Sales Performance Management: Improvement Metrics

You began the journey with some kind of a sales benchmark and agreed on an improvement area from the assessment results.  Next, a desired end state objective – usually in the form of increased revenue or decreased cost either of which result from a combination of activity-based metrics.  Near the end of design and testing of the improved driver, you take a baseline.  This is what you will compare the effort against in 6 months and again in a year (or other periods depending on the project timelines you set) to see if you are getting the value from the project.

But, you have to ensure you are tracking the right metrics to enable a real improvement comparison. 

Here’s an example for a Sales Process improvement project.  Our research has shown that companies that implement a formal Sales Process will see anywhere from 14-21% lift in Sales revenue. For this example, let’s say we target a 15% improvement.  Here is a table that shows the sub-metrics that make up this high-level revenue target.  These sample sub-metrics are attained only through effective adoption of the new sales process, which is evidenced by the sample activity metrics also listed.

Sample Sub Metric Objective Decreased Sales Cycle Length 10% Increased Deal Closure Rate 12% Increased Average Deal Size 15% Improved Forecast Accuracy 25%

Sample Activity Metrics Target Target Target Post Rollout Ramp-Up Time: 3 mos 6 mos   year Percent of Reps actively using new job aids as evidenced by the job aids being saved in the CRM system and meeting quality guidelines 50 75 99 Percent of Reps that have memorized the Sales Stages and Exit Criteria for each stage 70 90 100 Percent of Reps that have memorized all Sales Stages and the Steps within each Stage 40 65 95 Percent of Reps that display application of the Sales Process as seen during Sales Manager ride alongs 35 60 90 Percent of all Sales Team meetings where at least 10 minutes were devoted to discussing a component of the new sales process 80 90 100.

Some of these improvement metrics will be temporary until the SFE project is fully rolled out and adoption targets are met.  Nonetheless, it is SPM that should be tracking them and the base data needed to calculate them.