Our "front line" research with technology firms shows that on average “solution-type” field sales reps make between three (3) and five (5) prospecting calls per day!

That figure is way below the usual expectations of sales managers and owners but it correlates with my observations in over a decade of selling in this business.  This number is also way below what most sales executives say they are going to do when they sign up for their job (the “low end” numbers I usually hear are 20-25 calls per day).

The obvious outcome from this very low prospecting volume is few leads/appointments.  Our research here indicates that somewhere in the range of five (5) calls are needed to get a conversation (obviously there are lots of variables here, like industry, title, size of target company etc.) and that something like 1 in five (5) to 1 in ten (10) conversations will result in an appointment (lead) - very dependant on the quality of your value proposition.

The unfortunate outcome of this math is that, left to their own devices, field sales reps in "solution" sales will spend one to three weeks just getting one appointment, almost certainly not what their company is looking for, and possibly a “job ending strategy”.

Have you seen this kind of performance?  What did you do to improve it?  How else did you generate leads/appointments?