The average business-to-business sales call cost $329 in 2001, according to Cahners Research.

23,341 of 88,000 businesses in industries including building/construction, communications, electronics, entertainment, food, manufacturing, packaging, printing, retail, and/or science responded to the survey conducted July–September 2001.

Additional key findings included:

- A typical business-to-business sale that exceeds $35,000 takes an average of 5.12 sales calls to
  close.

- The average salesperson spends almost three-quarters of his/her active selling time with existing
  customers.

- Less than 20 percent of sales efforts are being focused on prospective new clients.

- The average number of sales calls taken by customers over the phone is 4.61 per week.

- On average, customers have 1.81 in-person meetings with salespeople a week.

- Seventy-five percent of the companies studied say that a sale over $35,000 now needs a
  combination of direct and indirect sales efforts.

To view or download the complete report, click here.