Think you’re an inside sales expert? Take this quiz and find out!
If you get 14/16 questions right, you’re a certified inside sales genius!

1. What are the two best days of the week to make cold calls?

A. Monday and Tuesday
B. Tuesday and Thursday
C. Wednesday and Thursday
D. Monday and Friday

C. Wednesday and Thursday

According to a study by MIT, Wednesdays and Thursdays are the best days to contact a lead, with Thursday being slightly better than Wednesdays for lead qualification.

2. What are the two worst days of the week to make cold calls?

A. Monday and Tuesday
B. Tuesday and Thursday
C. Wednesday and Thursday
D. Monday and Friday

D. Monday and Friday

According to a study by MIT, Friday (especially in the afternoon) is the absolute worst day to contact a lead. Monday (especially in the morning) is the second worst.

3. What is the optimal length for a voicemail?

A. No voicemail
B. 8 – 14 seconds
C. 15 seconds – 1 minute
D. 1 – 2 minutes

B. 8 – 14 Seconds

According to The Sales Hunter, an optimal voice message is 8-14 seconds long. Any longer, and you risk the prospect skipping the entire message.

4. What percent of emails are opened in mobile first?

A. 25%
B. 40%
C. 56%
D. 80%

B. 40%

According to ContactMonkey: 40% of the time, the first time a person reads your email it will be on a mobile device, which generally fits 4-7 words across the screen.

5. What percent of a sales rep’s time is spent leaving voicemails?

A. 5%
B. 15%
C. 25%
D. 50%

B. 15%

According to RingLead, a team of 50 reps can spend 1,277 hours per month just leaving voicemails, which adds up to about 15% of their total work time.

Wouldn’t it be great if they had a way to get that time back? (wink wink)

6. How many dials does the average sales rep make each day?

A. 33
B. 45
C. 52
D. 64

A. 33

According to a 2015 survey by Bridge Group, the average sales rep makes just 33 dials per day, leading to an average of 6.6 conversations per day.

7. What percent of salespeople give up after the first follow-up?

A. 11%
B. 22%
C. 33%
D. 44%

D. 44%

According to Marketing Donut, most sales require multiple follow-ups after a meeting, but 44% of salespeople give up after the first follow-up rejection. That means that you could outwork almost half of your competitors just by following up on a sale more than once!

8. What percent of sales require 5 follow-up phone calls after a meeting?

A. 30%
B. 50%
C. 80%
D. 90%

C. 80%

According to Marketing Donut, 80% of prospects say “no” four times on follow-up before they finally say “yes”. Since 92% of salespeople have given up by the fourth “no”, that means only 8% of salespeople are selling to those 80% of prospects that say “yes” on the 5th call! Crazy, right?

9. In firms with 100-500 employees, how many people on average are involved in making buying decisions?

A. 5
B. 7
C. 15
D. 20

B. 7

According to a study by the Gartner Group, in a standard firm with 100-500 employees, just about 7 or 8 people are be involved in making buying decisions.

10. What percent of buyers choose the vendor that responds first?

A. 0%
B. 25%
C. 50%
D. 75%

C. 50%

According to reports by Inside Sales, 50% of buyers choose the vendor that responds first. That’s why it’s always important to respond quickly when potential clients contact you!

11. Which is the best time to email a prospect?

A. 9:00am
B. 12:00pm
C. 3:00pm
D. 5:00pm

C. 3:00pm

According to a 2014 study by Harland Clarke, more email renders occurred between 3:00pm and 4:00pm than any other time of day for smartphone and desktop users. For tablet users, interestingly, the prime times were 8:00pm-9:00pm.

12. Which of these things in an email subject line can drop open rate by over 60%?

A. The recipient’s name
B. Implied urgency
C. No words
D. Three words or more

D. Three words or more

According to ContactMonkey, subject lines with 3 words or more have an average open rate of less than 15%. In this case, having no subject line can be better than having a well-written one. Implying urgency and using the recipient’s name can also boost open rate.

13. About what percent of decision makers are influenced in their buying decisions by online content and resources?

A. Less than 20%
B. Between 30% and 50%
C. Between 50% and 70%
D. More than 80%

C. Between 50% and 70%

According to a Corporate Executive Board study, 60% of decision makers in the sales cycle decide to buy a product by looking at online content and resources from the vendor company’s website, social media, blogs, and emails.

14. On average, how many meetings per week do top B2B sales performers secure?

A. 4.1
B. 5.3
C. 6.7
D. 7.4

C. 6.7

According to Funnel Clarity, in an average week, the best B2B salespeople (those who rank in the top 5% for sales performance) secure 6.7 meetings per week on average by placing 603.9 calls (among other contact strategies).

15. About how many hours does the average salesperson prospect for to set just one appointment?

A. 1
B. 4
C. 6
D. 8

D. 8

According to a publication by Ovation Sales Group, it takes the average salesperson 8 hours of prospecting to set just 1 appointment

16. How long will 63% of people requesting information on a company wait to actually purchase a product?

A. Less than 2 months
B. At least 3 months
C. At least 6 months
D. At least 1 year

B. At least 3 months

According to Marketing Donut, 63% of people requesting information about your company will take at least 3 months to decide to purchase from you… and 20% will take at least a year!

So, how did you do? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to share (and brag) to your friends!

1-8 Questions Correct: Not so smart! You have a lot to learn, but the good news is that you can only improve from here!

8-13 Questions Correct: You’re pretty good at this, but you could still learn a thing or two.

14-16 Questions Correct: You’re a real Smarty Marty! You know inside sales like the back of your hand, and it shows!