AI sales benchmarks 2026: the numbers to hold vendors to

Inbound

• Response time — sub-2 minute (median)
• Meeting-set rate on inbound — 35-55%
• Meeting show rate — 78-88%

Outbound

• Reply rate on cold email — 4-9% (10%+ with real signal)
• Meeting-set rate on replies — 25-40%
• Cost per meeting — $40-80 all-in

Cycle

Compression of 15-25% on average vs pre-AI baseline. Not the '10x' vendors claim; still material.