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I was at a concert the other night. The singer, Edwin, told the audience it was five years to the day since they had last played at that venue. And then quickly followed up saying it’s really only been three years since we all lost two years of our lives due to COVID.

That got me thinking – is that how most of us feel? Have we lost two years of our personal and professional lives? I’d just like to reach the point where we’re looking forward and focusing on the NEXT two years.

Give this song by I Mother Earth a listen with me as we see what the experts are saying this week!

HubSpot sales trends – Not Quite benchmarks

I’ve spent much of the past two years highlighting findings from HubSpot’s benchmark data in these emails. Since they’ve stopped publishing those benchmarks, I found some other interesting B2B sales data of theirs that should help you as you plan for 2023.

  • Top Sellers spend an average of six hours every week researching prospects.
  • Need and budget are the two biggest factors in whether a prospect connects with a rep.
  • 60% of customers say no four times before saying yes.
  • 80% of sales require five follow-up calls, whereas 44% of salespeople give up after one follow-up attempt.
  • 69% of buyers have accepted cold calls from new providers.
  • 57% of C-level buyers prefer to be contacted by phone.
  • 30% of sales leaders track scheduled meetings as a productivity metric.
  • The average outside sales call will cost $308. Meanwhile, the average inside sales call costs $50.

Interested in learning more? There are tons more stats – you can see what you want here.

Not Quite whistling while you work

As many workplaces get ready for the holidays or have employee holiday events, you’ll hear music echoing through the office (or the home office!). We know music stimulates multiple areas of the brain and can help you focus and feel happier. But does it make you more productive? And if so, do different musical genres affect productivity differently?

While ambient noise is great for improving concentration and creativity, pop can help you accomplish tasks more quickly and with fewer mistakes. Classical music is also great for improving accuracy, and dance music can improve proofreading speed by 20%.

It kinda makes you think… Though music can help you get in the zone and drown out noisy distractions at the office, it’s sometimes beneficial to change the station or turn off the music completely. Learning new things requires your brain to remember instructions and facts, and listening to music with lyrics can interfere with your ability to process and retain new information.

In addition, if your job requires deep focus, it’s best to choose familiar songs, since new songs can surprise you and distract you from your job.

Do you listen to music at work? Do you use it to get pumped up or to mellow out? Hopefully, these blog posts help!

As always, don’t hesitate to call me to brainstorm or just say hello!

Looking forward,
Rick

Rick Endrulat, President | ricke@v-causeway.com | www.linkedin.com/in/rickendrulat