The British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli once said that “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” The sheer power of numbers to influence people’s thinking and decision making is only getting stronger, as we’re struggling to make sense of the vast amounts of information coming at us every day. With numbers, the story is always simple – it’s either good or not so good for your business to do (or not do) something.

Sales is a fast-paced job that requires a lot of energy, planning ahead and strategic thinking. Who’s got the time to collect interesting statistics (AND make sure they’re not lies) from around the web? Exactly, not sales reps.

So we got out there and gathered the most remarkable, eye-opening sales statistics that will shatter your old beliefs and perceptions.

A taster: According to InsideSales, if you follow up with web leads within 5 minutes, you’re 9 times more likely to convert them.

Email

35% of email recipients open email based on a subject line alone. (Convince & Convert)

There’s so much science behind writing a strong subject line. With a huge number of people using a subject line to decide whether to hit delete or take a peek inside, a poorly performing one can quickly become a sales rep’s worst nightmare. To connect with prospects and showcase the benefits of a certain product, or to deliver unique value, one must first entice the prospect to click through to the email. If you can improve your subject lines by implementing best email subject line practices, such as, for example, including words “alert”, “sale”, “new”, or “video”, your team will be able to boost their performance.

Email is 40 times more effective at getting new customers than Facebook and Twitter combined. (McKinsey)

Acquiring new customers is the single most important mission of every sales team. Time management and task prioritization are hugely important when it comes to generating a good amount of leads and hitting sales targets. If your sales team knows which channels perform best, they can throw all their efforts at them and improve their numbers. Email, it seems, is the king of lead generation.

Lead nurturing emails generate an 8% higher CTR compared to general email sends, which generate just a 3% rate. (HubSpot)

We have talked extensively about the importance of building a robust sales process. One of the key parts of that process is lead nurturing, for only a small fraction of all sales leads eventually convert. Since email is the preferred communication tool online, crafting better and more targeted lead nurturing campaigns helps sales teams qualify leads and move the really interested ones down the funnel much faster and more efficiently. Lead nurturing emails differ from general emails in many ways. They can be adapted to every lead’s stage in the buying cycle, they use more targeted and personalized language as well as provide higher value to prospects inspiring trust and loyalty.

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92% of buyers say they delete emails from unknown senders. (A Sales Guy)

This is an anxiety-inducing stat for sales teams that heavily rely on cold email outreach campaigns. Buyers are increasingly protective of their “personal” online space and guard their contact details fiercely. Violating that personal space will almost always end the seller-buyer relationship before it even gets a chance to spark. A much better way for sales teams to capitalize on the power of emails is through content marketing and lead nurturing campaigns. Once you get people’s consent to send promotional messages in the future, the spam folder becomes less of a threat to sales email campaigns.

The average sales rep spends up to 4 hours per day following up on leads by sending emails and faxes, following up on calls, formatting proposals and doing other admin tasks that can be eliminated using pre-drafted templates and automation. On average it could take about 45 minutes to create an email proposal the standard way, and only 2 minutes if a template was used. (Insidesales)

For a sales team, nothing costs more than wasted time. Using email automation and customizable email templates to cut down on admin workload is an excellent way to enforce prioritization and optimize sales processes. If a sales rep can have extra 40 minutes following up on warm leads, s/he stands better chances of closing more deals every day. A good CRM can prove to be essential to create a database of customizable templates that can be personalized using unique customer and product data and to execute email automation to perfection.

You might also like: 8 Marketing Gurus Share Their Email Closing Phrases That Land All the Deals

CRM

Image source: Teamgate

Lost productivity and poorly managed leads cost companies at least $1 trillion every year. (CMO Council)

Losing productivity and money is a bleak prospect for any sales team. A robust sales CRM can help you keep the lead generation and management under control as well as spot (and fix) any issues in almost real time. Unloading the information off their heads and leaving no room for human error, sales reps can focus on building relationships rather than concerning themselves with unimportant details.

95% of buyers choose a solution provider that “Provided them with ample content to help navigate through each stage of the buying process.” (The Whole Brain Group)

The purpose of content marketing is to give prospects the answers that they need. As they scour the internet in search for the type of information that appeals to them, they can quickly progress from the lowest awareness stage to a ready-to-buy mindset. To ensure your product or service stays top of mind as prospects move down the funnel, it’s a great idea to engage them at relevant times and offer relevant content. That’s where a CRM comes in handy.

You might also like: Sales Closing Techniques to Get Your Prospects to “Yes, I want it” Faster

71% of sales reps say they spend too much time on data entry. (Heinz Marketing)

If tasks can be automated, why waste your sales reps’ precious time on data entry? A CRM will give them more time to actually work their leads and not worry about the small stuff.

Inbound

Thursday is the best day to prospect. Wednesday is the second best. (Brevet)

Need to kick your inbound lead generation into a higher gear? Make sure you’re acting on the right days and times to achieve the best results.

49% of B2B marketers use sales lead quality to assess content marketing success. (DMN3)

The alignment of sales and marketing teams has a huge influence on the success of any inbound lead generation campaign. It’s not uncommon for these two teams to blame each other if results are disappointing. Using a CRM as a tool for both teams to track and record the performance of their campaigns would take the guesswork out of content marketing.

Approximately 96% of visitors that come to your website are not ready to buy. (Marketo)

Just because someone is browsing your website, doesn’t mean they want to buy something right away. In fact, it’s very unlikely they would. Adopting a CRM helps sales teams better organize their lead nurturing campaigns and approach the sales process in a strategic manner.

83% of B2B marketers use content marketing for lead generation. (MarketingProfs)

Does marketing generate the right kind of leads? What content has the highest ROI? What can it tell us about our customer base and their needs? Content marketing is one of the best and most popular tools for lead generation that can accelerate your sales cycle.

High-quality lead generation is the top challenge for 61% of B2B marketers. (Marketing Insider Group)

The right content for the right prospects at the right time in their buying journey is a content marketer’s mantra that shines some light on the difficulty of the task. Automating reporting, tracking the number of SQLs (sales qualified leads) generated through content and monitoring the influx of leads – and all in one tool – is a dream come true for busy sales teams.

Cold Calling

It takes an average of 8 cold call attempts to reach a prospect. (Brevet)

Reviewing the sales pipeline and planning (and prioritizing) the next day’s to-do list can help sales reps to manage their time better and allocate enough time for all tasks. To ensure you’re tackling the most important tasks during your most productive time of day, be sure to put a reliable CRM in place.

85% of prospects and customers are dissatisfied with their on-the-phone experience. (Salesforce)

Customer experience is crucial in securing a lead, and an unhappy customer is more likely to share their unsatisfactory encounter with others, leading to damaging word-of-mouth marketing. So, increase your chances of securing a lead by preparing for your call. Avoid giving your prospect the opportunity to end the call before you even started by opening your pitch with “Do you have a moment to discuss X?”. Instead, provide them with information about your product and how it can help them.

93% of converted leads are contacted by the 6th call attempt. (HubSpot)

Unfortunately, cold calling is not fun, and it takes a lot of effort, but it’s an excellent sales technique to master. With practice it will not only get easier, but also you’ll get better at securing deals. Having a call script will take away some of the pain of cold-calling, so whip one up, get your call list out and start ringing.

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You might also like: 5 Cold Calling Sample Scripts for Any Situation

The best time to cold call is 4 pm – 5 pm. The second best time is 8 am – 10 am. The worst times are 11 am and 2 pm. (InsideSales)

Being persistent when cold calling is not enough to ensure success. In fact, may even be ineffective if you are missing the optimal times to make those calls. Ensure that you prioritize and organize your schedule in a way that you are hitting the peak times for cold calling to ensure your sales success. Take it one step further and contact your prospects by sending a little something to introduce yourself before you make the call. They will remember you fondly, and it’ll help you take a step closer to converting your lead into a sale.

Copywriting

It’s worth investing time in writing headline copy. On average, 8 out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest. (Copyblogger)

Like email subject lines, headlines need to be crisp, intriguing and true to their meaning to capture reader’s attention. If you’re experimenting with content marketing, make sure your headline copy is catching fire.

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Emails with “You” in the subject line were opened 5% less than those without. (Stynson)

People find the use of “You” in the subject line a little too straightforward. Drop it from your copy to avoid annoying any of your recipients and replace it with something that creates a sense of urgency and exclusivity. Invesp found that the open rate increased by 22% when the FOMO effect was invoked.

Using “Daily” or “Weekly” in subject lines boosts open rates whereas “Monthly” hurts them. (Sadestra)

Don’t overcomplicate your email schedule, use the best practices to nail the lead nurturing techniques. This stat suggests that your email newsletters or simply messages should go out either daily or weekly to meet the prospects’ expectations.

The last 5 minutes of a sales presentation is the most memorable, so end with a story – 63% of attendees remember stories. (RedBase Interactive)

Since most of lead nurturing happens through email, try to incorporate and master storytelling to win your prospects over. Building positive associations through engaging stories will help you gain prospects’ trust and achieve better brand recognition.

Emails with “Free” in the subject line were opened 10% more than those without. (HubSpot)

Including a free bonus or extra in your offer can help you swing the prospects’ opinion and get them to engage with your product. Upgrade your offer and take advantage of this copywriting hack!