Got Sales Metrics?

January 31, 2012 at 11:00 PM
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The right sales metrics will tell you everything you need to know about how you are tracking toward your company's revenue objectives. For some companies it's a complex, finely tuned set of calculations, reports and charts. Others are just as successful with only a few simple ratios and percentages.

What matters most when it comes to sales metrics is what works for your company. Consider these ideas when settling on a set of metrics:

  • Sales dashboards that are very labor intensive to prepare run the risk of being dropped when schedules get busy.
  • Overly complicated dashboards that can't "speak for themselves" may be a challenge when shared outside the presentation room.
  • Going too simple may mean missing important indicators of how your year is going.

We've seen companies with multi-billion dollar revenue quotas do just fine with three or four rock-solid metrics. We've also seen smaller organizations with under $50 million in revenue manage with the help of a sophisticated set of sales gauges. Here are some examples of sales metrics to consider for your organization. Some will be familiar; others may be new to you and may apply to your organization.

Current cycle metrics

  1. Qualified pipeline-to-quota ratio
  2. Pipeline by source (current account, new logo, channel, etc.)
  3. Pipeline by forecasted closing period (day, week, month, quarter, etc.)
  4. Opportunity aging report

Mid-cycle metrics

  1. Average sales cycle duration
  2. Win-to-loss percentage
  3. Win-to-bid percentage
  4. Walk-away ratio (no bids)

End-of-period metrics

  1. Percentage of sales team achieving quota
  2. Year-over-year change in average contract value
  3. Year-over-year change in top-line revenue

As we said earlier, what matters most is what works for your company. Choose those metrics that will offer you the most information for the least amount of time and effort.

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Dan Hudson is the co-founder and president of 3forward and has a B2B sales and sales leadership background of more than 30 years. He can be reached at [email protected].

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