90% of success is turning up, and sticking at it.
What separates the best salespeople from the also-rans?
There are lots of things. It might be their confidence and ability to put clients at ease. It might be their knowledge. It might be their empathy.
Or it might be none of the above. Often, all that divides the best from the rest is persistence—the desire to make one more call, type one more email, or send one more connection request.
48% of sales people take the first ”no” as final and don’t follow up. Of those that do follow up 44% give up after the next ”no”.
Persistence pays in sales because 60 percent of buyers say “no” four times before they say “yes”. And 80% of successful B2B sales requires 5 follow-up calls
In our heart of hearts, we probably all know this is true. We might have experienced it ourselves. Yet astonishingly, almost half of the salespeople never make a single follow-up attempt.
No one’s suggesting you should hound buyers until they’ve blocked you on every channel. But if you’re genuinely confident a prospect will benefit from your product, don’t be so easily dissuaded.
48% of salespeople never even make a single follow up attempt
60% of customers say no four times before saying yes
80% of sales require 5 follow-up calls whereas 44% of salespeople give up after one follow-up call
| Number of Attempts | %age of Sales Personnel Give Up After “No” |
| After one No | 44% |
| After 2 No’s | 22% |
| After 3 No’s | 14% |
| After 4 No’s | 12% |
35-50% of sales go to the vendor that responds first
Following up with web leads within 5 minutes makes you 9 times more likely to engage with them
Salespeople who contacted prospects within an hour of receiving a query were 60 times as likely to qualify the lead as those who waited 24 hours or longer to contact the prospect
75% of online buyers want to receive between 2-4 phone calls before a company gives up; 12% would like a company to try as many times as it takes to get a hold of them
70% of salespeople stop at one email. Yet if you send more emails, you’ve got a 25% chance to hear back
42% of people would be encouraged to make a purchase if the sales rep called back at an agreed-upon, specified time
57% of people said they would be encouraged to make a purchase from a salesperson who doesn’t try to apply pressure or hassle them when following up