# Contacts over knocks, on that turf

The contact rate formula is contacts divided by knocks. Knockdesk is field sales software that counts a contact when the outcome on the pin collects contact, then divides that count by the knocks on that turf.

## A contact rate from the loudest rep is not the turf

If nobody-home never gets logged, the contact rate looks rich because the denominator shrank. The next crew then recuts doors you already walked. Read contact rate against the team on that turf, not against a company-wide story.

**Keep Not Home in the knocks.** Not Home is coverage. Dropping it inflates contact rate and starves the map.

**A contact is a collected talk.** The outcome has to collect contact. A wave from the driveway is not that.

**Compare to the team on that turf.** Hot and cold reads use contact rate against the team on the same place, not a national percent.

## Eighty knocks, twenty-four contacts, a percent you can recompute

Labeled example, not a customer week. A rep logs 80 knocks on one turf. 24 of those outcomes collect contact. Contact rate is 24 / 80 = 30 percent. If they hide 20 Not Home knocks, the sheet shows 24 / 60 = 40 percent. That 40 percent is a lie about the walk.

| Case | Contacts | Knocks | Contact rate |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Honest day | 24 | 80 | 24 / 80 = 30% |
| Not Home dropped | 24 | 60 | 24 / 60 = 40% |
| What changed | Nothing | 20 knocks vanished | The turf, not the skill |

## Contact rate is the talk. Close rate is the yes.

Knocks per hour is how fast the walk moves. Close rate is closes over the sits or conversations you name. Contact rate sits between them: did the knock become a talk worth logging as contact.

**Knocks per hour.** Pace on the turf. A high pace with a dead contact rate is jogging past doors.

**Close rate.** The yes after the talk. Do not use contact rate as a stand-in for closes.

**Appointment rate.** Sits over knocks in canvass totals. A later filter than contact.

## How Knockdesk tracks it

Knockdesk sets contact rate as contacts divided by visits on the turf, and as contacts over knocks in analytics. A contact is an outcome that collects contact, not Not Home. Daily Knock Summary and My Performance both show contact rate. Territory health uses it against the team. Full desk is on the pricing page.

## Keep going from this term

- [Field sales glossary](/glossary): Contact rate, close rate, and knocks per hour live on this hub.

- [Knocks per hour](/glossary/knocks-per-hour): The pace number that sits next to contact rate on the same day.

- [Field sales KPIs](/guides/field-sales-kpis): How to read contact rate with coverage, pace, and verified visits.

## FAQ

### What is the contact rate formula?

The contact rate formula is contacts divided by knocks. In Knockdesk that is contacts over visits on the turf, from outcomes that collect contact.

### Does Not Home go in the denominator?

Yes. Not Home is a knock. It is not a contact. Leave it in the knock count or the rate inflates.

### What counts as a contact?

A contact is an outcome that collects contact. Nobody-home, no answer, and gated doors stay knocks without becoming contacts.

### Is contact rate the same as close rate?

No. Contact rate is talks over knocks. Close rate is closes over the conversations or appointments you name.

### Why does turf show hot or cold?

Knockdesk reads contact rate against the team on that place. A gap of about 15 percent relatively, or 5 percentage points, is the hot or cold band when there are enough visits.

### Where do I see contact rate on the desk?

Daily Knock Summary and My Performance show it. Canvass totals use contacts over visits on the territory and turf you already hold.