The changing buyer. The increasing number of stakeholders. The Covid-19 pandemic. All have served to transform the sales environment. Buyers are increasingly digital natives and less responsive to cold contact. Today, they also spend much less time with sales in the buying process. This page keeps track of all the sales statistics to help you understand the current environment.
We continuously update this page so check back for the latest updates.
(Last updated: July 2023).
The Buyer’s Perspective
The most important perspective if you are a seller. These sales statistics focus on the buyer and how they perceive or conduct the buying process.
- B2B buyers are considering a purchase‚ they spend only 17% of that time meeting with potential suppliers. (Gartner, 2019)
- 1 in 3 decision makers have conducted independent research before reaching out to a vendor (LinkedIn Age of Agility Global Report, 2020)
- 2 in 3 decision-makers remain hesitant to try a new vendor (LinkedIn Age of Agility Global Report, 2020)
- A buying group typically involves six to ten decision makers. (Gartner, 2019)
- 74% of buyers say price is the most important factor when selecting a new vendor and 68% say it the availability of product/features that match their needs (LinkedIn Age of Agility Global Report, 2020)
- 76% of decision-makers agree experience and knowledge is important when selecting a vendor (LinkedIn Age of Agility Global Report, 2020)
- 1 in 2 decision-makers say peer validation is a primary vehicle to increase product trust (LinkedIn Age of Agility Global Report, 2020)
- 57% of all technology buyers say post-sales support is a major factor in which vendor they choose (LinkedIn Age of Agility Global Report, 2020)
- 66% of B2B buyers are now self-serving more information before contacting vendors (Considered, December 2021)
- 67% of the buyer’s journey is now digital (Sirius Decision)
- 69% of respondents say that buyers are asking about their stance on social justice, and 67% of respondents say it’s important for their teams to represent the world around them (Sales Insight Lab, September 2021)
Pipeline Generation
- More than half of respondents regularly or usually struggle to find enough sales leads. On the other hand, 37% of salespeople rarely struggle with lead generation (Pipedrive, October 2020)
- The number of sales professionals using lead generation technology increased by 12%, from 51% in 2019 to 63% in 2020 (Pipedrive, October 2020)
- Only 43% of respondents are forecasting within 10% accuracy. Even more glaring, 10% of respondents indicate that they regularly miss their forecasts by 25% or more (Forrester, 2021)
- 77.3% of respondents said that their company provides at least a quarter of their leads, the other three quarters they find on their own (Sales Insight Lab, September 2021)
- 40% of buying journeys extend beyond one year (LinkedIn Age of Agility Global Report, 2020)
- 41.2% of respondents said that the phone is the most effective sales tool at their disposal (Sales Insight Lab, September 2021)
Sales Intelligence and Intent Data
The buyer involves the vendor less and less (see the first sales statistic below). Today, knowing more about a buyer indirectly is important for better conversations and increased close rates. This has led to a significant rise in adoption of sales intelligence and intent data platforms.
- 44% of sales leaders who will exceed revenue this year use competitive intelligence and market data (HubSpot, 2021)
- At least 50% of your prospects aren’t a good fit for what you sell. 71.4% of respondents said that 50% or fewer of their initial prospects turn out to be a good fit (Sales Insight Lab, September 2021)
- More than 40% of salespeople say sales prospecting is the most challenging part of the sales process, followed by closing (36%) and qualifying (22%) (HubSpot, June 2021)
- 9 in 10 companies use two or more lead enrichment tools to learn more about prospects (HubSpot, June 2021)
- When B2B buyers do speak to sales, 63% of them want a greater level of insight and advice (Considered, December 2021).
- 60% of respondents said they don’t have a well-defined or a scientific approach to forecasting. This leads to inaccurate “calls” and wasted time across sales, operations, and finance organisations (Forrester, 2022)
- 76% of top performing sales teams say they “always” perform research before reaching out to prospects, compared to just 47% for other sellers (LinkedIn Global State of Sales, 2022)
- 46% of sales team say their biggest data challenge is incomplete data (LinkedIn Global State of Sales, 2022)
Sales enablement/ training
- 65% of sales leaders who outperformed revenue targets have a dedicated sales enablement person or team, highlighting how an investment in a sales enablement team can lead to revenue growth, especially during periods of great change (HubSpot, January 2021)
- 88% of sales professionals regularly work on improving their soft skills, which helps them to be more successful – Those who regularly work on their soft skills are 11 percentage points more likely to usually or always hit their regular sales quota (Pipedrive, October 2020)
- 53% of sales professionals have mostly developed their sales skills on the job, whereas 13% have acquired their skills through training and qualifications (Pipedrive, October 2020)
- Sales leaders believe reps need new or updated skills to successfully turn data analytics into insights (55%) and to make better use of existing tools in their sales tech stacks (58%) (Forrester, 2021)
- 73% of organisations are investing in sales enablement training for their managers and 75% for their sales reps (Forrester, 2021)
- 92% of sales professionals believe that having a dedicates sales enablement team has improved sales performance (Highspot, April 2022)
- 57% or organisations surveyed are more likely to experience high buyer engagement when organisations have dedicated sales enablement teams (Highspot, April 2022)
Remote Selling
Unsurprisingly, the Covid-19 pandemic led to significant increase in remote selling. The sales statistics below show the shift was not temporary.
- 33% of sales departments are investing in technology and tools for internal/external collaboration and communication (Outreach, 2021)
- The way we do sales is evolving. 57% of sales leaders surveyed are adopting a remote or hybrid sales model next year (HubSpot, January 2021)
- 63% of sales leaders believe that virtual meetings are just as or more effective than in-person meetings (HubSpot, January 2021)
- 72% of over-performing sales leaders say that virtual meetings have been as or more effective than face to face meetings (HubSpot, January 2021)
- Over half (52%) of buyers say they will never go back to the old way of buying (Considered, December 2021)
Sales Automation
- 61% of over-performing leaders use their CRM to automate parts of their sales process, vs. 46% of underperforming leaders (HupSpot, January 2021)
Sales and Marketing Alignment
- According to sales and marketing statistics, when both teams work in coordination, businesses see a 27% faster profit growth (InsideView, 2018)
- 60% of global sales and marketing leaders believed that misalignment between Sales and Marketing could damage financial performance (LinkedIn, 2020)
- 87% of sales and marketing leaders say collaboration between sales and marketing enables critical business growth (LinkedIn, 2020)
- 1 in 3 decision-makers say advertising contributes to brand awareness (LinkedIn Age of Agility Global Report, 2020)