• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, Yesterday

Sales meetings are the primary objective of many B2B marketing efforts. But not all channels are equally delivering them.

Email comes in a poor second, according to memoryBlue’s Spring 2025 Global Sales Engagement Benchmark Report. 

Of the 321,000 sales meetings tracked, 85% were the result of phone calls and 8% were the result of emails, while 7% were generated via LinkedIn. 

The study analyzes 517,000 calls and 1.4 million emails across global markets. But it doesn’t seem to distinguish between upfront emails and follow-ups.

Whatever the channel, 88% of buyers welcome outreach during the buying stage. And multichannel works best, the study reports. 

But this requires more than simply booking meetings. Between four and 10 stakeholders are involved in purchase decisions, at least at the high=ticket level, and each one’s role must be reflected in the seller’s database. 

Moreover, not every scheduled meeting actually occurs. Among regions, North America has the highest booked-to-occurred rate: 85.2%, compared to 74.5% for EMEA and 65.4% for APAC.

Large companies -- those with 1,000+ employees -- achieve a 90.5% rate, while midsize firms with 100 to 1,000 staffers generate 63.5% and small companies generate 68.9%. 

"Today's B2B buyers are constantly shifting between multiple channels and expect sellers to meet them there," concludes Aurelien Mottier, president of memoryBlue.

"The data clearly demonstrates the urgency for sales teams to embrace a hyper-personalized, multichannel approach — one that leverages intent signals to aligns precisely with their buyers' preferences, behaviors and urgency," Mottier adds.