Most of us want to use sales metrics, but what sales leader really has the time to parse through mountains of data to determine which ones really matter?
Sanj Bhayro, Salesforce SVP of Commercial Sales, EMEA, says to keep it simple: “It’s easy to get overwhelmed. Decide on a few key metrics that are important for your business, and have a system that lets you drill down into data when you need more information.”
Sanj is just one of six sales leaders in this killer piece of Salesforce content that was so good, we just had to promote it to our readers: “The Sales Metrics that Matter.” The eBook also features:
- Bruce Bratley, Founder and CEO, First Mile
- Leigh Phillipson, Sales Director, Treatwell
- Nick McClellan, Sales Director, RAM Tracking
- Jim Hand, Sales Director, Bryan S Ryan
- Paul Garner, Global Director of Sales, Dialogue.net
Download the full report here.
From activities to customer retention, here are our favorite tips from these sales leaders in this Salesforce report.
Sales Metrics Tips from 6 Experts
- “Choose metrics that let you influence sales performance. Lots of sales managers just track top line figures: pipe, productivity, close rate. But if you want to actively increase your closed-won rate, you need to dig one level deeper to see what’s really going on.” – Sanj Bhayro, Senior Vice President, Commercial Sales, EMEA, Salesforce.com
- “Pushed and stalled opportunities are often forgotten, as well as the number of days that any lead has stayed within a particular sales cycle stage. These are vitally important as they allow you to spot any knowledge gaps within your sales team and help improve them to produce better results.” – Nick McClellan, Sales Director, RAM Tracking
- “I also like to see activity metrics. I need to know how many new people we’ve talked to. You can have a great website, SEO and marketing, but none of it is worth one cent unless you follow it up.” – Jim Hand Sales Director, Bryan S Ryan
- “Getting transfixed by sales figures alone can actually halt progress. In my experience, it’s important to really break it down to what the salesperson can control day to day. Calls, presentations, appointment setting and crossing doors on foot will all ultimately drive sales if done correctly and you understand the conversion rates.” – Leigh Phillipson, Sales Director, Treatwell
- “What motivates reps is the detailed metrics we get from Salesforce that show how accounts are progressing. It’s also vital information for managers. Without that focus, you’re simply leaving things to chance which is not something any business can afford to do.” – Jim Hand, Sales Director, Bryan S Ryan
- “Sales directors should focus on the success of lead generation tactics. Put simply, which enquiry sources are generating the most closed/won business? You can see those with the biggest return, contributing the largest opportunity value to the sales pipeline and the most successful close ratio.” – Nick McClellan, Sales Director, RAM Tracking
- “Sales metrics don’t just matter to you – they drive the whole business. Get together with senior management, Marketing, customer service and HR – and decide the important KPIs that will drive the business forward.” – Sanj Bhayro, Senior Vice President, Commercial Sales, EMEA, Salesforce.com
- “Business development teams may think they have done heroic work but the customer might turn out to be of less value than a smaller initial win that goes on to open five more branches or hire 100 more staff. We measure and size customers as they progress through their first and subsequent 12-month cycles to check their scale and profitability.” – Bruce Bratley, Founder and CEO, First Mile
- “One thing I don’t often hear about being measured in a metric is training and development – and the uplift on results. Sales managers and directors have a level of responsibility to train and develop their team and this often involves significant investment. It seems to make sense that this should be tracked and its impact measured over the subsequent weeks/months.“ – Leigh Phillipson, Sales Director, Treatwell
Some tips will seem very different from others, and they should be. Because sales metrics should fit your company’s sales organization structure, what works for one team may not work for another.
Want to learn how modern sales leaders drive their teams with metrics as key performance indicators? Grab your copy of the inaugural Sales KPI Report.
