If you manage a sales team, direct or indirect, do you have any key performance indicators that you track?
Usually the only KPI we look at is Quota.
Yet we know that daily activity is the most important factor for success. That includes number of contacts per day via email, social media, phone calls.
The speed at which we follow up from an inbound lead is directly related to success. "Since Harvard's study on response outcomes showed that sales reps that contacted leads within 1 hour were seven times more likely to have a meaningful conversation with a decision maker, other studies have affirmed the findings." [source: salesforce]
Are you tracking new logos (new accounts) that are opened? Yes, we need to retain and grow current accounts (and that is another KPI to measure). In some sales organizations, different reps have different responsibilities: like retention and account growth would be different than a hunter looking for new business (new logos, new accounts).
Sales math helps to break down the daily activity needed. If it takes 1000 dials to contact 30 people, you need to make 1000 dials a month. If it takes 30 contacts to get 3 sales, you understand what the numbers mean.
"A new study from AG Salesworks & BridgeGroup estimates that reps should be generating roughly 32 opportunities per 1,000 outbound calls. Keep in mind that those numbers were for outbound prospecting, a term that tends to include many calls that are relatively cold. So keep an eye on those call logs." [source: salesforce]
"Persistence pays off. A National Sales Executive Association survey found that 48% of sales agents never follow up with leads a second time. This is significant since 10% of sales are closed on the fourth contact, and 80% are made on the fifth to 12th contact." Can you track follow up?
How about Contacts added to a drop campaign or monthly newsletter?
Of course, we have Sales Target, Closing ratios, quota, average sales size, and sales cycle to measure as well. We can also measure by product. What are they selling and to who, which will provide data for follow up contacts. For example, a follow up email can say that we have sold to 310 banks and most of them have bought not just bandwidth but also our managed security product. This is food for thought for prospects plus productive follow up email content.
What you measure you can manage is what Peter Drucker said. If you are spending the money on Salesforce CRM, you might as well get the most of it.
