There's a lot of talk about reply rates for outreach to owners, and the percentages rarely line up. I think that's often because the underlying counts aren't comparable.

If you're willing to share what you've seen, the set that actually helps is:

- the channel (email, letter, phone, LinkedIn, or a mix)
- how many owners you contacted
- how many replies
- how many became a real conversation
- over what period

A high reply rate on a small list can still mean fewer conversations than a lower rate on a larger, more careful list. Email open rates are also a weak measure: Apple Mail Privacy Protection can download remote content in the background when a message arrives, whether or not anyone actually looks at it.

I'm not looking for a single "realistic" number. I'd rather hear how people here actually count, including where the sample was small or the result was disappointing.

I run Klontak, a flat-fee service that contacts business owners for buyers. I'm not sharing client numbers of our own, which is one reason I'm asking.