Sales Data & Metrics That Matter Most to Top Performers

The late management guru Peter Drucker often said, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.”

What was Drucker saying?

Metrics are important and even more so in the world of sales — something top performers are all too aware of.

That’s why successful salespersons are obsessed with tracking everything that can be measured.

Here are the sales metrics they value most and that you should also be paying attention to.

· Sales Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

· Sales Productivity Metrics

· Lead Generation Sales Metrics

1. Sales Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Investopedia.com defines KPIs as:

“…a set of quantifiable measurements used to gauge a company’s overall long-term performance.”

Example KPI metrics that are worth taking note of are:

· Average customer lifetime value

· Cost of selling

· Market penetration

· Net Promoter Score

· Percentage of revenue from new business and existing clients

KPIs enable a company to evaluate its success by benchmarking against a series of targets, peers, and objectives.

Careful investigation of these sales metrics can assist enterprises with their financial, strategic, and operational aims.

2. Sales Productivity Metrics

Sales productivity metrics are the rate at which your salespeople achieve their sales objectives. In practice, this means the shorter the time taken by a salesperson to hit their quota, the higher their sales productivity.

Top performers want to know this metric because sales determine how profitable the company is and are therefore critical.

Finding out your sales reps’ productivity levels can identify problem areas, good selling strategies, and whether targets need to be readjusted accordingly.

Typical metrics here include:

· Average number of sales achieved per day

· Percentage of time sales reps spend selling

· Percentage of time sales reps spend on content creation

· Percentage of time sales reps spend entering data manually

· Percentage of time sales reps spend following up on leads

And speaking of leads…

3. Lead Generation Sales Metrics

In today’s digital-centric world, generating leads is of paramount importance. Companies that invest time and effort into nurturing leads will produce 50% more sales than those that don’t.

For this very reason, top performers want to know the efficacy of their salespeoples’ prospecting endeavors.

Therefore lead generation sales metrics they may study include:

· Average lead response time

· Customer acquisition cost

· Frequency of new opportunities

· Percentage of dropped leads

· Percentage of qualified leads

· Percentage of pursued leads

Conclusion

One of the biggest reasons high performers track sales metrics is to boost organizational efficiency. Poor-performing areas can be improved when corrective measures are taken.

The sales metrics mentioned above are by no means exhaustive. However, they do highlight key data that can help you also achieve your sales goals and improve your bottom line.

Finally, top performers understand the importance of having a strong team. Discover best practices for building such teams in my blog 5 Ways to Motivate & Develop Your Sales Teams Remotely.