We are officially in the second half of 2019. If your numbers aren’t where you want them to be, this can be scary. It also offers an opportunity to switch gears and start the second half of the year with a renewed focus, new technique, and fresh perspective.
Here at LevelEleven, we believe that focusing on the best KPIs for sales can make a huge impact on reaching your organizational goals. Calls, emails, and voicemails are not always going to cut it. Although these activities are necessary, sometimes your SDR team will have to try a different approach. A great way to switch up your strategy is to start measuring KPIs that aren’t normally focused on but have an impact on building pipeline.
To accompany the last six months of 2019, here are six best KPIs for Sales Development Reps to focus on to finish out 2019 strong.
Contacts Added
As the second half of the year begins, conference season comes to a close and leads are not flowing in as fast as they were. Kickstart H2 by making sure your pipeline stays full of ripe prospects, using technologies such as ZoomInfo or LinkedIn Navigator. This is especially useful if your team is having trouble penetrating an account via the contacts you already have. Finding and adding fresh prospects will keep your pipeline full and the deals flowing throughout the second half of the year.
Live Connects or Conversations
Are your reps making 100s of calls a day to meet a quota but not getting through? Calls are only as effective as the number of times they are answered. A large volume of calls to your entire database may not be as effective as focusing on a smaller list of more promising prospects.
Instead of giving your reps large call quotas to meet, try having them build focus lists of 50-100 prospects. This will result in a much more manageable list for your sales reps to call 2-3 times a day, raising their chances of catching someone and having a valuable conversation. Using “live connects” as a metric will ensure your reps are focused on adding value for prospects instead of blindly calling in the name of quota.
Meeting or Demo Scheduled
After a live connect, the next logical step is to schedule a meeting. Depending on your organization, this may be a more in-depth discovery call or a demo with an account executive. “Meetings scheduled” is a useful metric to track during H2 because it adds value to the prospect.
Like live connects above, meetings scheduled is not an automated activity such as sending out email blasts. Emails can add value and catch interest, but sometimes they seem like a shot in the dark. On the other hand, meetings scheduled is zeroed in on a promising opportunity.
Meeting or Demo Completed
The third best KPI for sales that SDRs can benefit from focusing on is demos completed. This is a simple but very important KPI. Often, demos will be scheduled but not followed through with. Prospects will call last minute or email the day before trying to reschedule, or worse, cancel. This metric ensures that prospects are being followed up with, and the demos are actually happening.
Sales Accepted Opportunities
Your sales department could deem a prospect a “sales accepted opportunity,” or SAO at the point when an opportunity is accepted and pursuit is owned by an account executive (AE). This measures the quality of leads the SDRs are bringing to the sales team. To be accepted, a deal will be deemed as able to move on through the sales cycle. Examples of opportunities not accepted include those with budget constrictions, bad timing, etc.
This is a fantastic metric to focus on during H2 because it directly relates to a deal moving down the funnel.
Wins
Surprising? Although this is not a very common metric for SDRs to focus on, doing so can help drive the deal to close. Normally, after an opportunity is taken out of the SDRs hands, the AE runs with this new potential deal and the SDR starts their prospecting journey again in new accounts. Some companies, especially those where many people are involved in the buying process, structure their sales strategy whereby the SDR continues to identify and engage contacts within an account. This allows the AE to focus on his/her contacts while strengthening the sales team’s position and coverage of the account.
Using wins, or a deal closing, as a metric for your SDR team creates an opportunity for the AE to continue using them to add value throughout the sales cycle. SDRs are great resources, their skills in this area can be a compliment to the AEs sales process.
Although SDRs should continue their normal activities such as emails and dials, focusing solely on those will not be effective in helping your organization reach its 2019 goals. Having your SDR team focus on the behaviors and KPIs above will help propel your team to finish 2019 strong.
Looking for more information on what the best KPIs for Sales are? Download out Sales KPI Report for more!
