this 25 percent increase

[unpakwon]

Please help me understand the following in bold.

In fact, recent research by CSO Insights shows that 53 percent of sales organizations report that less than half of their first meetings resulted in a second meeting. Just four years ago only 43 percent of sales forces had such poor conversion results. According to managing partner Jim Dickie, this 25 percent increase represents an "alarming erosion in sales rep effectiveness."

In the above, I'm confused about where "this 25% increase" came from all of a sudden. How could "this 25% increase" come from "53%" and "43%"? Or is this "this 25% increase" some separate statistic regardless of 53% and 43%? And what does "conversion results" mean there?

Thank you for your time.

[Raymott]

Please help me understand the following in bold.

In fact, recent research by CSO Insights shows that 53 percent of sales organizations report that less than half of their first meetings resulted in a second meeting. Just four years ago only 43 percent of sales forces had such poor conversion results. According to managing partner Jim Dickie, this 25 percent increase represents an "alarming erosion in sales rep effectiveness."

In the above, I'm confused about where "this 25% increase" came from all of a sudden. How could "this 25% increase" come from "53%" and "43%"? Or is this "this 25% increase" some separate statistic regardless of 53% and 43%? And what does "conversion results" mean there?

Thank you for your time.

Let's say there are 100 companies. Four years ago, 43 had bad conversion results, now 53 do. That's an increase of (53-43)/43 = 0.232558, or roughly 25%.

A conversion, in this context, means converting an initial meeting into an ongoing commitment, or something like that.