3 Types of Sales Metrics You Need to Track!

There’s no debate that measuring data is one of the best ways to ensure your reps’ success, but how do you know which are the ‘right’ kinds of metrics to measure? Though every business may have specific metrics they focus most on, there are three categories of metrics you need to be aware of to ensure your ultimate sales success.

Sales Pipeline Metrics

Sales pipeline metrics are a majorly important part of holistic development, acting like a barometer for the condition of your sales process. These are metrics like overall win rate, total value of sales wins, conversion rate at various stages, and total number of opportunities. This is the data that tells you what shape your sales strategy is in, and what elements of that strategy are working and not working.

Monitoring pipeline metrics can do more than just determine sales quantity or velocity. Pipeline metrics can help you locate and eliminate delays in the sales process, making sure deals don’t fall apart because they’re getting held up. These metrics are equally valuable for predicting future sales more accurately, giving you an idea of where your sales efforts may take you in the short and long term.

Sales Activity Metrics

Your sales activity metrics are the clearest indication of your team’s day-to-day, and actually where you have the most influence as a manager. These are the metrics showing what your reps do on a daily basis, such as number of calls, meetings scheduled, and sales presentations made. Measuring these gives insight into how you should direct your reps, telling you which areas they need to focus on and how they should be spending their time.

Sales activity metrics can be valuable as performance indicators, giving you additional insight and control over sales metrics further down the funnel. For example, if your team is making a satisfactory amount of dials each week, then in order to increase the number of opportunities those calls generate, you know you need to focus on your team’s conversion rates.

Lead Generation Metrics

Prospecting is as crucial as conversion for sales teams, and monitoring your lead generation metrics is the best way to ensure that your sales funnel is never lacking potential buyers. These are metrics like number of qualified prospects, percentage of leads dropped, and number of lead follow-ups. What makes measuring these kinds of metrics so valuable is that they can help you see where your SDRs have the most difficulty converting leads, and why certain types of leads might get dropped.

Maybe reps aren’t following up with leads fast or frequently enough, causing what may otherwise be qualified leads to fall out of the funnel. If you’re tracking and logging your sales calls, you can see where in a conversation your reps have the highest lead conversion rates, allowing you to edit your script or make necessary adjustments.

Though the best individual metrics to track can change business to business, these three types of metrics are essential for providing you with the sales data you need for continued optimization and success.