phone for remote selling, with 38% using social media and 31% using video chat (HubSpot).
88. 27% of sales professionals say phone calls are the best for remote selling, while 24% prefer social media (HubSpot).
89. 56% percent of sales professionals say that remote selling has made it easier to sell (HubSpot).
90. 21% of sales reps agree that remote sales are somewhat more effective than in-person sales (HubSpot).
91. According to sales professionals, the most effective tools for remote selling are sales prospecting tools (27%), sales management tools (26%), sales engagement tools (25%), and sales productivity tools (24%) (HubSpot).
92. 80% of B2B sales are conducted virtually (Prezentor).
93. 61% of sales leaders planned to automate their CRM software in 2023 (Prezentor).
94. For 21% of sales professionals, remote selling is one of the biggest changes in the industry (HubSpot).
The data clearly shows that the sales industry is evolving quickly with the implementation of remote sales and AI tools. They’re here to stay, and thousands of sales professionals are leveraging them to drive the sales processes.
Embracing remote selling and social media enables us to reach a wider audience, while AI tools and automation make prospecting and follow-ups more efficient.
But even with the new tools out there, building customer relationships is still priority number one — so embrace technology that makes life easier, but don’t let it get in the way of creating relationships.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in December 2023 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.