Contact rate and close rate are different problems
Contact rate is the share of doors where somebody answered. Close rate is the share of those conversations that became a sale. A low contact rate is a timing or area problem. A low close rate with a healthy contact rate is a pitch problem. Tracking only one number leaves you unable to tell which one is costing you.
Two numbers, two different failures
This is the most useful distinction in the whole job and the one most reps never make. Nobody answering and people answering and saying no feel identical at the end of a bad day and require completely opposite responses.
A rep with one number goes home and rewrites a pitch that may have been working perfectly.
What moves each one
Contact rate moves with the hour, the day, the season and the type of neighbourhood. It barely moves with what you say, because what you say happens after the door opens.
Close rate moves with the pitch, the offer, the trade and the rep. It should not move much with the hour, and if it does, something more interesting is going on.
Reading them together
Low contact and healthy close means you are good at this and not getting enough chances: change hours or area. Healthy contact and low close means you are getting chances and losing them: the pitch is the problem. Both low usually means the area is wrong for the trade.
Common questions
- Which number should I fix first?
- Whichever is unusually low relative to your own history. Knocking more doors badly does not fix a pitch problem, and a better pitch does not fix an empty street.
- What is a good contact rate?
- It varies so much by area and hour that a published figure would mislead you. Yours, measured across a normal week, is the one that means anything.
- Can both be fine and sales still be low?
- Yes, if you are not knocking enough doors. Rates are ratios, and a good ratio on a small number is still a small number.
More on your numbers
Contact rate, close rate and knock math — and telling a pitch problem from a timing problem.