10 Mind-Blowing Sales Stats to Know for 2023

Diana May-Jennings

With the opportunity of the new year upon us, there are a lot of important statistics that can make your life as a sales rep easier and more productive. While these are not the only sales statistics out there and some may be more important to you than others, they will all help inspire or direct you to improve in some way. Check out these 10 stats now to sell smarter this year.

The 10 sales stats to remember:

  1. The best time to email prospects is between 8:00 A.M. and 3:00 P.M. 
  2. 75% of online buyers want to receive between 2-4 phone calls before a company gives up.
  3. 12% of prospects would like a company to try as many times as it takes to get a hold of them.
  4. Gong.io analyzed over 100,000 connected outreach calls and found successful salespeople talk for 54% of the call, while unsuccessful salespeople spent only 42% of their time speaking.
  5. 63% of sales leaders believe that virtual meetings are just as or more effective than in-person meetings.
  6. If you call a lead in the first 5 minutes after they’ve submitted a web form, they’re 100x more likely to get on the phone. 
  7. 74% of buyers chose the company that was the first to add value.
  8. About 47% of top performers ask for referrals consistently, versus only 26% of non-top performers.
  9. 92% of consumers trust referrals from people they know.
  10. Top ways to create a positive sales experience, according to buyers: listen to their needs (69%), don’t be pushy (61%), provide relevant information (61%), and respond in a timely manner (51%).

Mind-blowing sales stats explained

#1 The best time to email prospects is between 8:00 A.M. and 3:00 P.M. 

Prospecting is hard enough without having to guess what time you should reach out. According to SlideShare, the majority of prospects prefer that you reach out to them via email between 8:00 A.M. and 3:00 P.M otherwise you likely won’t get ahold of them. Keep this in mind as you start reaching out to customers after the holidays.

#2 75% of online buyers want to receive between 2-4 phone calls before a company gives up

With the constant presence of the internet, so many prospects are searching for services before talking to a rep but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to hear from you at some point. 2-4 phone calls is the perfect middle-ground between not enough contact and too much for the modern buyer.

#3 12% of prospects would like a company to try as many times as it takes to get a hold of them

Contradictory to the last stat, Invesp found that a smaller 12% of prospects prefer to be reached out to a lot more often than the majority. While this may not always be true for your prospects, it’s important to find out what your customer prefers as you get to know them and contact accordingly.

#4 Gong.io analyzed over 100,000 connected outreach calls and found successful salespeople talk for 54% of the call, while unsuccessful salespeople spent only 42% of their time speaking

Outreach calls can be intimidating especially when you don’t know if you should dominate the call or not. But this stat from Gong.io, a notable sales software, analyzed over 100,000 phone calls that proved when sales reps own the conversation (roughly 54%), but allow their prospect to talk where more successful in their pitch. Has this been your experience? We want to know!

#5 63% of sales leaders believe that virtual meetings are just as or more effective than in-person meetings

This stat is perfect for reps that don’t want to spend their day driving from prospect-to-prospect, because 63% of leaders found that virtual meetings can end up being more effective. This is especially convenient since Covid limited in-person interaction, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be successful this year. So start scheduling your zoom meetings and your prospects will thank you.

#6 If you call a lead in the first 5 minutes after they’ve submitted a web form, they’re 100x more likely to get on the phone 

There’s no surprise that time is money in sales and if you’re the first rep to reach out to a prospect the chances of you closing that deal go up exponentially. That doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed the sale, but if you get call a lead within the first 5 minutes of them submitting a form on your site, InsideSales has found that you are almost guaranteed to get them on the phone opening the opportunity for the sale.

#7 74% of buyers chose the company that was the first to add value

Even if you don’t end up being the first rep to reach out to the customer, that doesn’t mean you’re automatically out of the running. 74% of customers will say no to any company until they actually add value to their life or solve their pain point. This is a good reminder that customers want to know what you can solve for them instead of how great your company is.

#8 About 47% of top performers ask for referrals consistently, versus only 26% of non-top performers

It’s no secret that referrals are a golden way to get in with new customers that you might not have had the chance to meet otherwise. That’s why every sales rep should always be asking and following up on referrals—this stat speaks for itself. If you’re nervous about where to start or don’t know how to ask for a referral, we have a guide for you.

#9 92% of consumers trust referrals from people they know

Again, it’s no secret that referrals are a great and simple way to ensure that you have enough high quality prospects to contact. When you tell a customer that someone they know (and trust) referred you to contact them, they’re instantly a warmer lead and you have a real-life connection with them.

#10 Top ways to create a positive sales experience, according to buyers:

According to prospects: 69% want you to listen to their needs, 61% prefer that you aren’t be pushy with your pitch, another 61% want you to provide relevant information, and finally 51% want you to respond in a timely manner via phone/email/meetings. 

Which sales stats will you use this year?

We’re excited about the possibilities going into this new year. With these sales stats as inspiration, what do you and your team plan to focus on? If you haven’t already started making goals for 2023, start looking into the best new years resolutions for sales teams to make sure that you get the success you deserve!

Become a Rebel and Overcome Sales Rejection with 5 Steps

Chris Pierce

You’re reading this because you’ve chosen a career in a very competitive and very difficult field. Sales takes physical and mental strength that few possess. For that you should be proud because you are not just anyone—you’re a beast! Because the field is paved with rejection, it is natural and easy to experience doubt, fear, embarrassment, resentment and regret.

Emotions & Sales

If you allow negative thoughts and emotions to dictate your actions, you’ll get frustrated, burned out and seek safety in the arms of another career. People start to think, I’m just not cut out for this. It’s not for me. It doesn’t fit my personality. These are just excuses of people who failed to build mental toughness and maintain control when things got hard.

It doesn’t have to be this way! You don’t have to listen to that voice in your head. You can turn it off. You can rebel against it. You will still experience doubts, fears and frustrations, but when you have a plan, you have the ability to respond differently. Great days are not determined by how smoothly everything goes. Great days are determined by how you respond to the difficulties life throws at you. 

What does R.E.B.E.L mean?

Build mental toughness by rebelling against the voice that’s telling you to seek comfort. Do not take the path of least resistance. Rebel.

R.E.B.E.L

R- Remember

E- Envision

B- Believe

E- Energy

L- Live

Becoming a R.E.B.E.L in sales

Here’s a real life example to prove this practice: one of my clients called after a particularly stressful and difficult day. People had been short and rude with him all day. No one wanted what he was offering. It was hot and he was tired. He easily could have said I’m just off today and called it quits. But he didn’t do that. He rebelled against his thoughts and emotions. He maintained control and treated each door like it was his first, ending the day with only a single sale—he didn’t give in. He didn’t quit. He maintained control and he conquered. The next day he went out and sold 9! Would he have sold 9 had he called it quits the day before? Who knows? The lesson is that pride comes not from easy selling, but from overcoming difficulties.

The 5 Steps to becoming a R.E.B.E.L

My system for this rebellion is called The Rebel Response. The Rebel Response helps you take control of your thoughts, emotions and actions when your brain seeks comfort and safety. This ensures that you effectively utilize your sales skills to get the results you desire. It works by intentionally keeping your motivation, attention, confidence and energy in check.

The Rebel Response takes place before your first step on the driveway, to the door, and back to the road. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Remember the reasons why you are selling. This works best if you’ve taken the time to identify those reasons and have a preplanned, simple and effective strategy for remembering why you are out there. This should take 3-5 seconds.
  2. Envision the actions you are going to take on the door. Simply tell yourself what you are going to do. List the actions you will take, the strategies you are working on. Keep it simple and to the point. This should take 5-10 seconds.
  3. Believe that you can complete the actions you just listed by  stating a mantra or affirmation that confirms your belief in your ability. Make the mantra about your actions, not the homeowner’s actions. This should take 3-5 seconds.
  4. Dial your Energy by taking 1-3 slow deep breaths into your diaphragm. This will help regulate your energy so that you can think clearly and respond accurately. 
  5. Live. Be present with the person you are speaking to. Remember that you chose this adventure, so enjoy it. Have fun and connect with the homeowner you’re speaking with.

The Rebel Response is short, sweet and effective for maintaining control over your situation. Maintain control over yourself, and you’ll maintain control of your skillset. Remember that this process should be done repeatedly. If what you are working for is worth it, then it is worth overcoming your mind and taking control. 

Are you ready to R.E.B.E.L?

Mental toughness does not come from reading books and listening to podcasts. Mental toughness comes by practicing specific skills to maintain control. You cannot expect to effectively maintain control in difficult situations if you haven’t practiced maintaining control in easy situations first. So how do you practice mental toughness? The simple answer, you practice maintaining control of yourself. Control of your thoughts, emotions and actions. The hard part is that your mind seeks after safety and comfort. If you rebel against your mind you’ll overcome and conquer great things in sales and life.

Sales Process Automation: Definition and 4 Steps to Get Started

Diana May-Jennings

In sales we all know what a sales process is and have created a system for your team or company to be successful. Typically, these companies have previously identified the steps of their sales process and like what they’re doing, but what if there was an even better way to do it? Sales process automation isn’t a new concept but it’s underutilized. I’m going to show you what sales process automation is for those that aren’t familiar, why it matters, and 4 steps to start taking advantage of it now.

What does sales process automation mean?

Sales process automation is a method of taking recurring or repetitive tasks and using a digital software platform to perform those tasks for you. Platforms like CRM’s, lead management or generation apps, and scheduling forms are all examples of automation.

This is a practice that most, if not all, sales professionals should already be doing. Sales process automation is designed to save you time, remove mindless tasks from your plate, and free you up to focus on more high-level strategy.

4 steps to automate your sales process

  1. Identify your current process and what software you’re using
  2. Talk to your reps and managers about what tasks take up the most time 
  3. Eliminate unnecessary softwares or steps in the sales process
  4. Start using a platform for identified tasks

“61% of businesses leveraging automation reported exceeding revenue targets in 2020.”

#1 Identify your current process and what software you’re using

The first step in any process improvement is to identify what you’re currently doing. You can’t improve a process unless you’re aware of all the tasks, steps, and roadblocks you’re already facing. Identifying what you’re doing, good or bad, will help guide your automation. Here are some basic steps to start with:

  • What softwares platforms are your reps and managers using?
  • Which software is the most used?
  • What tasks are these softwares performing?

If you aren’t currently using any software to manage your sales process, skip this step.

#2 Talk to your reps and managers about what tasks take up the most time

After you’ve identified the steps in your sales process and what software you already have (whether it’s working or not), the next step before automation is knowing the routine of your reps or managers that could be automated and isn’t. I suggest that you simply ask your team how their time is spent. Here are some questions to ask:

  • What does your daily routine look like?
  • What tasks do you have that take up the most time each week?
  • Are there any tasks you don’t like doing? Or procrastinate because they seem tedious?
  • If you could change one thing about the tasks you’re expected to do, what would it be?

Asking preliminary questions like this is the best way to get a good sense of what your reps or managers are experiencing without having to guess. After this step you’ll know what software you have and what your team does daily plus some insight into what they would like to change. 

“More than 30% of sales-related activities can be automated.”

#3 Eliminate unnecessary softwares or steps in the sales process

Now that you’re aware of what your current process looks like, you’ve identified repetitive tasks, and you know what isn’t working, it’s time to cut out the unnecessary stuff. Whether it’s steps you’ve uncovered in your sales process, or a software that you thought was helping more than it was, eliminating what isn’t working for you will already free up so much of your wasted time and effort. This will also help before you get to the last step of implementing a software solution that has what you actually need. 

#4 Start using a platform for identified tasks

Depending on the tasks you want to automate like emails, lead generation, or rep tracking, there is a different platform to use. Since you’ve identified what tasks can be automated, it’s time to choose your solution. If you want to automate scheduling meetings, something like Calendly will help, or if you want to automate personalized email sends then platforms like ZOHO or MailChimp will work best for you. 

But if the kink in your sales process is field sales related, SalesRabbit is going to be your best option. Our software is designed to help contractors and field sales reps with their lead generation, lead and area management, and so many other things to simplify your sales process with one solution. If you want to hear about us in action, check out our feature on the Roofing Show with our VP of Sales, Sean Huckstep and Dave Sullivan where he explains everything we do to help you automate your sales process. 

*Bonus Tip: Integrations are your friend!

A great way to sync your software if you have to use more than one platform, is with integrations. A lot of companies offer integrations that are helpful to sales teams and SalesRabbit is no exception, we have dozens of integrations plus a specific one with tray.io that helps you automate your sales process. Always check out your integration options! 

Are you automating yet?

With this quick guide to sales process automation, I hope you’re looking into automating some of your tedious tasks if you haven’t already. This is a great way to take an already successful sales team, trim off wasted time, and have a better sales process than any of your competitors. If you’re still not sure where to start, talk to us! We’ve been where you are, we know how to fix it, and make your team even better!

Leverage AI Data to Generate Better Sales Leads

Renee Goodenough

Lead generation is one of the most important factors for any sales company. Unfortunately, it can also be one of the most complicated and costly sales efforts and many businesses struggle with the level of uncertainty that comes with typical canvassing methods. That’s where intelligent data comes in. 

By utilizing AI data from Cognitive Contractor and SalesRabbit, you can confidently target every lead that fits your ideal buyer persona saving your team hours of misguided prospecting. Find out more about AI, why it matters, and how your business can leverage solutions in the space to keep ahead of competitors.

What is Artificial Intelligence?

“Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.”

Why does Artificial Intelligence matter in sales?

Advancements in technology have created the ability to fill any sales pipeline with the right opportunities and engage in conversations with ideal customers at the right time. Since the rise of artificial intelligence, data has painted a very clear picture that not all leads are the same. Some areas, ages, incomes, etc. will prove to be the right customer for you and others will not. But you don’t have to knock endlessly anymore, AI takes the guesswork out of it.

According to Crunchbase’s Essential Guide to Cold Calling, “Top sellers spend an average of 6 hours every week researching their prospects.” This may not seem like a lot of time at first glance, but using AI data will automatically give you everything you need to know about current and potential prospects, eliminating the need for reps to spend time doing anything but selling.

Eliminate wasted time with Cognitive Contractor + SalesRabbit data tools

When your business is ready to generate leads with game-changing science, Cognitive Contractor and SalesRabbit have the expertise in acquiring and analyzing targeted datasets to confidently deliver results. 

The Cognitive Contractor Approach:

Utilizing a series of algorithms with targeted marketing models to generate an overall quality score for every household in a given geographic market is the fastest way to close more deals. Cognitive Contractor specializes in acquiring household level attributes and parcel data to extrapolate trends. Once those priority leads are identified, Cognitive Contractor implements an adaptive, personalized approach to reach these leads through engaging multi-channel campaigns. 

The SalesRabbit Approach:

SalesRabbit provides the industry-leading solution to enable your team to maximize the potential of these leads. With machine learning and thousands of data points to identify your industry’s ideal customer, SalesRabbit analyzes homeowner information and assigns a Buyer Score to homes, neighborhoods, counties, cities, and states. That means you can instantly identify homes and areas where your ideal customers live and focus your canvassing efforts where they’re going to be most productive. Plus, with additional tools such as team management, presentation and proposal tools, forms & contracts, your sales reps will be empowered to track progress and close more sales than ever.

The combination of artificial intelligence and machine learning that our combined software provides allows sales professionals to:

  • Process historical customer data to identify patterns of success 
  • Conduct granular data comparisons of customer households and non-customer households
  • Determine the quality of a lead before knocking the door
  • Gain demographic knowledge of age, marital status, income, etc. of any given US ZIP code
  • Use customer support chat features to never miss a sale
  • Save you time and money with smarter prospecting techniques in sales and marketing

Stay ahead of the competition

Your business growth is directly related to the effectiveness of your lead generating efforts. Effective sales start with efforts being focused on the right target audience. In an industry where competition is inherent, equipping your team with the right tools will make sure you stay a step ahead of any competition. 

If you’re tired of disappointing results, get in touch today to see how Cognitive Contractor and SalesRabbit will ignite your marketing efforts and empower your team. 

Are you Mentally Tough? Take our 20 Question Quiz to find out

Chris Pierce

By now you’ve already heard a little bit about mental toughness and what it means for sales reps. But do you know how mentally tough you are? The best path to improvement is to know where you’re starting, so we’ve made a foolproof 20 question quiz to help you find out your current level of mental toughness, what it means, and ways to change it.

What is mental toughness?

As a quick recap, mental toughness is the ability to control yourself, your skillset, and your success even under difficult and stressful circumstances. For a more complete guide to mental toughness, check out our overview blog on it now.

How do mental toughness and sales work together?

Your skillset is limited to your ability to control yourself. People don’t rise to the occasion, they fall to their level of training. This is why it is so common to see professional athletes perform at surprisingly low levels when they’re capable of more. It’s not because they don’t have the skillset, it’s simply because they have lost control of themselves for a moment. The same is true in sales. Reps learn the steps. They practice and train for a wide variety of situations, but lose control of their thoughts, emotions and ultimately their skillset, when things don’t go exactly to plan thus defaulting them to their lowest level of training. 

Why mental toughness matters for you

It’s important to understand, mental toughness isn’t a personality type. Mental toughness is a set of skills used strategically to enhance your ability to consistently perform. This means that wherever your mental toughness is currently at, you can enhance it. Just like your biceps, the more you exercise them, the stronger they get. 

Before you dive right in to building your mental toughness, you’ve got to know where you’re starting from. Mental toughness consists of 4 major categories that we’re going to assess. And we’ll use the acronym MACE to help you remember them.

  • Motivation
  • Attention
  • Confidence
  • Energy

Understanding your level of control and alignment in each of these areas will help you to know where to start. 

Here’s how it’s going to work, answer each one of our 20 questions and then add your answers and compare them to the categories listed below. If there is a certain area that you are lacking, you will know where to begin. 

Answer each question by rating yourself, 1-5. 

1 = Not at all. 3 = Sometimes. 5 = Always. 



Total your score:

  • 20-40 = Not mentally tough. Needs immediate help.
  • 41-60 = Low Mental Toughness. Needs improvement.
  • 61-80 = Average Mental Toughness. Do you really want to be average?
  • 80-100 = High Mental Toughness. Keep it up.

At the end of the day, if you are not reaching your potential, then you need to build your mental toughness. If you are currently executing all that you need to in order to reach your goals, then don’t fix what’s not broken. Keep on keeping on. But if you’re not doing all that you can to reach your potential, then reach out and let’s start building your mental toughness.

If you scored low in a certain category, here are some simple strategies for improvement:

#1 Motivation:

If your motivation or discipline is low or driven in the wrong direction, you need to first get crystal clear on what you want, why you want it and what you must do to get it. Then set up your environment to ensure that you do those things. Motivation without discipline and a supporting environment will soon be dead.

#2 Attention:

If you struggle to focus on what is most important or struggle to maintain your attention and get distracted easily, you have 2 options, and I suggest you do both: Eliminate distractions when you need to focus (if you have an iphone, use the focus tools) and develop a system/practice for shifting your focus back to where it needs to be. It’s ok to drift so long as you have an effective strategy for bringing your attention back.

#3 Confidence:

The belief in your ability to complete a task. Most people over complicate confidence and heavily connect it to the outcomes they are working toward. Bad outcomes, low confidence. Good outcomes, high confidence. It doesn’t have to be this way! Confidence should be connected to your efforts and identity, not your outcomes.

#4 Energy:

There are 2 ways to think of your energy: 1. Like a battery or 2. Style. Both have the power to destroy or enhance your effectiveness and consistency. You have the power to control both the amount of and style of energy that you have, but many people allow their energy to dictate their mood, actions and efforts. Which is backwards. Learning to channel and control your energy is a key indicator of mental toughness.

If you want to build real and lasting mental toughness you’ve got to start with knowing where you’re at right now.

Let’s keep in touch

After taking that quiz and reading my tips about ways to improve, hopefully you’ve already thought of some new goals to start building up your mental toughness. But if you still feel like you’re looking for more answers or would like additional help, don’t hesitate to reach out. Shoot me a DM on Instagram @chris_pierce and look out for the next exciting blog we’re releasing about mental toughness in sales.

Hit a Record Season? Top 5 Best Ways to Reward Sales Reps

Sean Huckstep

Sales is all about numbers, right? So when your reps have a killer sales month, day, or week how do you reward them for it? Or if they’re struggling with motivation, especially in the slower seasons, how do you boost morale? All sales managers should aim to have some kind of prize or incentive to help boost sales reps motivation on the phone or doors. If you’re not sure what your reps would like, check out 5 of the things we reward our people with.

Top 5 Best Rep Rewards

  1. Gift cards are always a safe bet
  2. A trophy that sits on the top reps desk each month
  3. Awesome tech goodies
  4. Cold hard cash
  5. Group reward: reps pick the activity

#1 Gift cards are always a safe bet

Gift cards are a great way to reward reps because you give them the freedom to decide what they want to use their reward on. At SalesRabbit we use Motivosity, which can be redeemed for dozens of different gift cards like: a Visa, Amazon, Target, Texas Roadhouse, etc. Anyone loves getting gift cards because then they can take their friends, family, or even coworkers to celebrate their success.

#2 A trophy that sits on the top reps desk each month

We all know reps love competition. It’s in their nature. And there’s nothing quite like having a trophy on your desk that gives you endless bragging rights against your coworkers. This can be any trophy that your team would like to display proudly when they’re the “Rep of the Month.” 

On our team we do the “Golden Carrot Award” and the employee gets a giant bunny statue to put on their desk. Although this isn’t a monetary prize, this is still a fun and playful way to play on your reps competitive nature.

#3 Awesome tech goodies

Tech! Tech! Tech! There is no one that doesn’t love getting a free tech gift. This can range from things like:

  • Noise-canceling headphones: New headphones are a great way to reward your salespeople but also make it easier for them to focus on their work.
  • A new laptop: Whether you’re a Mac or PC user, getting a new laptop is the ultimate reward for having a great sales month.
  • A redeemable cash voucher: Apple and other tech companies have gift cards or cash vouchers that you can redeem for the tech of your choice. Again, gift cards are a great way to give your reps the ability to choose what prize they want.
  • An iPad/Tablet: Reps use tablets on a daily basis but that’s with the company. If they have a killer sales month, they should get to have an iPad or tablet that’s just for personal use at home.

The nice thing about a tech reward is that you can choose the best budget based on your company, but no matter the price, reps feel spoiled and happy with their new gift.

#4 Cold hard cash

This reward is simple and straightforward. Offer your reps an incentive “The first rep to reach 25 sales this month [numbers obviously fluctuate based on your size], gets a $100 bill.” Or you can add money onto their next paycheck, Motivosity account, or the best option: a physical bill. When you pose a competition this way and the reps can see the tangible prize in front of them, it’s even more exciting. 

And if you haven’t seen the Office, go watch it for inspiration on your next sales competition.

via GIPHY

 

#5 Group reward: reps pick the activity

Our personal favorite for rewards (yes, we saved the best for last) is group activities. When your whole team is out-performing your benchmarks and overall just performing like a well-oiled machine, you have to reward the entire bunch. All of the rewards above work great for groups as well, but at SalesRabbit we love doing activities together outside of work because it strengthens the bonds of your team. Here are some fun and simple activities you can set up for your all-star group:

  • TopGolf
  • Bowling
  • Laser tag
  • A nice dinner
  • A pickleball day

This isn’t necessarily a one-size-fits-all approach because not every team likes pickleball like we do. Here’s the fix: have your team vote on what activity they think would be fun and do whatever gets the most votes! This is a simple and fair way to make sure your reps actually enjoy the activity instead of feeling like this…

via GIPHY

What Reward Will You Use?

Hopefully this has given you more than enough reward ideas for your next sales competition, morale booster, or even a holiday gift. Rewarding your team with fun incentives like this is a great way to help them feel valued and continue to push them to do their best work for you, the company, and themselves.</span

Simplify Sales Lead and Territory Data with Web Maps

Renee Goodenough

Managing a sales team can bring a lot of stress and complexity to your life. We’re proud to announce that we’ve found another way to simplify your tasks by adding lead and territory information to the SalesRabbit web dashboard. Now your admins and reps with dashboard access can view both lead and territory maps all in one place. Now available only on public beta. With additional features such as accurate and up-to-date lead data, and multiple view options, you’re one click away from precision selling.

How to access lead and area information in the web app

Check out how it works here:

From the web version of SalesRabbit, you will want to navigate to the SalesHub tab on the left hand side of the dashboard.

  1. Once selected, you will see a dropdown list of options 
  2. Select Areas Map to draw and map out your team’s areas with better precision 
  3. In the lower right corner, you can select which map view you’d wish to see—street, satellite, or hybrid. Once selected, simply click to zoom into each focus area.
  4. Once zoomed in, click Draw to outline the area.

Leads Map allows you to track current and potential customers right in the web dashboard. This will further allow your reps to be able to approach an area with as much information as possible in advance. To access Lead Maps, please contact our support team or your CSM at support@salesrabbit.com 801-418-9009 to gain access. Once added, the leads map will appear above the Areas Map in the web dashboard, as seen below:

This tool also features: 

  • Dynamic zoom: select any area of the web map to zoom into an area with little to no lag 
  • Multiple view options: both satellite and street view options are available.
  • SalesRabbit Accuracy: rest assured, our web maps data is as accurate as our mobile app and syncs regularly to keep you up-to-date. 

Take advantage of this feature now

To access Area Maps in the web app as an existing user, simply log into your dashboard from a desktop or laptop computer. For more assistance, or to add Leads Maps to your account, contact our support team at support@salesrabbit.com 801-418-9009. 

3 Ways Outside Sales Teams Use SalesRabbit and HubSpot to Close More Deals

Renee Goodenough

Though many sales teams now work mostly from home or an office behind a computer screen or a smartphone, there are still many industries that rely on door-to-door sales. Day after day, sales reps receive instructions and a new neighborhood to visit, they plan their field sales route, and they walk up and down each block, leaving flyers behind or having conversations with homeowners if they open the door. Also commonly referred to as canvassing, door-to-door sales requires that sales reps get used to rejection: there’s a lot of doors closed in your face before you get a yes. However, this type of sales work reaches target audiences that don’t always respond to newer forms of marketing, like social media ads or email marketing. 

These days, the most common things sold door-to-door include roofing services, storm restoration, pest control, general home renovations, solar panels and other energy improvements, real estate agent services, telecommunications, and home alarms and security services. In other words, the vast majority of door-to-door sales have to do with ways to improve, protect, or optimize homes owned by the people who live in them. 

And door-to-door sales people benefit from a very clear type of targeting: if they see a fence is falling down, they know the person living in that house already has the need for the contractor services they’re selling.

Door-to-door sales can be an exhausting job, especially if reps aren’t armed with the right information about every prospect. 

That’s where SalesRabbit and HubSpot come in.

What is SalesRabbit?

SalesRabbit is an all-in-one outside sales strategy and management app. A sales enablement service and mobile CRM designed for outside sales, including field and door-to-door sales teams, SalesRabbit supports mobile lead tracking and management, from anywhere. It helps sales reps plan their routes for each day, and ensures they’re armed with the most up-to-date information available about every prospect.

 

What is HubSpot?

HubSpot is a powerful, easy-to-use CRM that holds all the data you need about every customer, prospect, and lead — which fuels your company’s sales, marketing, and customer care activities. HubSpot also offers powerful automation tools that help sales teams save time and access to detailed analytics that lead to faster growth.

The HubSpot CRM and SalesRabbit app integrate seamlessly to connect the efforts of your field and door-to-door sales teams with the rest of your marketing and growth initiatives.

3 Ways to Use SalesRabbit and HubSpot to Increase the Effectiveness of Outside Sales

#1 Collect information about leads in SalesRabbit and sync automatically to HubSpot

Canvassing is just as much about collecting information about leads as it is about closing deals. After all, a very small percentage of doors knocked on by salespeople will lead to a homeowner who’s ready to buy right away. 

But as a sales rep makes their way through a neighborhood, with their route planned on SalesRabbit, they can gather information about each house and who they’ve spoken to there, laying the groundwork for a sale down the line — whether it’s through another door-knocking visit, or through another kind of marketing, like a HubSpot email nurture.

For example, if a sales rep is walking around a development selling solar panels, they can use SalesRabbit to easily note down information about each house they canvass. House 231 has solar panels already, so the rep notes down the name of the provider and how many panels they have. House 229 didn’t answer the door, has no solar panels yet, but does have a sign on their lawn saying they support their local Green Party candidate, perhaps indicating a stronger likelihood that they’re concerned for the environment and might want to change to solar in the future. House 227 had an elderly woman open the door, and she said she might be interested next year, so the rep should get in touch again. She provides an email, and the rep can include it in her file so that she can be added to an email nurture.

Any of these observations can be easily noted down in SalesRabbit, and the information included syncs automatically into HubSpot, generating leads and creating a new contact profile for each new prospect. And in SalesRabbit, the leads will be organized geographically, so when the company revisits the neighborhood — whether it’s next quarter or next year — any sales rep has access to information about each house. Plus, the information they gather can inform the rest of their company’s localized marketing strategy.

#2 Update lead status from prospect to deal in SalesRabbit and HubSpot

Closing deals is especially exhilarating when doing door-to-door sales, as the rate of rejection is so high. But when the moment is right, the message is right, and the product offering is right, a prospect can sign on the dotted line and become a new customer — or a previously satisfied customer can decide to sign up for another service. 

For example, if a sales rep selling pest control is going door-to-door in a neighborhood and they notice that the open garage in one of the homes is littered with mice traps, they know they’re about to be talking to a very warm lead. They can knock on the door confidently, express their concern and empathy for the challenge of dealing with pests, and offer their services. The homeowner who opens the door is so fed up with traps that don’t work that they’re ready to take the next step and work with this pest control service. They let the sales rep come in, give a full pitch and proposal, and they sign up for services right away. The sales rep can then return to their car, update the win in SalesRabbit on their phone, tablet, or laptop, and all the information of the deal will be reflected right away in HubSpot.

#3 Have all the most up-to-date information ready to provide the best sales experience

In sales, knowledge is power — that’s why so much of advertising involves collecting information about prospects and leads. And when it’s time to knock on doors, an even more challenging type of sales than cold-calling, it’s so important to be armed with as much information as possible before entering any conversation.

With SalesRabbit and HubSpot, sales reps can take a quick look at their smartphone and read everything they need to know about each potential client. Have they been visited before? Which kind of products did they show interest in? Did they seem almost ready to buy, or should I hold off to revisit them until next year? All these questions and more can be quickly answered, and the sales rep’s door-knocking pitch altered to match. 

Here’s a real-life example. If a real estate agent is making the rounds through a new neighborhood offering their services, they will have better success if they consult their CRM and find out everything they can about each house before knocking on the door. If the agent sees that someone on this particular block used their company’s services to buy the house last year, they might skip that house — but they’ll know there’s a good chance the neighbors next door might recognize them and be amenable to a conversation about buying or selling property.

Outside sales is a tough gig. But the right tools make it easier to be successful and close more deals.

Learn more about how SalesRabbit works with the HubSpot CRM — or check out these step-by-step instructions to set up the SalesRabbit integration with HubSpot — to provide your outside teams with the right knowledge and the most user-friendly platforms to support their sales process.

5 Methods for Generating Better Sales Leads

Diana May-Jennings

Finding and contacting the right leads has never been easy, and sales teams dedicate a lot of time and resources to finding the right people to sell to. Outside sales teams have a particularly strong need for strong lead lists if they want to be successful. But too often companies overspend on lead lists that don’t fit their needs. Luckily, there are plenty of tools and strategies to boost your lead generation efforts in outside sales to get you talking to the right people. Check out our 5 suggestions here!

What are sales leads?

Sales leads are a person or company that is a potential customer. The information received from leads like name, phone number, address, etc., allow sales reps and team members to contact them with enticing service offers. 

5 scalable methods for qualifying your leads:

  1. Identify your ideal buyer and ask leads in-depth questions
  2. Use targeted research
  3. Narrow down areas before knocking
  4. Filter and track your leads
  5. Ask customers for referrals

#1 Identify your ideal buyer and ask leads in-depth questions

In any business, it’s critical to know who your ideal client is. Failing to know who your ideal buyer persona is is often where companies go wrong. It is often a very transitional moment when business owners first discover who their ideal client is. It’s common for business owners to operate their companies for years without actually knowing who their ideal audience is. But there are several ways to quickly identify your ideal buyers and start asking them the right questions.

#2 Use targeted research

Too many door-to-door sales teams are knocking homes blind and wasting time with the wrong people. This happens more often than companies probably realize because without tech to track their efforts, they’re knocking doors blindly hoping for a sale instead of targeting where they know their ideal buyers are. 

A product like DataGrid AI that provides you with crucial resident information, so that you can quickly find qualified buyers that are a perfect fit for your offering is a great solution. It provides dozens of data points, including: owner/renter info, homeowner income, soft credit score, and more that helps you skip tedious qualifying calls and get straight to the sale.

#3 Narrow down areas before knocking

Based on your industry whether you’re in solar, roofing, teleco, etc., what you look for in a customer won’t be the same as a salesperson in another industry. This is an important distinction because sales leads aren’t a one-size-fits-all. Besides knowing the demographics of your ideal buyer (salary, age, etc.), you need to narrow down zip codes and cities that you have had success in the past or that seem promising for your business instead of sending reps out to every area in a shotgun approach to get qualified leads.

#4 Filter and track your leads

Tracking a lead is as simple as dropping a pin at a residence and dispositioning it with a pre-built or custom lead status. Collect lead information and use it: you can call, text, or email leads directly from the app. Then you can change lead statuses and track them as you move them through your sales funnel. This is where you can filter through leads that actually have shown interest in your services as opposed to those that either gave a soft rejection or don’t qualify for your product.

If you’ve already generated your own lead lists or are doing so automatically through lead list services like HomeAdvisor or Angie’s List, then you can upload those lists directly into apps like ours to start tracking your leads in the field.

#5 Ask customers for referrals

What “referral” means in this case is when you as a sales rep ask a current customer if they know of any friends, family, or neighbors that would be interested in talking to you or wanting to know more about your service.Because of their positive experience they should be able to make a genuine and focused marketing word-of-mouth effort for you. 

This lead generation method is overlooked sometimes because reps either don’t think to ask customers for referrals, or they’re too scared to ask. But trust us, the best way to get a referral is just to ask some of your closest customers! To get a better process for starting the conversation and what to say, we have a 7 step process and script examples for you to use.

How will you start generating your leads?

Hopefully this quick guide will help you to save time and effort in your future sales lead generation and organizational process. If you still have questions about these methods and other ones we recommend, you can schedule a demo with our talented team to learn more. Share your thoughts down in the comments!

Integrate HubSpot and SalesRabbit in 4 Steps

Sam Dearing

We’ve officially integrated with one of the most powerful CRM’s in the game. Our sales software is only enhanced with the HubSpot integration to save you time on tedious tasks and improve customer relationships. Check out what both of our companies offer, what the integration does for you, and where to set it up.

About HubSpot

HubSpot is a free CRM for businesses to track their growth. This CRM provides you with knowledge bases, automatic emails, business analytics and lead generation to help improve your business without compromise. This software funnels lead data into email marketing campaigns for you and creates email templates for a personalized touch. HubSpot’s a very marketing friendly software that’ll help you develop all the necessary professional qualities of successful companies. As a result, you’re given what you need to organize, track, and build better relationships with leads and customers. And yes, it’s 100% free. Forever.

Why is this integration important?

This integration is quite robust and has many options for data transfers:

SalesRabbit to Hubspot:

  • Create or update contacts in HubSpot
  • Eliminate duplicate data entry
  • Create meetings, add notes, and attache files to a Contact
  • Option to automatically create a deal along with creating the Contact
  • Can also assign the Contact / Deal to a HubSpot user (based on mapping out HubSpot Contact Owner ID’s in SalesRabbit)
  • Map out custom lead fields in SalesRabbit to update fields on the Contact and/or Deal in HubSpot

Hubspot to SalesRabbit:

  • Create a lead in SalesRabbit when a Contact is created in HubSpot
  • Update the status of a lead in SalesRabbit based on updating certain Deal Stage(s) or the Lead Status(s) of a Contact in HubSpot (statuses are customizable by user)

What data is transferred into HubSpot?

  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Phone
  • Alternate Phone
  • Email
  • Street Address
  • Apt/Suite
  • City
  • State
  • Postal Code
  • Notes
  • Appointment Time / Date
  • Custom Fields

HubSpot Integration | Set Up

The following steps are required to set up the HubSpot integration through the SalesRabbit Marketplace.

Note: This integration is only available to customers on SalesRabbit’s Pro or Enterprise membership plans. Additionally administrative access is required in order to access API keys and other credentials/settings in configuring this integration.

Part 1: Add Custom Fields in HubSpot and SalesRabbit

Hubspot:

A.

  • In your HubSpot account, click the Settings (gear icon) in the main navigation bar.
  • In the left sidebar menu, navigate to Properties.
  • In the Select an object section, click the dropdown menu and select Contact properties.
  • In the upper right, click “Create property” button.
  • In the right panel, set up your property:
  • Object type: “Contact”
    Group: “Contact information”
    Label: SR ID
    Description (optional)
  • Click Next.
  • Field Type: Single-line text.
  • “Show in forms” (optional).
  • *You can add other custom fields following this same process. If you want to create a field on a deal you’d make the Object type: “Deal” and the Group: “Deal information.”

B.

  • Navigate to Contacts > click on a Contact.
  • In the left panel, click “View all properties”.
  • Open the Contact information section and find the custom field you just added, as you hover over it you’ll see an Add to Your View button, click that.
  • Now you’ll be able to see that custom field populate with information from SalesRabbit.
  • *You can do the same with Deal properties for Deals

SalesRabbit:

Add the following custom lead field under Settings > Custom Lead Fields

Part 2: Form Creation

Create a New Form under Settings > Form Builder. Make a section called Contact Details and import the following Lead fields.

First Name, Last Name, Email, and Hubspot Deal ID are required, the other fields are optional. You can add other custom fields as you like.

 

Click on “Publish” Button and confirm.

Part 3: Configure HubSpot Integration

Setting up this integration can seem complicated but the instructions below and as you’re going through the configuration should be helpful. Most of the configuration options are optional so feel free to use as many or as few of the features as you’d like.

Form Selection

Navigate to the Marketplace under “Integrations” (Must have admin access).

Select the HubSpot Integration Card

Navigate to the “Configuration” tab and click “Enable”

Select the published form(s) from the dropdown list and click “Next”

Hubspot Authentication

Next, click on the Hubspot connector where a new authentication window will pop up.

Within the “Create a new authentication” window: name the authentication what you’d like, i.e. “HubSpot”. You can ignore the “Developer API key” and “API key” fields, click Create.

Another window (SalesRabbit Oauth) will open where you can finish the connection with your HubSpot account.

SalesRabbit to Hubspot

Email Opt In:
HubSpot requires that all email addresses sent to their system have the address owner’s opt in permission to receive emails from your business. Please train your reps to notify customers that when providing their email address, they are opting in to receive communication from your business. Otherwise, you can uncheck the box and leave it blank so that email addresses aren’t passed over to HubSpot.

Configure whether or not you’d like a deal to be created: if you do check the box and want a deal created, selecting a Default Deal Pipeline will be required for it to work properly. For the deal stage you can either use the dropdown to select a Default Deal Stage OR check the box to have the deal stage be set to whatever the lead status name is in SalesRabbit at the time the form is submitted.

Note: For the latter option you will need to ensure that the lead status names in SalesRabbit match the Deal Stages in HubSpot, if they don’t match then the deal won’t be created at all. You’ll want to manage your lead statuses in SalesRabbit to match your deal stages in HubSpot.

If you select a default deal stage and check the box it will default to the SR Lead Status not the default deal stage.

If you’d like files from the SalesRabbit leads (i.e. photos, contracts) to show up as attachments to the Contact in HubSpot then you’ll need to create a folder in HubSpot and add the Folder ID.

Here’s how to get that ID:

  • In HubSpot click on Marketing > Files and Templates > Files.
  • Click “Create folder”
  • Click on the folder you just created
  • In the URL, at the end, you should see something like “…folderId=50065304863”
  • Copy that string of numbers and paste it in the configuration window

Click, “Next”

Custom Fields

If you have custom fields that you’d like to fill out on the form in SalesRabbit these can be associated with and populate fields within the Contact or Deal in HubSpot. You can set up those mappings in this section of the configuration.*Note: depending on the field type, HubSpot can be picky on what it accepts. i.e. sending text to a number field, i.e. if you want to map to a HubSpot dropdown field: you can’t send anything to that field that doesn’t match exactly.
“Single line text” is the most flexible field you can use in HubSpot as it will accept whatever is sent to it.
Essentially, if you use more specific field types, you’ll want to make sure what’s being sent from SalesRabbit matches appropriately with what the HubSpot field can accept.

There is a drop down that will dynamically populate the SalesRabbit custom fields available and for the HubSpot Contact fields it should do the same thing.

Map the fields that should populate the contact fields.

For the Deal fields, there isn’t a drop down for the HubSpot side so you’ll have to get the integration key for each field from HubSpot and paste it instead.

Here’s how to do that:

  • In HubSpot account, click the Settings (gear icon) in the main navigation bar.
  • In the left sidebar menu, navigate to Properties.
  • In the Select an object section, click the dropdown menu and select Deal properties.
  • Search for the deal property and click “Edit” once you find it.
  • In the Edit property menu, click on the “</>” on the right side.
  • Copy the unique identifier underneath Internal name, i.e. “cool_field_name”
  • Paste that unique identifier in the HubSpot Deal Custom Fields field > then click on it to select it.
  • Repeat for each custom Deal field.

Hubspot to SalesRabbit

Decide whether you’d like a Lead to be created in SalesRabbit when a Contact is created in HubSpot, if you check the box be sure to also add a default lead owner and lead status for those leads.

Contacts that were created via the integration can also update the lead status in SalesRabbit when the Contact Lead Status or the Deal Stage (of a Deal associated with that Contact) are updated.

The name of the status or stage will need to match that of the SalesRabbit lead status exactly in order for those updates to work properly. i.e. SR Lead Status: “Closed – Won”, HubSpot Deal Stage: “Closed – Won”

Auto Create/Update HubSpot Contacts

Check the box if you want Contacts to be created or updated automatically when a certain lead status is selected. If you check

You have a lot more control of when a Contact is created if you use the form submission method along with more robust options (i.e. adding files, creating a deal). This automatic method will automatically create or update one and can add a note to it. Depending on your preference, one may be better than the other.

You can then select the lead status(es) that you’d like to act as trigger for those Contact creations/updates.

Note: If you wish to disable or reconfigure this integration at any time you can do so by clicking “Disable” or “Reconfigure” respectively.  Additionally, if the integration is currently live you should see an “enabled” indicator on the integration.

Part 4: Set up External ID’s in SalesRabbit (optional)

By default, the Contacts and Deals in HubSpot will be unassigned, however if you want them assigned to a HubSpot user then you can map that user’s HubSpot Contact Owner ID to a SalesRabbit user following these instructions:

1. Click on the gear icon in the top right corner of HubSpot.

2. Click on Properties in the left hand menu.

3. Within the select an object menu, select: “Contact properties”

4. Search for “Contact owner”

5. Click on “Contact owner”

6. Upon entering the Edit Property screen for the Contact owner, you’ll see user’s names with a number to the right of them i.e. 12345678, this is their owner ID that we’ll map to their user in SalesRabbit.

7. Go to SalesRabbit > Users > click on a user > in the bottom right corner paste the associated owner ID in the External ID field and click the “+” sign or hit enter (screenshot). Now if that user submits a form the contact will be assigned to them in HubSpot.

Your HubSpot integration should now be live and allow you to create leads in HubSpot through form submission! If you have any issues or problems please reach out to support or your CSM for help configuring this integration.

Access this Integration

If you’re interested in using any of these powerful integrations, any and all of these integrations can be set up through our Help Center portal, the Integration Marketplace or by reaching out to your account CSM or support team at support@salesrabbit.com 801-418-9009.