“What gets measured, gets managed” is not just a phrase in today’s business environment, but is rather an axiom.  As far as Sales is concerned, sales metrics are vital to track, since they provide information that can be used to evaluate whether business goals are realistic, also give insights into areas where the sales process can be ameliorated and identify possible improvements in the performance and engagement of salespeople.

With the help of technology, nearly everything that concern Sales can be measured nowadays, so the main challenge for organisations and sales managers is to decide on the right metrics.  Unfortunately, regarding sales metrics, we tend to spend a significant amount of time on reviewing information that we can do not a great deal to influence, such as revenue, profitability, and other similar key performance indicators (KPIs).  As a result, we don’t have a clear understanding of what is actually driving sales.

Daniel L. Stufflebeam, one of the pioneers in the field of evaluation believed that we need to “Measure to improve, not to prove”, but what we are mainly do is proving, by measuring lagging indicators which are beyond our control.  Improvement can be realised not by tracking outcomes, but by measuring leading indicators that will help us not only to have better future results, but also to gain full control of the situation.  The question that now arises, though, is where to find those leading indicators?      

Undoubtedly, every company is different, therefore one size does not fit all, but on the other hand, when it comes to Sales, every organisation has what is known as a sales funnel.  Some of them may be short and straightforward, others may be long and complex, so primarily, we must clarify what type of funnel applies in our business case. 

Once we do that, as Frank V. Cespedes and Bob Marsh propose in a relevant article at Harvard Business Review, we must deconstruct our sales funnel, in order to improve sales outcomes and gain clarity in the KPIs that are related in our business.  Sales activities such as offers, calls, demos, or follow-ups can become leading indicators that can offer feedback on how salespeople spend their time.       

Finding the right metrics does not mean that our job as sales managers is finished, since this is just the beginning.  The main challenge from then on, is to align the behaviours of our salespeople with those metrics.  If the salespeople track leading indicators that are clear to them and match the way that they sell, then it would be easier for them to identify the behaviours that they need to alter, to improve their performance. 

In my view, it is highly important to have metrics that are within our control, which means that we can influence by connecting them to selling behaviours.  If we do so, we help our salespeople to map their way towards achieving their goals, which is the essence of managing sales performance.