WHAT IS CONNECT RATE (AND WHY DOES IT MATTER)? To understand the importance of direct dials, you need to understand connect rate--or the average number of calls a sales rep makes to get a prospect on the phone. The average connect rate is 18 calls to one connection (source). Let’s use a fictional scenario to illustrate the importance of connect rate. Pretend you manage a sales team of 25 reps, who each make 52 calls per day (the industry average: source). Operating under the assumption that your team works 250 days per year, what would happen if you could improve your connect rate by just one call? Calls to Connect Rate Conversations Per Year Increase in conversations per year from industry average 18 to 1 18,055.56 Industry Average 17 to 1 19,117.65 1,062.09 16 to 1 20,312.50 2,256.94 15 to 1 21,666.67 3,611.11 14 to 1 23,214.29 5,158.73 The numbers here don’t lie. Simply decreasing your call to connect rate by just one call will yield 1,063 more conversations with prospects. The Impact of Direct Dials on Sales Productivity 3 CONNECT RATE & YOUR SALES FUNNEL To see how an improved connect rate translates into closing Aside from the industry average of 52 sales calls a day, more business, let’s go back to our fictional scenario and here are some other industry averages we can leverag to pretend your 25 person sales team produces an average complete our funnel: order size of $10,000. Using average sales productivity metrics, we will create a sales funnel to see how an improved connect AVERAGE CONNECTIONS TO SCHEDULE A MEETING: rate can increase revenue. 23% It takes 18 calls to get on the phone with a prospect; the percentage of these live sales conversations that result in a meeting is 23%, or about 4 connections (source). 38% AVERAGE MEETINGS PER CREATED OPPORTUNITY: 38% of meetings (about every three) lead to a sales opportunity (source). AVERAGE CLOSE RATE: 27% The average close/won ratio for qualified sales opportunities is 27% (source). The Impact of Direct Dials on Sales Productivity 4