How Many Contacts Required to Make a Sale?

I worked with a business owner a few years ago who tracked how many times he had to "touch" a prospect with a phone call (voice mail included), e-mail, or letter before the prospect knew who he was.  For him, it was twelve.

Wendy Weitz, the Queen of Cold Calling, states in a recent blog post that a sale is made after the seventh contact.

Many have tracked the number of contacts required to get a meeting with a prospect or the number of contacts required to make a sale and the numbers vary sometimes by a lot.  However, there is one thing that is consistent among them all.

You can count on it taking at least six contacts on average to get anywhere with a prospect.

Here is the takeaway.

1. Don't give up on a prospect before six touches.
2. Start tracking to learn what is required for you to get your first appointment, a needs analysis conversation, a sale, or whatever you believe to be an important milestone in your sales process.
3. Build those "touches" into your lead nurturing/sales process.  Make it as automatic and consistent as possible.
4. Experiment with the type and timing of your touches to see if you can shorten the process.

What have you found to be the required number of touches and in what combinations?

Photo on flickr by batega