Here are my best practices that all organizations should be adhering to when deciding how to identify, track, and report on sales metrics<\/a>.<\/p>\n The term \u201csales metrics\u201d is pretty broad. You could measure a vast range of things, depending on your business, product, the makeup of your sales operation, and many other factors (more on this later).<\/p>\n But essentially, sales metrics help you measure your salespeople\u2019s activity over a set period \u2013 days, weeks, months, or even years. They give you a far more granular insight into how your sales team<\/a> is performing than simply looking at your bottom line.<\/p>\n Why does that matter? Because those metrics help you evaluate the effectiveness of your sales operation and inform your decision-making. If you don\u2019t know how many calls a salesperson should be making in an average week, for example, you can\u2019t accurately assess whether their workload is manageable or whether it\u2019s time to hire someone new.<\/p>\n As I\u2019ve already pointed out, the \u201cright\u201d metrics depend on a bunch of factors that are specific to your business. But broadly speaking, they\u2019ll fall into one of these categories:<\/p>\n These top-level metrics are directly related to the overall performance of your company \u2013 essentially, are you making enough money? And are you making it in the right areas? They probably won\u2019t tell you a great deal about the relative strengths of individual salespeople or tactics, but you\u2019ll want to measure them to keep your board and bank manager happy. Examples include:<\/p>\n Now we\u2019re getting more specific! These metrics will help you drill down to what your salespeople are actually doing on a daily or weekly basis. Are they using their time effectively? Are they speaking to enough people?<\/p>\n The metrics within this section can be directly influenced by the sales manager \u2013 by which I mean, if a salesperson is making too few calls or sending too few emails, it\u2019s up to their manager to do something about it. Examples include:<\/p>\n While activity metrics focus on what\u2019s going on here and now, pipeline metrics are all about what\u2019s going to happen a few weeks or months down the line. Things might be looking rosy at the minute, but are you poised to sustain your current levels of growth? These metrics will help you answer that question:<\/p>\n Similar to your pipeline, these metrics are all about predicting future success. We all know that if we don\u2019t have enough leads in our CRM \u2013 or if we aren\u2019t following up with them in a timely, effective manner \u2013 then lean times are coming just over the horizon. Examples include:<\/p>\n Now we\u2019re focusing on specific channels. This is important, because you might be using a few different tactics to win new business, so naturally you want to understand which is most effective. Examples of email outreach<\/a> metrics include:<\/p>\n The same as email outreach metrics, but focusing on cold calling<\/a> activity instead. Examples include:<\/p>\n Here, we\u2019re looking at how effectively your sales team is turning prospects and leads into cold, hard cash. Examples include:<\/p>\n Importantly, none of these \u201ctypes\u201d of metrics will give you the full story.<\/p>\n You might be closing 100% of your opportunities \u2013 but if you\u2019re only generating one opportunity a month, that might not be good enough.<\/p>\n Or you could be sending thousands of emails a day and building a bumper pipeline, but all that effort doesn\u2019t count for much if you\u2019re not converting them into deals.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why you need to look at a wide range of metrics to truly understand your sales performance.<\/p>\n So you\u2019ve identified the metrics you need to keep an eye on. Great! But now you\u2019ve got another challenge \u2013 finding the most effective way to track performance.<\/p>\n Transparency is super important. Your salespeople need to understand how they\u2019re performing on an individual and team level from day to day and week to week. But they likely don\u2019t have the time to churn out ad hoc CRM reports (you want them focused on making you money<\/em>, after all).<\/p>\n So here are a couple ways to track performance so your team can dive into the data when they need it:<\/p>\n Dashboards allow you to display all your key sales metrics in a single place.<\/p>\n Ideally, they\u2019ll be easy to understand, so your salespeople can simply spend a couple minutes each morning checking them over without needing a data science degree to find the information they need.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll also want them to be as close to 100% automated as possible. No doubt you\u2019re already busy, so the last thing you need is to spend hours every week manually harvesting data from multiple sources and pulling it together in a spreadsheet.<\/p>\n Salespeople tend to be a competitive bunch. That\u2019s a good thing \u2013 competitive salespeople drive each other to perform better (just don\u2019t let things become too <\/em>competitive; everyone should still be pulling in the same direction).<\/p>\n One way to foster a bit of healthy competition is to display your sales metrics in the form of leaderboards. Who\u2019s made the most calls in the past 24 hours? Who\u2019s added the most value to your pipeline? Who\u2019s closed the most deals in the past 30 days?<\/p>\n Ideally, your leaderboard will be kept updated in real time on a TV screen or monitor, so everyone on your sales team understands how they\u2019re performing against their colleagues.<\/p>\n As I\u2019ve already explained, metrics are important \u2013 but the numbers themselves don\u2019t have any intrinsic value.<\/p>\n Simply knowing that Jenny sent more emails than Virat last month doesn\u2019t tell you anything. Nor does understanding that you closed 40% of opportunities, or that revenue is up 5% year on year.<\/p>\n That\u2019s where reporting comes in. Your reports should dig into the data, pull out the key points and provide actionable insights.<\/p>\n Say your sales team spends 60% of their prospecting<\/a> time on cold calling and 40% on emails, yet email has twice the conversion rate of calls. You\u2019d probably want to dial back on calling and spend more time on emails, right?<\/p>\n Here are a few best practices on creating reports that deliver the right level of insight and action:<\/p>\n It\u2019s not uncommon for organizations to ask for monthly progress reports from their marketing and sales<\/a> teams, simply because most elements of a business are tracked month-to-month.<\/p>\n This is more often than not the wrong approach.<\/p>\n While monthly reporting may be right for some companies, they\u2019re typically in the minority.<\/p>\nWhat Are Sales Metrics & Why Do They Matter?<\/h2>\n
How to Identify Relevant Sales Metrics<\/h2>\n
1. Overarching Sales Performance<\/h3>\n
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2. Activity Metrics<\/h3>\n
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3. Pipeline Metrics<\/h3>\n
![\"pipeline](\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Pipeline-metrics.jpeg?resize=233%2C233&ssl=1\")
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4. Lead Gen Metrics<\/h3>\n
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5. Email Outreach Metrics<\/h3>\n
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6. Cold Calling Metrics<\/h3>\n
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7. Conversion Metrics<\/h3>\n
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How to Track Sales Metrics<\/h2>\n
![\"How](\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/How-to-track-sales-metrics.jpeg?resize=300%2C210&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n1. Sales Dashboards<\/h3>\n
Sales dashboard software examples<\/h4>\n
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2. Sales Leaderboards<\/h3>\n
Sales leaderboard software examples<\/h4>\n
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How to Report on Sales Metrics<\/h2>\n
![\"how](\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/How-to-report-on-sales-metrics.jpeg?resize=300%2C210&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n1. Establish the Right Reporting Window<\/h3>\n