Hotter Sales, Less Cold Calls --Sherburne

Assume your sales rep is making an average of four sales calls per day for an annual total of 892 sales calls. You have an average close rate of 35 percent.

Now it is just a matter of doing the math: $125,000/892 = $140 per sales call.

In this scenario, every sales call costs you $140. My guess is the actual number is much higher, especially with the way gasoline prices are going. And with a 35 percent close rate, that means that 580 of those sales calls never turn into orders, costing you about $80,000.