Share what you know with millions of people
Focus is the best place to turn what you know into remarkable content
0
How many calls a day do you think is a good number for inside sales reps?
Is 47 about average?
This question is from Trish Bertuzzi's presentation "How to Build a Case for Inside Sales" at our 2010 Focus Interactive Summit: Evolving Your Sales Game Plan
Events
- Dos and Don'ts of Small Business Marketing May 29 @ 11 am PT
- Lead Nurturing 202: The Next Generation May 31 @ 11 am PT
- The Tricks to Paid Media June 6 @ 11 am PT
- Display Advertising for Brand Awareness June 20 @ 11 am PT
Related Activity
2 Answers
Good question here, no doubt.
I think one of the things you have to take into account before determining the number of calls per day an inside rep needs to make is the demand from your market. For example, when I made calls passing qualified sales opportunities for a company that sold encrypted email solutions targeted to healthcare and finance, I only needed to make 60 calls per day to hit my quota. Why? Well, there was a huge demand for the electronic encryption of highly sensitive data.
I've worked for clients who's inside reps have needed to make 80 calls to hit their quota, some 100, and some 150. I'm of the opinion that it really depends on the demand that your targeted market has for your solutions. A good average, though, I would say, is somewhere around 110 calls per day.
One word of caution though: There is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to outbound dialing. Whether it be that your reps are losing steam or they're just striving to hit activity numbers, it is critical to find out what that point is and not drive your team over it.
This is akin to a "chicken and egg" question. The number is going to vary by industry, selling cycle, and a host of other things. A couple of things however do apply, whatever the right number might be today or this month it must be more for tomorrow and next month. The number must continually move higher if for no other reason to push people to be more effective in their calling.
Establishing a number of calls one makes each day needs to be at a level that is both motivational for the salesperson and profitable for the company, yes that can create some challenges in balancing the two but if we keep in mind the first thing the number must do is motivate and the second is create profit then there is a far higher probability of success for the employee and company. Too many times the number of calls needed is designed to answer what is needed to be profitable and the end result is the salesperson is not motivated and the end product is an even lower number of actual calls being made.
Answer This Question