Nearly 20% of all salespeople give up if the customer has failed to convert after four touch points … However, 80% of all customers need at least five touch points before they buy!

Multiple studies, in multiple markets and economic climates, across a number of years, tell us that 80% of all “salesperson generated sales” usually require at least five follow ups to make the sale happen.

Just pause and think about that for a second – it takes at least five points of contact, AFTER the prospect has engaged with you, to convert the sale.

Some additional interesting stats include:

• 44% of salespeople give up after one “no”.
• 22% give up after two “nos”.
• 14% give up after three “nos”.
• 12% give up after four “nos”.

So basically, 92% of sales people give up after the prospect has told them no four times, and only 8% continue to engage for a fifth time.

Could this mean that 8% of sales people are getting 80% of the sales?

Of course, statistics can tell us whatever we want to hear and the real purpose of this post is not to trot out some sales stats for shock value.

The real message here is that selling is still a process of trust and confidence building.  

We’ve seen an increase in the expectation that we can “click through” a sale with a single call to action on a website, or a two step sales conversation.  However, is this a reasonable expectation?

In the complex, higher ticket sale, we still need to be prepared to do the work and engage with the prospect professionally and consistently over a period of time.

The best customers buy in their own time – they’re volunteers rather than being taken captive.

The best salespeople close at the “right time” when the customer perceives that this purchase is the smartest thing for them to do and has absolutely no remorse about the decision.

In your own selling, are you and your salespeople part of the 8% that consistently hang in there past the magical five touch points?