The B2B SaaS landscape is constantly evolving. In 2023, B2B sales were defined by the rise of AI and automation, data-driven decision-making, a continuous push for personalization at scale, and the list goes on.
So what will 2024 look like? Let’s take a look at the numbers.
We’ve compiled over 40 different sales statistics in the B2B industry that you should know for 2024 to improve, enhance, and shape your 2024 sales strategy.
Here, you’ll find fresh new insights about:
- Sales prospecting statistics
- Sales cold calling and email outreach statistics
- Objection handling statistics
- Statistics about B2B buyers
- Statistics about SDRs
- More miscellaneous statistics in B2B sales
First, we dive into the full list of 40+ B2B sales statistics and insights. Then, we highlight a key few that we found the most insightful or interesting for sales teams to know in 2024.
Statistics about sales prospecting
- 50% of sales time is wasted on unproductive prospecting. Source: The B2B Lead
- The highest quality leads usually come from referrals of existing customers (33%) and social media (33%). Source: Hubspot
- Using the “How have you been?” line resulted in a 6.6x higher success rate than the baseline. Source: Gong
- Existing customers make up 72% of company revenue on average. Source: Hubspot
- The average cost of generating leads in the B2B financial sector is around $43. Source: EnterpriseAppsToday
- Almost 89% of businesses use LinkedIn for generating leads and 65% of B2B business firms attract new clients by using LinkedIn. Source: EnterpriseAppsToday
- The bigger your target audience company size, the smaller your funnel conversion benchmarks are. For a small business ($1M-$10M), the average conversion rates for leads and MQLs are 2.3% and 37%, while for enterprise organizations the average lead conversion rate is 0.7% and the average MQL conversion rate is 34%. Source: FirstPageSage
- 85% of prospects and customers are dissatisfied with their on-the-phone experience. Source: Salesforce
📘 Related: A Guide to Pipeline Generation: Strategies and Best Practices
Sales cold calling and email outreach statistics
- 43% of professionals read emails on a mobile device. Source: Statista
- The “Interest CTA” is the highest performing call to action for cold emails. Source: Gong
- An average buyer gets 100+ emails a day, opens just 23%, and clicks on just 2% of them. Source: Tellwise
- 33% of email recipients open emails based on subject lines alone. Source: Convince and Convert
- For B2B companies, subject lines that contained the words “alert” and “breaking” perform well. Source: Adestra
- B2B email’s average click-through rate is around 5%. Source: EnterpriseAppsToday
- Organizations that don’t cold call experienced 42% less growth than those who used the tactic. Source: Crunchbase
📘 Related: 17 B2B Email Outreach Templates and Best Practices
Objection handling statistics
- 44% of salespeople give up after one follow-up. Source: Scripted
- The talk-to-listen ratio for successful cold calls is HIGHER than unsuccessful ones (55% talk vs. 45% listen). Source: Gong
- Meetings with sales managers were avoided by 59% of B2B tech buyers. Source: EnterpriseAppsToday
- The #1 reason why prospects back out of deals is because they aren’t ready to make a purchase (34%). Source: Hubspot’s 2024 Sales Trends Report
- Top salespeople pause 5 times longer than the average rep after objections compared to the “normal” parts of a sales conversation. Source: Gong
- The best salespeople respond to sales objections by asking questions— at a rate of 54.3% of the time compared to 31% for average sales reps. Source: Gong
📘 Related: 22 Common Sales Objections and How to Overcome Them
Statistics about sales development representatives (SDRs)
- There are over 666,491 sales development representatives currently employed in the United States. Source: Zippia
- 36.9% of all sales development representatives are women, while 63.1% are men. Source: ZIppia
- Women SDRs earn 94 cents for every dollar earned by male SDRs. Source: Zippia
- The start-up industry is the highest paying for SDRs. Source: Zippia
- Top sales reps listen more compared to average salespeople. The best sellers have a “talk to listen” ratio of ~46%. Average salespeople’s ratio is 68%. Source: Gong
- Sales professionals’ top challenge in 2023 was inflation (25%). Another top challenge was the lack of high-quality leads (17%). Source: Hubspot’s 2024 Sales Trends Report
- 81% of sales professionals think AI can help them spend less time on manual tasks. Source: Hubspot’s 2024 Sales Trends Report.
- The top salespeople use LinkedIn at least 6 hours per week. Source: The Sales Management Association
📘 Related: Elevate Your SDR Strategies
Statistics about B2B buyers
- 66% of B2B buyers report that they would switch to a company that offers personalized quotes. Source: Thrivemyway.com
- 63% of B2B decision-makers prefer using web chats to communicate with sales managers. Source: Thrivemyway.com
- After reading content, almost 52% of buyers are more inclined to purchase from vendors in 2023. Source: EnterpriseAppsToday
- B2B buyers’ purchasing decisions are influenced directly by vendor website (70%), internet search (67%), social media (53%), regular publication (47%), and email content (42%). Source: EnterpriseAppsToday
- The average customer churn rate for SaaS is 4.79%. Source: Recurly
- 25-30% of PQLs (product qualified leads) convert to paid. Source: UserPilot
More sales insights and statistics…
- 66% of customers won’t tell you when they’ve had a bad experience. Source: Qualtrics XM 2024 Consumer Trends Report
- 80% of sales require 5 follow-up calls after the meeting. Source: The Marketing Donut
- The most optimal number of follow-up emails to send is 2-3. Source: Woodpecker
- Only 25% of leads are legitimate and should advance to sales. Source: Gleanster Research
- 50% of leads are qualified but not yet ready to buy. Source: Gleanster Research
- The average “freemium” conversion rate ranges from 1%-10%. Source: Open View Partners
📘 Related: How to Qualify Sales Leads
Sales Stat #1: 50% of sales time is wasted on unproductive prospecting.
Source: The B2B Lead
Can you imagine wasting half of your precious time on prospecting the wrong people, or using inefficient processes to prospect? You probably can.
There are so many different reasons why your sales prospecting process can go wrong, such as:
- Not being able to find your full TAM
- Having incorrect, out-of-date, or incomplete contact data about sales leads
- Struggling with handling sales objections (or even worse- radio silence)
- Lacking access to the right sales enablement content at the right time
…And the list goes on.
While this sales statistic isn’t the most optimistic insight, it sheds light on just how much of B2B sales prospecting isn’t getting done correctly- or even productively.
So what do you do? You could rely on a typical B2B contact database, but databases come with their own set of problems (inaccurate, incomplete, and out-of-date contact data).
Our suggestion: Look into using a B2B contact data provider that acts as a real-time search engine for finding the right prospects efficiently at the right time.
Sales Stat #2: The highest quality leads usually come from referrals of existing customers (33%) and social media (33%).
Source: Hubspot
Oftentimes sales professionals focus too much on finding new places to find new sales leads, and they often overlook their current customers.
Your current customers are not there to just use your product once. Your current customers can help open the doors to other potential customers around them so you can easily find new and qualified leads.
The key is to focus on good ole’ organic discovery.
While you may find great qualifying leads without the help of people who have already engaged with your brand, getting a referral from an existing customer and social media means the lead is either looking to buy or they’re ready to buy. Plus, your existing customer probably already verified their referral’s willingness to buy, making it easier for you to swoop in and close the deal.
Our suggestion: Don’t sleep on your current circle of customers and the power of organic social media discovery. Lean on your network and invest in your current customer relationships to set yourself up for an easier path of glowing referrals.
Sales Stat #3: Using the “How have you been?” line resulted in a 6.6x higher success rate than the baseline.
Source: Gong
There are some sales leads who want to cut to the chase and skip the small talk, but there are others who want to feel like they’re not having a one-sided conversation about what they should buy.
According to Gong, the majority of customers appreciate or at least respond positively to sales outreach with the line “How have you been?” or “How are you doing?”
Why? Do all customers want to know that you have a genuine interest in their wellbeing? Or do they simply appreciate the formality of starting your outreach with a sense of care?
The reason probably differs among customers, but the bottom-line that you should start (or continue) implementing this line in your sales outreach still reigns true.
Our suggestion: Ask your customers and sales leads how they’re doing. Show them that you are personally invested in their problems and success. Don’t skip out on greeting formalities; all it takes is a simple greeting that you would probably say in real life anyway.
Sales Stat #4: Existing customers make up 72% of company revenue on average.
Source: Hubspot
This sales statistic goes back to the fact that your highest quality leads come from referrals of existing customers. Your existing customers are your bread and butter.
When it comes to capturing a new qualified lead, there’s a sense of thrill in finding a new potential customer. The thing that differentiates good salespeople from great ones is that you need to learn how to maintain and nurture existing relationships with old customers as well.
Loyalty is everything in the B2B sales world. Without your existing customers, your chances of getting referrals, testimonials, case studies, and more sales evidence to help you pitch to new leads are slim.
With over 70% of B2B company revenue coming from existing customers, prioritizing your loyal customer relationships should be top-of-mind.
Imagine you’re having trouble capturing and getting a response from a new lead. You’re probably not worried because there’s a myriad of opportunities to win them over for the first time. Now imagine you had a direct customer who has firsthand experience with your product and had a terrible experience. These are the people you should be mindful of getting their honest product reviews and feedback. Once they have a bad experience with you or any part of the sales process, your reputation can become a bit tainted.
Our suggestion: Prioritize nurturing and maintaining your existing customer relationships. Keep your current customers happy and the rest will follow: referrals for new leads, glowing product reviews, positive testimonials, and more.
Sales statistic #5: 43% of professionals read emails on a mobile device.
Source: Statista
If your email outreach isn’t optimized for mobile yet, it’s time to focus on emails that read well on mobile.
What does mobile-friendly email outreach look like?
Mobile-friendly email outreach means not writing paragraphs and paragraphs of long copy. Most people browsing their email on their phone want short, sweet, and concise.
It also means not sending too many large attachments for the first email touchpoint; readers might not be able to open on their phones. If you’re itching to send them an asset or attachment to help sway them, first ask them or figure out if they’re interested in the first place.
Thirdly, while it’s important to keep it “short, simple, and sweet”, it’s still important to keep it professional. Just because you’re optimizing your email outreach doesn’t mean you can make it as casual as texting on the first message. There’s no need to pepper your emails with jargon, but there’s also no reason to use too much internet slang or text message slang at first either.
Our suggestion: Craft your sales email outreach to be easy-to-read on mobile devices, and keep a balance between being concise and straightforward while maintaining some professionalism. Write your emails the way you want them to be read on either mobile or desktop.
Sales statistic #6: The “Interest CTA” is the highest performing call to action for cold emails.
Source: Gong
When you’re reaching out to sales leads for the first time, asking them to do anything for you is a big task, especially at the first touchpoint of outreach. Your goal shouldn’t be to sell the meeting; you should focus on selling the conversation instead.
According to Gong, the interest CTA sells the conversation, not the meeting.
There’s no wonder why using the “interest CTA” performs well. Ending your email outreach with “Are you interested?” or “Feel free to reach out if interested”, leaves the ball in the other person’s court to respond if they want to.
It’s low pressure and open-ended. There’s no sense of pushiness to respond in a certain way. It also leaves room for the lead to ask any questions or concerns they have about the topic.
Our suggestion: Focus on using the “Interest CTA” when doing sales email outreach for the first time. Keep it simple and leave room for the lead to respond with low pressure.
Sales statistic #7: The talk-to-listen ratio for successful cold calls is HIGHER than unsuccessful ones (55% talk vs. 45% listen).
Source: Gong
This sales statistic is a reminder that conversations are two-way streets. Imagine sitting on a phone call with someone who goes on and on about what they can do for you rather than giving you a chance to explain what you’re looking for. Immediate buzzkill.
It’s no surprise that successful cold calls require a good balance of both talking and listening. Yes, you should know the right things to say and how to pitch the conversation to a lead over the phone, but practicing active listening can help you tailor your message on the spot as you’re talking to them.
Our suggestion: Practice active listening and keep your ears open for any key pain points, mentions, or unique interests of the person you’re talking to on a cold call. Personalize the conversation as you listen to their needs.
Sales statistic #8: Meetings with sales managers were avoided by 59% of B2B tech buyers.
Source: EnterpriseAppsToday
A whopping 59% of B2B tech buyers don’t want to hop on a meeting with sales managers. While this sales statistic may be discouraging for some, it also highlights the importance of striking the right balance between crafting the right cold call or email outreach and relying on organic discovery.
People would rather not take time out of their day to meet with a stranger talking about a product until they need help on something specific. Until leads are ready to talk to a sales manager or buy the product, it’s important to prioritize existing customer relationships and getting new leads from both organic online traffic and referrals from loyal customers.
Our suggestion: Don’t feel discouraged by low response rates to meeting requests. Shift your focus to prioritizing existing customer relationships and driving more organic online traffic.
Sales statistic #9: The #1 reason why prospects back out of deals is because they aren’t ready to make a purchase (34%).
Source: Hubspot’s 2024 Sales Trends Report
When you contact a prospect for the first time, your main goal shouldn’t be to only talk to them to get a sale. You should focus on nurturing a strong relationship with the prospect so they’ll have trust and loyalty, so that when the time comes when they’re ready to make a purchase, you’ll have a strong foot in the door.
Our suggestion: Don’t just sell, sit back and observe. Observe the patterns, unique tendencies, and habits of the prospect so that when they’re actually ready to make a purchase, you can swoop in with the right offerings at the right time.
Overall, the B2B sales industry is on the rise. As the landscape continues to evolve and scale, personalization, efficiency, and will continue to be top-of-mind for B2B SaaS sales in 2024. Use this list of insights and statistics to help get more leads, create long-term sales relationships, and ultimately master the art of closing more deals!
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