“48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect
25% of sales people make a second contact and stop
12% of sales people only make three contacts and stop
ONLY 10% of sales people make more than three contacts
2% of sales are made on the first contact
3% of sales are made on the second contact
5% of sales are made on the third contact
10% of sales are made on the fourth contact
80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact”
Mike Brooks on MrInsideSales.com
I don’t profess to be an OSS salesperson, but have helped CSPs with their vendor selections and have helped vendors with their pre-sales for OSS bids.
At first thought, the statistics in bold above seemed astounding, pointing at the level of perseverance to become a top sales person. In effect the statistics are suggesting that less than 10% of sales people make 80% of sales largely on the basis of making more contacts.
But in the context of large complex solutions like OctopOSS projects that need significant vendor/customer interaction before enough trust can be built up in the vendor and their solution, I’d hazard a guess that 80% of OSS sales would be made well beyond twelve contacts even. The OSS vendor selections that I’ve been involved with have often taken months to conclude over many, many ensuing contacts.
How many interactions have been required to complete an OSS vendor selection in your experience?