Sales KPIs

What are Sales KPIs?

Sales KPIs, or key performance indicators, are essential metrics that sales teams track to determine the success of their sales strategies. By tracking KPIs, managers can see which areas of the sales process are working well and which need improvement. They can also make more informed decisions about allocating budget and resources by analyzing KPIs. Numerous KPIs can be tracked, but some common ones include conversion rate, average deal size, and win rate.

To be effective, KPIs must be aligned with the business’s overall goals. For example, if a company’s goal is to increase revenue, then a primary sales KPI would be revenue growth.

Synonyms

• key performance indicators
• OKRs
• sales goals
• sales metrics

Sales KPIs vs. Sales Metrics

When measuring a sales team’s success, two terms are often used interchangeably: KPIs and metrics. But while they might sound similar, there is a big difference between them.

KPIs are specific measures that indicate whether a company is achieving its key objectives. In other words, key performance indicators gauge whether a business is on track to reach its goals.

On the other hand, sales metrics measure various aspects of the sales process. This could include the number of sales calls made, the conversion rate of leads to customers, or the average value of each sale. While metrics can help assess sales team performance, they don’t necessarily provide insight into whether or not the team is achieving its overarching goals.

KPIs and metrics are both useful, but it’s important to understand their differences. KPIs can give you a big-picture view of whether your team is on track to reach its goals, while metrics can provide more detailed information about the sales process. Sales managers can get a complete picture of their team’s performance using both.

Choosing the Right Sales KPIs

Sales are all about numbers, and a critical part of sales management is tracking the right KPIs to ensure their teams perform at their best. But with so many different KPIs in sales, which ones should businesses track?

Here are a few questions sales managers should ask themselves when choosing the right sales KPIs:

What are your business goals? 

Sales KPIs should be aligned with the company’s overall business strategy and goals. If the goal is to increase market share, track KPIs that reflect that, such as customer acquisition or revenue growth.

What do your customers care about? 

A company’s sales KPIs should be focused on what is important to customers and be tied to customer satisfaction and retention.

What do your salespeople care about? 

Sales KPIs should also be focused on what salespeople care about. For example, if they care about commission, track KPIs related to sales rep performance, such as deal size or close rate.

What data do you have? 

Sales leaders should consider the available data when choosing their sales KPIs. If there is a lot of data on customer acquisition, then focus on KPIs related to that. But if there isn’t much data available, start with more basic KPIs, such as revenue growth.

The answers to these questions will help sales managers narrow down the list of potential KPIs to track. From there, it’s a matter of experimenting and seeing which ones impact the company’s bottom line.

Every sales team should track a few essential KPIs, regardless of industry or sales cycle. These include conversion rate, customer lifetime value, and average deal size.

Choosing the right sales efforts to track can be the difference between a successful sales team and one that struggles to meet its goals. By taking the time to understand the business and what the company’s leadership wants to achieve, sales managers can select KPIs that will provide the insights needed to drive growth.

Sales KPIs for Sales Reps

KPIs give sales reps a way to quantify their success in attaining their quotas and goals.

• Sales Volume – the total value of all closed deals in a given period.
• Sales Target – the total number of deals that need to be closed to reach the team’s sales goals. 
• Sales Conversion Rate – the percentage of qualified leads converted into paying customers.
• Average Order Value or Average Deal Size – the average value of an order placed by a customer.
• Win Rate – the percentage of won deals (i.e., closed with a positive result for the company). 

Sales KPIs for Sales Managers

Setting sales benchmarks and monitoring KPIs gives CROs and sales managers a good overview of their sales team’s performance and progress. Tracking these metrics ensures the entire sales team is on track to meet its sales goals.

• Sales Cycle Time – The average length of time it takes to close a deal, from initial contact with a lead to final purchase. Shorter cycle times usually indicate a more efficient sales process.
• Sales by Contact Method – This measures which contact methods (email, phone calls, in-person or virtual meetings, social media posts, etc.) result in sales to determine which works best.
• Sales Productivity – The measure of how many deals each sales rep is closing monthly. It’s a good metric to track individual performance and identify areas where reps might need more training or support.
• Number of Monthly Onboarding and Demo Calls – These calls are critical to closing deals, so tracking this number is essential. Sales managers can segment this data into individual employees to see how each person performs, identify weak performers, and provide coaching where needed.
• Pipeline Value – The estimated value of deals currently in the sales pipeline. This value is typically used to measure the sales pipeline’s health and forecast future sales. Pipeline value is typically calculated by taking the average deal value and multiplying it by the number of deals in the pipeline. This can give you a good idea of how much revenue your company could generate from the deals currently in progress.
• Pipeline Velocity – Measures the rate at which deals are moving through the sales pipeline and can be used to predict future sales performance. Pipeline velocity can be a useful metric for assessing the health of your sales pipeline and identifying any bottlenecks that may be slowing down progress. It can also help you to forecast future sales and revenue.
• Customer Acquisition Cost – The total cost of acquiring new customers, which includes marketing and advertising expenses, as well as the cost of sales activities. CAC can be a valuable metric for businesses to track, as it can give insights into how much it costs to acquire new customers and whether or not this cost is sustainable in the long term.
• Customer Lifetime Value – Represents the total amount of money a customer is expected to spend throughout their relationship with a company. CLV allows businesses to see how much revenue they can generate from each customer and understand which customers are more valuable in the long run.
• Sales Forecast Accuracy – The percentage of forecasted deals closed in the time period. This is a good metric to identify areas where revenue operations can improve forecasting.
• Sales Attrition Rate – The percentage of sales that are lost over a period of time. A high attrition rate may indicate that a company’s ineffective sales strategy must be revised.
• Customer Retention Rate – The percentage of customers who continue to do business with a company over a period of time. Customer retention rate is important because it costs far more to acquire new customers than it does to keep existing ones.
• Churn Rate – The percentage of customers who stop doing business with a company over a given period of time. It’s also known as customer attrition rate or customer turnover rate. This is also a key metric for investors, who use it to gauge a company’s health and growth potential.
• Sales Revenue – The most important KPI for sales managers to track. Sales revenue clearly shows how well a sales team generates income for the company.

Tracking and Measuring Key Performance Indicators

Companies track sales performance in several ways, including through sales software, spreadsheets, or even manually. The important thing is that businesses take the time to track and analyze their essential sales KPIs regularly to make improvements to their sales strategies and processes.

Below is a process sales managers can use to set realistic goals and quotas around KPIs and turn sales metrics into revenue:

1. Understand the Sales Organization’s Goals

Sales managers must first determine exactly why they want to use sales KPIs. Is it to improve overall performance? Or to identify specific areas of weakness? For example, it may be crucial to determine whether certain products sell better than others. They might consider implementing a lead scoring system when looking to increase efficiency. To learn about the effectiveness of their marketing efforts, they could evaluate the ROI of their campaigns.

2. Choose the Right Metrics

Once the KPIs are determined, sales leaders must decide which ones to track. Sales KPIs can include conversion rates, pipeline velocity, average deal size, customer lifetime value, etc. Each category represents a different aspect of the sales funnel, which helps focus on optimizing that particular part of the funnel. 

3. Set Realistic Goals and Quotas

Here are a few tips sales leaders can use to set realistic sales goals and quotas:

• Use data from previous years to help predict future sales. This gives a good idea of how much the sales team can achieve.
• Set different goals for different products or services to ensure the sales team is focused on the right things.
• Give the sales team regular feedback on their progress. This will help them to stay on track and motivated.

Improving Sales Performance

For sales teams to improve their performance on sales KPIs, sales managers should first identify the areas that need improvement and then take steps to make changes. Some ways sales organizations can improve sales activity include:

• Train the sales team on effective selling techniques.
• Implementing a CRM system to help track leads and customers.
• Setting goals for sales reps and providing incentives for reaching those goals.
• Using business intelligence technology to analyze and interpret sales data.
• Regularly reviewing their KPIs and optimizing sales processes to make improvements.
• Using sales enablement software to help salespeople improve their efficiency, productivity, and performance.
• Identifying any bottlenecks or pain points in the sales process and working to eliminate them.
• Conducting regular performance reviews with individual sales staff members to identify areas of improvement
• Encouraging a culture of collaboration and teamwork within the sales team
• Constantly strive to improve customer satisfaction levels.

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