200+ Sales Statistics [Cold Calling, Follow-up, Closing Rates]

200+ Sales Statistics [Cold Calling, Follow-up, Closing Rates] Here are 200+ sales statistics to take your sales figures to the next level.The stats are drawn from studies, surveys, and articles from trusted sources like The Harvard Business Review, The Pew Research Center, HubSpot, Gallup, Baylor University, and Salesforce.If we couldnt find the original source, we didnt use it.The data boils down to one thing: Do you enjoy selling?If you dont and you have to sell, can you find a way to enjoy it?The answer feeds into what the sales statistics are saying. As Dale Carnegie said, if you can find a way to help others, you will both enjoy selling and succeed.This monster list of sales statistics is:Organized by category for easy use (see our table of contents below).Drawn from trusted sources like the Harvard Business Review and Nielsen Research.Stuffed with sales stats from all the most popular categories.Kept up to date (always) by our on-the-clock research team.Need a sales statistic fast? Use this handy table of contents to jump to mini-lists wi thin the article.Table of ContentsMost Popular Sales StatisticsSocial Selling StatisticsSales Follow-Up StatisticsHubSpot StatsCold Calling StatisticsSales Success StatisticsOnline Sales StatisticsSales Conversion Rate StatisticsSales Closing StatsSales Training StatisticsSalesforce StatisticsDoor-to-Door Sales StatisticsProspecting StatsFun Facts About SalesB2B Sales StatisticsInside Sales StatisticsDirect Sales StatisticsReferral StatsCRM Statistics1Most Popular Sales StatisticsHere are the top sales statistics from our full list of 200+.The sales stats below are the cream of the cropthe best and most popular skimmed from our entire article.Theyre eye-popping, motivational, and theyll have you selling like Joe Girard in no time flat.Posts with videos can generate engagement rates of 50% or more. (Databox)80% of sales are made by 20% of salespeople. The winners sell to the prospects the losers give up on. (Bill Corbin on LinkedIn)92% of sales pros give up after the 4th call, but 80 % of prospects say no four times before they say yes. (MarketingDonut)46% of salespeople didnt intend to go into sales. (Hubspot)The average salesperson generates roughly one appointment or referral from every 209 cold calls. (Baylor University)What do buyers want from sales pros? 69% say, Listen to my needs. (Hubspot)Optimistic sales pros outperform pessimists by 57%. Thats even true when pessimists have better selling skill sets. (Forbes, Seligman)By 2020, customers will handle 85% of all business contact without ever interacting with a human. (Gartner Customer 360)The average sales conversion rate across all industries is 2.46%3.26% (Statista)You can get anything you want if you help enough other people get what they want. (Zig Ziglar)2Social Selling StatisticsHeaded for the social selling launchpad? Youre not alone. Social selling is fast becoming the most popular sales channel.What is social selling? Its when sales pros interact directly with prospects through social media.Most Americans (68%+) use YouTube and Facebook. Plus, 84% of buyers who use social media have larger buying budgets than non-social buyers.The vast majority of Americans use YouTube (73%), Facebook (68%), or some other social media (22%35%) as of 2018.(Pew Research Center)Want to sell? 72% of salespeople who use social media in their sales process outperform their peers. (Down from 78.6% in 2012) (Jim Keenan Study)Want to hit your quota faster? Social sellers hit their quotas 66% more often than those who dont use social media. (Sales Benchmark Index)54% of salespeople can track closed deals back to social media engagement (Jim Keenan Study)Afraid social media will suck up all your time? 50.1% of salespeople who use social media spend less than 10% of their time on it.Video is king. Posts with videos can generate engagement rates of 50% or more. (Databox)96% of consumers want more contact with industry leaders. They often seek it through Twitter. (Databox)Buyers who use social media typ ically have 84% bigger budgets than non-social-users. (Social Buying Meets Social Selling)74.9% of companies that use social selling grow their sales teams in the next 12 months. (The State of Social Selling)90% of top-performing sellers use social media in their sales strategy. (State of Sales)More than 70% of sales pros use social selling tools like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. (State of Sales, LinkedIn)50% of sales pros spend 310 hours per week using social selling tools. (State of Sales, LinkedIn)84% of C-Level execs and 75% of B2B buyers use social media to make purchasing decisions. (Social Buying Meets Social Selling)The average B2B buyer who relies on social media to make buying decisions is senior, has a big budget, makes frequent purchases, and has more power to make buying decisions. (Social Buying Meets Social Selling)3Sales Follow-Up StatisticsWe know persistence pays, but in what way?The data show most sales pros give up too soon. The sales statistics below on foll owing up show 20% of all sales reps make 80% of the sales. They sell to the prospects abandoned by the rest.Dont give up. 50% of all sales happen after the 5th contact, but most reps give up after just 2. (InsideSales)It takes 8 cold calls to reach a prospect. 72% of all sales calls arent answered. (Baylor University)92% of sales pros give up after the 4th call, but 80% of prospects say no four times before they say yes. (MarketingDonut)80% of sales are made by 20% of salespeople. The winners sell to the prospects the losers give up on. (Bill Corbin on LinkedIn)Increasing customer retention by 5% boosts profits by 25%90% (Harvard Business Review)Acquiring a new customer costs 525 times more than keeping an existing customer. (Harvard Business Review)Only 2% of sales happen at the first meeting. (MarketingDonut)Stay vigilant. 83% of prospects who request info dont buy for 312 months. (MarketingDonut)70% of salespeople stop at one email. Yet if you send more emails, youve got a 25% ch ance to hear back. (YesWare)The best time to contact a lead? 46pm on a Thursday, or 5 minutes after their inquiry. (LeadResponseManagement)4HubSpot StatisticsHubSpot is a popular inbound marketing and sales software solution. It helps companies get leads, then turn them into customers.HubSpot analyzed data from its 41,000+ customers, and compiled a great list of sales statistics. See the highlights below.85% of marketing teams say supporting their sales team is their #1 priority. Still, 56% of salespeople must prepare their own sales materials. (Hubspot)46% of salespeople didnt intend to go into sales. That makes 4.14 million accidental sales pros in the U.S. (Hubspot)Salespeople spend 66% of their day on administrative tasks. (Hubspot)The vast majority of sales pros use networking events, company trainings, and conferences to sharpen their sales skills. (Hubspot)The biggest chunk of sales pros (25%) have a business degree. The next biggest slice (17%) didnt go to college. (Hubspot) Only 19% of customers trust salespeople. (Hubspot)19% of buyers want to talk to a sales rep when first learning about a product. (Hubspot)Sales pros who try to reach leads in one hour are 7x more likely to have meaningful conversations. (Hubspot)Only 7% of salespeople respond within five minutes of a form submission (Hubspot)On average, people delete 48% of their emails in five minutes. (Hubspot)5Cold Calling StatisticsCold calling is hard. The sales statistics for cold calling below show it takes 209 cold calls to generate a single appointment. The majority of all cold calls dont go through in the first place.The takeaway from these cold-calling outbound sales statistics? The average sales rep using cold calling can make one appointment per day.The average inside sales rep can make 33 cold calls per day. (ForEntrepreneurs and The Bridge Group)Typical inside sales reps have 6.6 conversations per day. (ForEntrepreneurs and The Bridge Group)More conversations per day correlates direct ly with higher quota attainment. (ForEntrepreneurs and The Bridge Group)90% of CEOs say they never return cold calls or cold emails. (InsideView)The average salesperson generates roughly one appointment or referral from every 209 cold calls. (Baylor University)About 72% of all cold calls dont get through to a human being. (Baylor University)The average sales pro will spend 7.5 hours cold-calling to secure one appointment or referral. (Baylor University)1 in 59 calls actually answered generates an appointment or referral. (Baylor University)The most effective time to cold-call is from 10am2pm. Least effective? After 5pm. (Baylor University)91% of cold emails are opened the day after theyre sent. (YesWare)6Sales Success StatisticsWant to succeed in sales? Listen to customers, learn their needs, and find a way to fix their problems.Free up time to do that by using the right tools.The sales success statistics below suggest genuine interest in your buyers challenges is a sure path to rev enue growth.Tools for success. 75%85% of top salespeople value CRMs, productivity apps, email marketing, and social selling as key factors in their success. (State of Sales, LinkedIn)Asking questions about your buyers goals and pain points leads to better sales success. (Gong)For better sales success, space your questions evenly throughout each sales call. (Gong)Successful reps are 10x more likely to use collaborative words like us, we, and our and avoid words like, I and me. (Chorus)The most successful sales pros use confidence-boosting lingo like definitely, certainly, and absolutely 5x more than low performers.What do buyers want from sales pros? 69% say, Listen to my needs. 61% say, Dont be pushy and give me relevant information. 51% want salespeople to respond in a timely manner. (Hubspot)Prospects who are asked to take just a small step are twice as likely to spend. They spend just as much as those asked to spend a lot. (Cialdini)Curiosity, intelligence, and an agile mind are the biggest predictors of sales success. (Harvard Business Review)The most successful salespeople have aligned their personal goals with work goals. (Harvard Business Review)Optimistic sales pros outperform pessimists by 57%. Thats even true when pessimists have better selling skill sets. (Forbes, Seligman)7Online Sales StatisticsOnline sales is growing at Usain Bolt speeds. Amazon sells more than 600 items every second.Most shoppers shop online, and never interact with a sales pro at all. Yet most would rather interact with a human. Why dont they? The price.By 2020, customers will handle 85% of all business contact without ever interacting with a human. (Gartner Customer 360)Almost 82% of buyers viewed 58 pieces of content from a vendor before buying. (DemandGen Report)79% of American shoppers shop online. They do it to find lower costs, not convenience. (PewResearch)If price is equal, 64% of Americans would rather shop in person than online. (PewResearch)82% of Americans check onl ine reviews and ratings before buying. (PewResearch)Only half of American shoppers trust online reviews and ratings. (PewResearch)217 million American shoppers buy online. (Statista)Mobile shoppers spend $3.2 trillion a year as of 2017. Thats almost doubled in the past five years. (ReadyCloud)58% of shoppers in a survey of 5,849 will spend more to get free shipping. (EConsultancy)80% of online shoppers trust Amazon reviews most. (CourseHero)63% of shoppers look at a stores return policy before they buy. (ComScore)8Sales Conversion Rate StatisticsHows your conversion rate? Do you measure up? The average rate regardless of industry is about 3%.The sales statistics below show sales conversion rate by industry. Some categories, like electronics, enjoy rates of over 20%.The average sales conversion rate across all industries is 2.46%3.26% (Statista)Most e-commerce stores reach sales conversion rates of 5% or less. (MarketingSherpa)Conversion rate for fashion and apparel stores: 6% (Firec lick Index)Catalog website conversion rate: 6.5% (Fireclick Index)Specialty website sales conversion rate: 7.3%8.8% (Fireclick Index)Outdoor/sports websites: 4.8%5.1% (Fireclick Index)Software websites: 3.6%4.2% (Fireclick Index)Art/Collectibles: 15% (MarketingSherpa)Business services: 20% (MarketingSherpa)Electronics: 22% (MarketingSherpa)9Sales Closing StatisticsThat coffee is for closers.But whats a closer? By the sales statistics below, its an outside sales rep who closes 40%+ of the time, or an inside sales rep who does half that.Want to see how you measure up? Take a stroll through the sales stats below.Inside sales pros succeed with 18% of pitches. (IHireSalesPeople)Outside sales pros see an average 40% closing rate. (IHireSalesPeople)The average close rate for all industries is 19%. (HubSpot)The average close rate for electronics sales pros is 22%. (HubSpot)63% of all sales interactions end with the sales pro not asking for the sale. (Zig Ziglar)96% of salespeople quit after four attempts, but 60% of sales happen after the 5th attempt. (Variation on a popular sales stat, originally by Zig Ziglar)You can get anything you want if you help enough other people get what they want. (Zig Ziglar)The phrase, Show you how lowers closing rates by 13% if its used more than four times in one sales call. (Gong)Discount lowers close rates by 17%.Go easy on your company name. If you use it 4+ times in one sales call, youll hurt close rates 14%.10Sales Training StatisticsDoes sales training matter? Who does more of it, and do they see a healthy ROI?According to the sales statistics below, it takes half a year to train the typical sales pro. That pro then sticks around for two more years before she flies the coop.High performing sales teams pay close attention to training, and see 9% faster revenue growth as a result.The average newly-hired salesperson has 2.6 years of prior experience. (ForEntrepreneurs and The Bridge Group)The average new hire is fully productive in 5 .3 months. 24% are ready in 13 months, and 16% take longer than 7 months. (ForEntrepreneurs and The Bridge Group)How long does the average sales rep stick around? 2.5 years. 36% leave in less than 2 years, while 32% stay longer than 3 years. (ForEntrepreneurs and The Bridge Group)The average sales pro sticks around for 2.2 years at full productivity. (ForEntrepreneurs and The Bridge Group)Turnover for the average sales team is about 34%. 66% of that is involuntary. (ForEntrepreneurs and The Bridge Group)The average sales pros base salary is $60K. The average On-Target Earnings is $118K. (ForEntrepreneurs and The Bridge Group)67% of reps hit their quotas, down from 74% in 2012. (ForEntrepreneurs and The Bridge Group)Train your people. 61% of execs admit their sales managers arent properly trained in pipeline management techniques. (Harvard Business Review)Companies that train managers to manage their sales pipelines see 9% faster revenue growth. (Harvard Business Review)64% of compan ies expect to spend less than $10,000 on training their sales team this year. (Hubspot)Manage your team. Companies that spent 3+ hours per month managing their sales reps pipelines saw 11% higher revenue. (Harvard Business Review)More than half of all sales reps rely on their peers to hone their skills. 44% turn to managers. Only 35% depend on team trainings. (Hubspot) of all companies use classroom trainings as their main way of training sales staff. (Highspot)High-performing companies are 2x as likely to provide their sales teams with ongoing training. (Highspot)Sales pros with 34 years of experience spend more time than those with less or more experience. Thats probably because rookies dont plan to stay in sales and veterans are satisfied with their skills. (Hubspot)Sales pros with less product knowledge benefit the most when empowered by management. (Ahearne, Mathieu, Rapp)U.S. sales teams spend over $70 billion a year on training. Its 80% forgotten in 3 months. (Harvard Busine ss Review, Sales Performance International)U.S. companies spend $1 billion a year on executive coaching. (Forbes)For every $1 spent on business coaching, companies see a $7 return. (Forbes)11Salesforce StatisticsSalesforce is one of the most respected Customer Relationship Management(CRM) tools in the world. It has an estimated 3.75 million users. A user-base of that size generates a lot of data!The facts below come from Salesforces observations about how their customers sell. The biggest takeaway here? Focus on helping people.51% of top sales pros focus their efforts on relationship-building. (Salesforce)Top-performing sales teams are 2.8x more likely to say their organizations have shifted toward personalizing customer interactions. (Salesforce)79% of business buyers want their sales reps to be trusted advisors who add value. Customers want consultants, not old-style sales pros. (Salesforce)83% of business buyers want salespeople focused on helping them achieve their company goals . (Salesforce)73% of sales teams say its critical to collaborate across departments. (Salesforce)Sales pros spend only 36% of their time on selling-related tasks. (Salesforce)AI use by sales teams will more than double in the next three years. (Salesforce)High-performing sales pros are more than twice as likely to use AI to guide their selling. (Salesforce)89% of top performers say management has increased sales empowerment in the past five years. Only 45% of low performers say the same. (Salesforce)In-person communication is still king. (Salesforce)12Door-to-Door Sales StatisticsBelieve it or not, door-to-door sales still generates nearly $30 billion a year in sales!Are you one of the lucky knuckle-pounding sales pros? The door-to-door sales statistics below will help put you in the frame.Successful door-to-door reps canvass a neighborhood 3x and talk with 90% of the residents.To be successful, a door-to-door sales pro needs a 30%40% contact rate. (Spotio)Door to door sales is stil l a $28.6 billion industry. (Safewise and BLS.gov)A typical sales pro can knock on 20 doors per hour. (realestatecareermentor)The average sales pro can create one lead for every 50 doors they knock on. (realestatecareermentor)On average, a door-to-door sales pro can add one lead every two hours. (realestatecareermentor)Whats the best time to knock on doors? All of them. Make your first pass in the evening, your second in the morning, and your third in the afternoon to catch 90% of all prospects in a neighborhood. (Spotio)Door-to-door reps talk to 40%50% of prospects in an area on a single pass. That generates 1620 contacts for every 40 attempts. (leadheroes)25% of all contacts will listen to a sales pros pitch. (leadheroes)About 2% of all door-to-door knocks will generate a sale. (leadheroes)Door hangers left by door-to-door knockers generate one call back for every 200 hangers left. (leadheroes)13Prospecting StatisticsTheres gold in them thar hills! Find out where before you dig. N obody loves sales prospecting, but you cant sell without it.How many calls does it take to reach a buyer? How many new opportunities a month will keep you solvent? The prospecting sales statistics below can help you home in on the motherlode.42% of sales pros say prospecting is the hardest part of their job. The rest say its closing (36%) or qualifying (22%) (Hubspot)100-200 new sales opportunities per month is best. 72% of companies with 50 or less new opportunities per month didnt meet their sales goals. Thats vs 15% with 50100 opportunities, and just 4% with over 100. (Hubspot)Dont put it off. Average salespeople slack off the first two months of a quarter, then scramble in month three. Their third-month efforts get a lower success rate. (Gong)Know your products. 58% of prospects want to know pricing on the first call. 54% want a product demo. (Hubspot)Only 15% of prospects want to talk about purchase authority on the first call. Less than a quarter want to talk about their budge t or timeline. (Hubspot)60% of prospects want to talk to sales staff after theyve researched options. (Hubspot)On average, it takes 18 calls to reach a buyer. (TopoHQ)90% of sales pros use 2+ contact info providers. (TopoHQ)Video is key. 70% of prospects watch a video to help them decide. (So, send customized videos.) (ThinkWithGoogle)Product feature videos are the most popular with prospects. Next come how-tos and reviews. (ThinkWithGoogle)14Fun Facts About SalesLooking for some sales fun facts to give your next presentation a little sizzle? Take a look below. These sales statistics and facts make fantastic icebreakers.Chick-fil-A has mastered customer loyalty so well it can afford to pay its store operators 2x3x more than the industry average. (Bain)48% of sales statistics have no basis in reality and dont cite a reliable source for where they got their data (Santa Claus)Are you neurotic and introverted? Take heart. Introverts and neurotic personalities do just as well in sales jo bs as their extroverted, confident counterparts. (Furnham Fudge)More than 1 in 10 jobs in America are full time sales jobs. (Salesforce)Top sales pros outperform low performers by 10:1 and average ones by 2:1. (Salesforce)Companies spend $1 trillion a year on their sales forces. (Salesforce)80% of all salespeople a customer interacts with are incompetent. (moveyourcompanyforward)Prospecting is finding someone with the right problem. (workwisellc)A team of 50 sales pros leaves 1,277 hours of voicemails every month. (hoopla)Sales reps who can switch between introverted and extroverted modes outperform both introverts and extroverts by 24% to 32%. (Forbes, Psychological Science)15B2B Sales StatisticsWant to sell like Dan Englander with a pressing quota? Not sure which pain points to work on first?The business sales statistics below will help you see the bigger picture. The main points? Have a formal sales processand oh yeahfind a way to help your customers.Your buyers are savvy. 74% o f B2B buyers do half their research (or more!) online before they buy. (Forrester Research)Get active on LinkedIn. More than half of all B2B buyers use LinkedIn to support purchase decisions. (Social Buying Meets Social Selling)Make it personal. 84% of B2B buyers start their buying search with a referral. (Superoffice)Get technical. By 2018, 20% of B2B sales teams will transition to virtual sales reps. (TechMarketingBlogSpot)Your competition? Weak. 46% of customers strongly agree B2B businesses follow through on promises. (Gallup)Your customers? Apathetic. 60% of B2B customers are indifferent. 29% are engaged. The rest? Actively disengaged. (Gallup)20% of B2B customers have experienced a problem with a supplier. Only 40% of those feel the B2B resolved the problem. (Gallup)Fight for engagement. B2B customers with high engagement scores get 50% more revenue and 34% higher profitability. (Gallup)Go formal. B2Bs with formal sales processes generate 28% more revenue. (Harvard Business Re view)44% of execs think their organizations are ineffective at managing their sales pipelines. (Harvard Business Review)16Inside Sales StatisticsOutside sales is face-to-face. Inside sales happens over phone, email, and cloud-based applications.Need an eye-catching inside sales fact? The inside sales statistics below can beef up your sales development playbook.The average yearly quota for an inside sales pro is $985,000. (Harvard Business Review)Inside sales teams pay 40%90% less to acquire new customers. (Harvard Business Review)Inside sales is growing 15x faster than outside sales. (SalesLoft)75% of buyers would rather not meet face-to-face. (SalesLoft)For every outside sales rep that gets hired, 10 inside sales reps get hired. (SalesLoft)The average yearly quota for an outside sales rep is $2.7 million. Computer sales pros have the highest average quotas at $4.2 million. (Harvard Business Review)Outside sales pros make 14% more than inside sales pros, on average. (SalesLoft)A buy er receives 140 emails every day, opens about 20%, and clicks through to websites from just 2%. (radicati, mailchimp, tellwise) Yet targeting emails to a recipient's interests can achieve a 94% open rate. (superoffice)93% of converted leads are reached by the 6th call attempt. (Velocify)46% of fast-growing tech companies use inside sales, vs 21% outside sales. (Harvard Business Review)Texting after you make a contact creates a 112%+ higher conversion rate. (Velocify)17Direct Sales StatisticsDirect sales is a $34 billion industry. 74% of U.S. consumers have bought something from a direct sales rep.How many direct sales people are there? Do they make money? From Herbalife to Amway, find the direct sales statistics youre looking for right here.86% of buyers want to be able to ask in-person questions before buying, while 84% want to buy from someone they know and trust. (PewResearch)70% of Americans want to be able to try out products in person. (PewResearch)20 million people are involv ed in direct selling in the US. That figure has grown by 2%50% each year since 2011. (Direct Selling Association)74% of direct sales reps are female. 26% are male. (Direct Selling Association)Direct selling is a $34.4 billion industry and has grown 1% to 6% each year since 2010. (Direct Selling Association)Direct sales pros have higher incomes and higher education levels than the average American. (Direct Selling Association)50%+ of buyers are likely to buy from a direct sales rep this year. (Direct Selling Association)5+ million direct sales pros are building their own independent businesses. (Direct Selling Association)800,000 direct sellers work full-time and 4.5 million work part-time. 15+ million sell to get discounts on products or services. (Direct Selling Association)50% of customers feel neutral toward direct sales pros, while 31% approve of them. Only 20% of buyers dislike direct sales reps. (Direct Selling Association)18Referral StatisticsWhats more important in the sales world than referrals? Theyre the most powerful form of advertising. Most buyers depend on them.Did you know 84% of buyers start with a referral? And 92% of customers trust them? Find these and other referral sales statistics here.84% of buyers start their buying process from a referral. (Harvard Business Review)90% of all buying decisions rely on peer recommendations. (Harvard Business Review)92% of buyers trust product/service referrals from those they know. (Nielsen)83% of customers are glad to give a referral after a positive experience. Only 29% actually do, because salespeople dont ask. (Texas Tech)61% of buyers have recommended local businesses to an acquaintance. (BrightLocal)Referrals are the most effective form of advertising, since 84% of consumers trust recommendations from people they already know. (Nielsen)Word of mouth creates $6 trillion in consumer spending every year. (CMO)People of all age groups trust peer recommendations more than any other source. (Deloitte)Mil lennials are 3x likelier than baby boomers to seek advice from social channels before a purchase. (Kelton Research)The top two sources of buyer advice are peers and industry experts. (DemandGen)19CRM StatisticsTechnically, CRMs have been around since 1986. Lately though, theyve taken off like an Elon Musk experiment.Most sales reps and managers agree they spend too much time on housekeeping. CRMs slash admin time to a fraction of its former self.57% of sales pros spend 310+ hours per week using CRM tools. (State of Sales, LinkedIn)CRMs are the most popular sales tools, followed by social prospecting, data services, email, phone, and sales cadence. (SalesforLife)91% of businesses with 11+ employees use CRM software. (Buyerzone)A properly integrated CRM can provide a 245% ROI. (Forrester)50% of teams using a well-integrated CRM see improved productivity. (Forrester)For every dollar spent on CRM, the average company sees an $8.71 return. (Nucleus Research)40% of sales pros still use sp readsheets instead of CRMs. 22% dont know what a CRM is. (HubSpot)CRMs can boost sales by 29% and productivity to 34%. (Salesforce)74% of sales pros say CRMs give them better access to customer data. (Software Advice)24% more sales pros meet their annual quotas when they have mobile access to their CRM. (Aberdeen Group)Key TakeawayTheres your 200+ sales statistics to help put your job into perspective.It helps to know how you measure up to the competition. Sales stats like the ones in this article can help.As a sales pro, it helps to know how the top performers spend their time. (For example, most top sales pros use CRMs and social media. Theyre persistent and they build relationships.)Knowing what the bottom performers do can save you from a costly mistake. For instance, poor sellers dont take advantage of training, use AI, or work to engage their customers.Did we miss a favorite sales statistic? Want to call us out on a sales stat you think is iffy? Let us know in the comments!

Coming Tuesday! The Ridiculously Awesome Resume Kit launch Career Coach JobJenny

Coming Tuesday! The Ridiculously Awesome Resume Kit launch Career Coach JobJenny Announcement! Announcement! I'm excited to announce that it's FINALLY ready. The Ridiculously Awesome Resume Kit launches this Tuesday, July 31 at 8 a.m. EDT. We pre-launched the kit to JobJenny.com mailing list subscribers last week, and the preliminary sales andfeedbackfar exceeded my expectations (wahooo to you, subscribers!) What is the Ridiculously Awesome Resume Kit? An incredibly nifty and economical tool, the Ridiculously Awesome Resume Kit ... ... walks readers step-by-step through the process I use when creating Ridiculously Awesome Resumes for clients. ... answers the questions I hear most often about format, fonts and how to best disguise those awkward career gaps or hiccups. ... provides sample Ridiculously Awesome Resumes (and cover letters) of actual people who are now working in amazing new jobs. ... gives you everything you need to get your hands on a professional quality resume, at a fraction of the cost of hiring a professional resume writer. Here's the Table of Contents if you'd like a quick peek. And if you're interested? Be sure and come on back onTuesday, July 31.

9 Ways to Guarantee the Future of Your OWN Talent Pool

9 Ways to Guarantee the Future of Your OWN Talent Pool Recruitment agencies: how do YOU guarantee your supply demand of your OWN future talent pool?! So, Im going to reveal a secret: everyone in recruitment is hiring. And there are not enough candidates to supply the demand! Ok so its not really a secret. Anyone in recruitment knows at the moment that there has never been a better time to: become a recruiter and be a recruiter. Not since the heady days of pre “darkness” as I call it, (ie 2008/9) have recruitment companies seen a consistent perm return nor (mainly) such candidate short markets good news for all! Or is it? I run a R2R business that is based on trust and integrity in a very  candidate-short market. I am not about to reveal my secrets about how I manage to make ANY money given: how saturated r2r is these days how much LinkedIn has affected direct approaches (i.e. my biggest competitor) given that if you are in recruitment, you are probably not going to move on if you are good and well looked after by your current employer! So how does any recruitment agency (ie. you) ensure that you can maintain a good supply of talent from people like me as a R2R, or directly, or both? This blog is therefore a synopsis to potential hiring clients in recruitment as a suggestions lists of how I prepare my carefully selected client portfolio in how to position their businesses versus their competitors and generally other hiring recruitment businesses: Meet your R2R frequently If this isn’t always possible, an update call periodically to let them know of your plans, changes to that plan, big news, will bring you back into their mindset for their role as your ambassador and it may spark a match that they wouldn’t have necessarily thought of otherwise! Ensure your terms payable are attractive No longer can hiring recruitment businesses (or SHOULD I mean to say) use a R2R on price. You know all the clichés and I am sorry but it is true, you DO get what you pay for. My average fee is 22.5% and there is a reason therefore that the retention rate of my placements made is above average. You pay a “bums on seats” rate, you get .”bums on seats”. Don’t use absolutely everybody and be a R2R tart  I am not saying just use one or even pay a retained R2R (I genuinely worry about how impartial you can honestly be to that recruitment consultant if you are only focusing on ONE client?), but if you want us to be motivated to speak to you and for us to trust that YOU are discerning, then be selective in whom your partners are. I am happy to share but not if the client uses R2Rs I distrust or don’t rate. I advise them accordingly. Know your own USPs Not generic ones. But specific ones, that maybe industry related, perhaps affiliations/accreditations with governing bodies. As well as obvious ones such as commission structures. Development programs all sound the same unless YOU tell US about testimony of actual staff you have in your business. Get passionate about the USPs. They are the reason someone will work for you Give us feedback, let us give you feedback  Be constructive in the process, not a barrier. Allow us to be the experts on each candidate. If some candidates WANT to come back in and meet more people, see the office, meet their colleagues etc, even if this is not your normal process, LISTEN to a discerning career seeker and accept their request! Make your process transparent, please be open, not guarded in the interviews themselves I always ask my candidates to just “ be themselves” so that YOU get to see the real (if slightly nervous) person. Well, the same goes for YOU. Let them know the warts and all but also why you work there/why they should! And no surprise tests or role plays please. If you insist on using these as part of your decision making, that is fine, but extend the courtesy by preparing the candidate beforehand. Don’t move the goal posts On salary, role, the process. And if you need to, TELL us first. No shocks in the interview please. Listen to US about what the candidate wants, their motivators, reasons for moving in the first place Not everyone has the same desires and buttons to push; you need to listen to what each person’s goals are. Then you can work your pitch to ensure you attract them individually. Above all, be HONEST with us Don’t keep your real thoughts to yourself until the final stage and then flood us with negatives and concerns. What a waste of time for all concerned. Be frank, candid and honest from day 1 and we all gain from knowing exactly what everyone is thinking and where we stand at each point in the process. I hope this helps YOU, as the hiring recruitment company. And if you are reading this as a recruiter thinking about a move (thanks for reading thus far!), what do you think? Have I missed anything off (I am bound to have done as I am writing this in between interviews!) that would affect YOU deciding on joining a new recruitment business? As ever, your thoughts, comments, shares and RT are gratefully and happily received. Image: Hager Group

Personal Branding Interview Jenny Blake - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Personal Branding Interview Jenny Blake - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Today, I spoke to Jenny Blake, who is the author of and blogs at Life After College: The Complete Guide to Getting What You Want and LifeAfterCollege.org, where she provides simple, practical tips about life, work, money, happiness and personal growth. In this interview, Jenny talks about decisions college graduates need to make to have a more fulfilling life. How did you know what to do when you graduated college? I got lucky in that an opportunity fell into my lap one of my professors was starting an online political polling company and she asked if I wanted to help. I was still in school, so I took a leave of absence to move home and work there as the first employee. I did know that I wanted to be doing something exciting related to the 2004 election, and this happened to fit that criteria even though it wasnt working directly on a presidential campaign. I recommend that soon-to-be-grads make a list (or a mind map) of everything under the sun that interests them. So often people think they need to have the answer to that question right away start by brainstorming as many ideas as possible, then look for themes and narrow down. How does a recent grad decide if they should start their own business, continue to graduate school or start working full-time for a company? For me this is a question of learning, energy and readiness. Where will you get the most learning? Which of those three gives you the most energy or excitement? And finally, if youre interested in all three which is most compelling, and is there a way to build in the other two later on? Each of us operates on a different set of values and preferences some thrive in an environment like graduate school, while others love learning from co-workers and peers at a large company. On the other hand, if youre feeling ON FIRE about an idea or passion for your own company and you can see a way to monetize that passion, theres no better time than when youre young to take some big risks! What are the three most important thing that a young professional should know about the workplace before entering it? Get comfortable with ambiguity, and with adapting to change. You will not always know EXACTLY what is expected of you, or how to complete a project. Youve got to trust your gut and take some chances dont look to your manager to provide 100% guidance 100% of the time. Be proactive make yourself known as a problem-solver. Ask how you can pitch-in and help your manager or team. If something is wrong, dont just complain start thinking about how you can fix it. No job is worth compromising your integrity or your sanity. Make sure youre taking care of yourself getting enough sleep, exercising, focusing on life outside of work. Youre in the working world for a long time even though some jobs are very demanding, do everything you can to ensure that youre not compromising your health or happiness. Is it really possible to plan your life out or do you have to just let things happen? Different people have different preferences for how much of a plan they want to follow for me, its a mix of both. I like to have 2-3 big goals that Im working toward at any given time that connect to a broader vision for my life (inspiring/helping others, travel, spending time with friends and family) but I try not to get too regimented about how I get there. Life will often throw curve-balls, so taking a flexible approach works best for me. Besides, sometimes those curve-balls end up leading me down an even better unexpected path! Why should a young professional think about the big picture of life and not just the details? Its so easy for us to get lost in the weeds of our lives emails, errands, small stuff. My goal is to help people focus on what really matters to them what are their top values and priorities? What kind of life do they really want? What types of people and activities bring them joy? Thats the big picture, and when you can focus on that 10,000-foot view, it makes it so much easier to help the details fall into place. Jenny Blake is the author of and blogs at Life After College: The Complete Guide to Getting What You Want and LifeAfterCollege.org, where she provides simple, practical tips about life, work, money, happiness and personal growth. Jenny’s goal is to help people focus on the BIG picture of their lives…not just the details. She is currently on a three-month leave from Google, where she has worked for five and half years. Her work at Google involves serving as a Career Development Program Manager, internal coach and manager of the Authors@Google program.

Is Telecommuting the New Work Trend - CareerMetis.com

Is Telecommuting the New Work Trend Our works are constantly changing â€" not only are new job descriptions constantly popping up and replacing old jobs, the way we work is changing and transforming our societies and lives. When it comes to these changing work trends, telecommuting is clearly at the centre of it all.Photo Credit- Pexels.comWhat is telecommuting?evalTelecommuting is sometimes referred to as working from home or e-commuting. It’s essentially a situation of work where the work is not done at the office or the company premise but from the employee’s home or another such location.The commuting reference comes from the fact that traditional commute The employee can telecommute in different ways and companies have different arrangements in place. In some organisations, employees are able to telecommute once a week or a few days a month.Some organisations have moved to a system where employees only visit the company offices every once in a while, with the majority of work being done online from home. Examp les of telecommuting companies include Apple and Amazon.Why is telecommuting so popular?There are a number of reasons why telecommuting is such a popular way to work these days. The most obvious benefits of this unique way to work include things like:Greater flexibility in work location and hours for the employee, which can help with a better work-life balance.It can enhance productivity, according to studies. This is down to the removal of distractions, enhanced comfort and reduced stress of traditional commute.Help the company make more profit and have a happier workforce. It doesn’t just improve productivity, but also cuts costs in terms of office expenses, for example.Telecommuting has plenty of benefits, but its popularity has largely been driven by the advances in technology. If you go back just a few decades, working from home would have been a lot harder and more costly.Nowadays, things such as good Internet connection are not out of reach of private citizens. You can visi t sites which provides you deals and vouchers such as Virgin Media, who has also brought high-speed broadband to everyone at economical prices. Additional business packages can help companies setup the same kind of user interfaces on employee homes as for the office. Laptops can manage bigger workloads and remote access systems like Dropbox make it possible to access files no matter where you are in the world.What is the future of work going to look like?These technological advances and the huge benefits of reducing traditional commute are likely going to increase the popularity of telecommuting. People are more productive and happier when they are able to choose when and where they work â€" the quality of work can improve with these subtle changes.Therefore, telecommuting is going to continue to change the way we work and will be the biggest trend in the coming years.evalAs organisations are going to move to increasingly flexible systems in terms of both the hours of operation and the location of the office, some other changes are likely to occur. The organisational availability will continue to move towards a more 24/7 approach, with different employees working at different hours, ensuring customers are able to contact companies almost at any point in time.Furthermore, since the need for traditional office spaces will reduce, there might be an increase in things such as temporary office spaces. Companies might start using offices and other spaces only on a temporary basis, meaning that the team meets up once a month to discuss how things will move forward.This could open up new business opportunities and change the way we related to offices in general. Perhaps in the future work is not something we associate only with a specific workplace, but a fluid state of mind and location.Are there any downsides to telecommuting?Of course, you shouldn’t think telecommuting is the saviour that’ll change work into something magnificent and make us all happier at work . Telecommuting has plenty of benefits and it’s undoubtedly going to increase its popularity, but it also has its drawbacks.evalKnowing the disadvantages and taking them seriously can help companies and employees make the most out of this popular way of working.When it comes to drawbacks, you should focus on the following things:Requires plenty of self-motivation from the employee.The home needs an adequate setup to support productivity. For example, you need a proper desk, working Internet connection, quiet rooms to work in and so on.It can be isolating and some employees can suffer from this lack of human interaction during the day.Therefore, there needs to be enough understanding of the pros and cons and a conscious effort on the part of both the employee and the employer to make it work. Not only does the employee need to ensure they have a space available for work, but the employer should ensure the workforce doesn’t just stay in isolation.Proper contact is important to ens ure people are working towards the same goals and that they feel part of the company, not like self-employed individuals.Telecommuting is clearly the newest and most popular work trend out there. Its success is likely to continue in the future and its effect will be huge.