10 Eye Opening Sales Statistics You Have to See to Believe

Today’s digital sales pros know that accurate data is the key to really outstanding results.

As an inbound selling professional, you have plenty of room for creativity. It’s up to you to meet people, analyze their needs, and provide them with real, impactful solutions.

Instincts play a role in sales even in 2019. But if you want to validate your hunches – and if you plan to get better and better at selling, you want to – you need concrete data.

Enter sales statistics.

Not all organizations frequently produce their own sales statistics, so it’s important to look for trusted sources that will give you the state of your profession as a whole.

As data rolls in, more sales statistics are pointing in an important direction: Inbound sales methods are vastly outperforming outbound in revenue and customer loyalty.

That’s the general theme – but the numbers will surprise you.

Let’s check out some eye-popping 2019 sales statistics from the leading online sales resources.

The Challenge: 5 Stats Showing Why Inbound Selling is the Only Way in 2019

77 percent of B2B buyers surveyed...

... claimed they wouldn’t want to speak to a salesperson before doing their own product research, according to the Corporate Executive Board. The key to sales in 2019 is making sure your brand is part of that research process from the very beginning.

90 percent of the buyer journey...

... may already be over and done with before sales pros interact directly with leads. Inbound-focused brands that have nurtured a relationship throughout the journey are at an advantage when the time comes to decide between enticing options.

40 percent of salespeople say...

... prospecting is the most difficult part of their job. About 36% say closing the deal is the hardest part. Inbound marketing allows qualified leads to self-select so you can achieve greater results through targeted warm prospecting.

One in four buyers say...

... they aren’t interested in discussing budget, authority, or timeline with a sales pro when they do make contact. By building self-qualification into the Awareness and Consideration phases of the buyer journey, sales experts have less work to do at Decision time.

20 percent of buyers say...

... they’re only interested in talking to sales in the Decision phase, once they’ve already decided which product to buy. Unless you establish rapport and a brand relationship early on, qualified leads will disappear from your pipeline without ever being counted.

The Solution: 5 Stats on Inbound Selling’s Transformational Results

65 percent of salespeople...

... who use social selling techniques, including inbound prospecting on social media, fill their pipeline on a monthly basis. On the other hand, 47% of the reps who don’t use social selling don’t fill their pipeline and find themselves struggling for leads.

50 percent of all revenue...

... in 14 major industries is influenced by social selling. That includes everything from B2B software solutions to healthcare to marketing and advertising. Odds are good your own industry is on an upward trajectory when it comes to the clout of social selling!

Four in 10 sales pros...

... reported that they recently closed two to five deals using social media.

28 percent of companies...

... are prioritizing social selling to improve lead generation, accelerate deal flow and shorten sales cycles. This is crucial when you consider that sales and marketing professionals in many key B2B industries say sales cycles have been trending longer for years.

5 percent and 35 percent...

... represent how much you can raise win rates and deal size, respectively, by adopting social selling. Using social selling tools consistently helps enterprises in all industries and size categories to make a positive impression and build a lead relationship that facilitates the all-important first sale.

The Bottom Line: Inbound Marketing and Social Selling Position Sales Leaders to Win

If your organization is still using old-fashioned outbound selling, you’re at a huge disadvantage.

More B2B decision-makers say they don’t have the time or the patience for cold calls. They don’t want to hear from brands they don’t know – or from anyone – until their research is done.

Long story short, decision-makers are shutting out old-fashioned sales techniques.

Au revoir. Auf Wiedersehen. Sayonara.

Sales experts who want to consistently fill their pipelines and beat their quotas in 2019 and beyond need to take these three tips to the bank:

• Adopt a Customer Relationship Management suite for total buyer journey visibility.
• Partner with the marketing team to streamline qualified lead capture and close deals.
• Use targeted social selling, especially on LinkedIn, to identify best fit leads faster.

Here at Bluleadz, our customers rave about the free HubSpot CRM. HubSpot makes it easier than ever for you to visualize the buyer journey, craft compelling messaging, and follow up consistently – crucial now that it can take 18 calls to actually reach a buyer.

It’s a brave new world of inbound selling out there. What are you doing about it?