What is a good close rate?

It depends a lot on your industry, price and lead source, so no single number is honest. Compare yourself to your own past results by stage.

How do I calculate close rate?

Divide the number of deals won by the number of qualified opportunities in the same period. Keep the stage definitions the same each time.

Will more leads fix a low close rate?

Usually not. More leads can lower the rate if they are poorer fits. Fix the stage where deals die first.

Should I lower my price to close more?

Check whether price is the real reason. Often the cause is follow-up, a missing decider or a poor fit.

Close rate, diagnosed

Why is my close rate so low?

A low close rate usually means you are talking to the wrong people, quoting too early, quoting too slowly, or not following up after the quote. Count how many people drop out at each stage, fix the biggest drop first, and stop chasing buyers who never had the problem or the budget.

Updated October 2026

Start by finding where deals die

"Close rate" is one number that hides a lot. If you win 10 of every 100 people you talk to, the problem could be that 70 of them were never right for you, or that 30 got a quote and never heard back. The fix is different in each case.

Take the last 30 to 50 opportunities and mark where each one ended: never a fit, no budget, no reply after the call, no reply after the quote, chose someone else, won. The largest bucket is your first fix.

The causes, most likely first

The order is a judgment from common small-business patterns, not a measured ranking.

Cause	Clue	Fix
1. Poor-fit prospects	Many "not a fit" or "no budget"	Qualify earlier; narrow who you target
2. No follow-up after the quote	Quotes go out, then silence	Follow up 3 to 4 times over 2 weeks
3. Slow response	Quote arrives days later	Same-day, or next-day at most
4. Price shock	Silence right after the number	Give a range early
5. Talking to non-deciders	"Let me run it by my boss"	Meet the decider before the quote
6. Unclear next step	Calls end vaguely	Book the next call before hanging up

1. You are talking to the wrong people

A close rate is only as good as the people feeding it. If half of your conversations are with people who cannot afford you or never had the problem, you will lose them no matter how good the pitch is. Define a good customer in one sentence, such as property managers with 5 or more buildings, and use two or three early questions to check.

If you buy or build lists, narrow them. Our guide to how many leads you need to get a customer shows the arithmetic.

2 and 3. Quote speed and quote follow-up

Many quotes die in the inbox. The customer plans to answer, gets busy and forgets. A quote that goes out the same day, with a clear next step, is more likely to be read than one that arrives after the customer has talked to two other businesses.

Then follow up. Three or four touches over two weeks beat a single "let me know." Our guides on how to follow up on a quote and follow-up for contractors have sample messages.

A quick calculation: if you send 20 quotes a month and win 4 (a 20 percent close rate), and follow-ups lift that by even 2 wins, you have gained 50 percent more customers with no new leads.

4. Price shock

If silence starts right after the number, the number surprised them. State a range early, ideally on the first call: "Jobs like this usually run between $2,000 and $3,500." People who cannot afford it will leave early, which saves you time. People who stay are ready for the real quote.

Never apologize for your price in the quote. Explain what is included and what the cheaper option leaves out.

5 and 6. The decider and the next step

If you keep hearing "I'll run it by my partner," you are selling to a messenger. Ask early who else decides and what they will want, then offer a short joint call or a one-page summary they can forward.

End every call with the next step on the calendar. "I'll send the quote tonight, can we go through it Thursday at 2?" is better than "I'll send it over." Our page on why prospects ghost after a call goes deeper.

Where Rocketship does the fix

Rocketship is one product that gets you customers, and several of these fixes are steps inside it. It finds buyers by name from the type of business you describe, so the early conversations are with better-fitting people. Quotes are sent from the same place the lead lives, with payment attached. The email worker follows up on the quote on its own, answers replies and books the call. Every lead sits in one pipeline with its stage, so you can see exactly where deals die.

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