Source/particulars of a sales statistic

I am looking for the source of a famous sales statistic - "81% of sales are closes on or after the 5th sales call."

This statistic is most frequently attributed to McGraw-Hill but is also attributed to Sales and Marketing Management magazine, the National Sales Executives Club and Cahners.

There are many permutations of the results from the study/survey.  You can find references to it all over the internet.  Here is an example of a reference to the study:  Link hidden: Login to view  

The numbers in the study vary a bit as well so be careful about using that 80% figure.  One book I have by Don Schrello mentions all of the above sources in passing and uses an 81% figure but does not give any more specifics.

I need the particulars of the study or survey including the date it was done, who was surveyed, the size of the sampling, etc. and a link or way to obtain the actual source. Can anybody help me locate this one? Thanks in advance. :)

Hi autumnalblues,

In one of the sales/ customer service seminars that I have attended, I clearly remember, I learned that the closing on the 5th call is strongly anchored on Roger's Innovation Diffusion Process Model, that based on perception the decision to adopt a new product goes through these stages - knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation and then confirmation.

In line with what you're looking for, I tried to Google and saw attributions to several persons/companies on the 80%/81% statistic, however I regret that I am not able to locate any abstract or studies that can back this up.

Let us know if there is anything else we can do to help.

Welcome to SaleHoo. :)

There are many permutations of the results from the study/survey. You can find references to it all over the internet. Here is an example of a reference to the study: Link hidden: Login to view

Interesting!

But like Irene said its seems close to impossible finding the survey data on the sales statistic you are asking for. I tried searching myself and came up with nothing too.

I used to work for a company that does surveys and as far as I know survey details are never disclosed to the public otherwise the survey will be considered null and void. Only the clients paying for that particular survey will have access to the data and the public will basically hear or read about the published results only.

I saw you posted your question on Yahoo! Answers, hope you get useful leads there too - if you do, hope you don't mind sharing it with us :)

Cheers

Sure. I would share the info with you guys, should I come across any useful lead regarding this particular query.

Anyways, thanks for the help and more power to Salehoo. :)

Looking forward to it, autumnalblues. Hope you do find something :)

All the best!