How do you recommend socializing KPIs (before the work starts and when it's done)?

I think it's good to try and tell stories with data. What is the KPI actually telling us about our business? Develop a recurring insights cadence within your company. Think of it like a quarterly newsetter from Revenue Ops describing how the teams just performed. Spend some time to make it look good with the data visualzed in charts and the details provided in the appendix. After you produce it a few times, you'll start to get traction and the KPIs will become a part of your leadership team's vocabulary.

I see 4 key steps as part of an effective KPI-setting process:

1. Align on the right KPIs. Employees need to understand why certain metric matters. Connecting any KPI to key business outcomes is crucial.
2. Socialize the method and numbers. Some KPIs are complex to be calculated and can be perceived as a black box. The more your employees understand how KPIs are calculated and how their efforts influence KPIs, the more effective this process will be. Also, explaining how targets are set and the philosophy behind them is key.
3. Track and publish KPIs. Make KPIs widely available through dashboards, newsletters, team meetings and 1:1s. Discuss trends and insights.
4. Use KPIs to make your business better. Take learnings from KPIs and propose changes to the business based on them. Hold individuals and teams accountable for underperformance. Celebrate overperformance.

I love this question because it gets beyond the nerdy numbers part of our job and gets to arguably the more difficult part--LEADERSHIP! Sales Strategist are trusted business partners to our sales leaders. We have a duty to advise them on their business, even if that means telling them they are missing the mark. But how do you tell them they are "missing the mark" if you have no idea what the mark even is! Depending on the size of your company, many of the KPIs will likely come from your higher echelon, while smaller companies are more likely to have autonomy over their targets. No matter who is setting the targets, you AND your sales leader need to be on the same page BEFORE you hold anyone accountable, otherwise you are moving the goal post on them and that can be frustrating for the sales leaders and breakdown trust. I believe in open and honest communication. If I am holding a salesperson to a standard, that standard will be openly advertised on multiple platforms (i.e. in person meetings, slack, email) and the source of our tracking (dashboard, report, google sheet) will also be shared so how they are tracking against the KPI is never a surprise.

Great question! This is important to get right so you are aligned with your boss, key stakeholders, and Analytics and Finance partners.

Setting KPIs as part of strategy setting / project planning is beneficial and too often overlooked. Assuming you identified the KPIs needed to assess the work, there are a few ways I see this done well. The approach depends on the scope and extent of cross-functional collaboration on the project.

• Smaller RevOps-centric change (i.e., something that just impacts Marketing, Sales, Success, or Support)

  • KPIs can often be socialized with just a few key partners in standing meetings.

  • I often use a 1:1 with my boss or other leaders to talk through an idea and what we will measure. That's often enough to proceed but it forces you to sharpen your thinking and commit to something.

• Medium size investments or programs that affect multiple teams

  • This can often be done with a good "roadshow" type document that includes the broader project plan and goals.

  • You might end up presenting this more formally to an exec team meeting or some other leadership group to socialize the KPIs and get buy-in. The KPIs are probably secondary to other parts of that roadshow but again show what you expect to drive through the work.

• Major strategic programs

  • This likely needs a dedicated effort on setting KPIs. This may go as far as having a working group define them, gather data to set a baseline, and extensively document and socialize these.

  • In some recent work I have been involved in at Intercom, we put a pretty large effort into setting initiative KPIs (both primary and secondary) and then reviewing those to make sure they tie into company-level goals. This was a very collaborative effort of Finance, Business Operations, data science teams, initiative leads, and others and then taken to formal steerco and exec meetings to review and approve.

After the work is done, sharing a scorecard or similar KPI readout of the KPIs is a great way to show success (or failure) of the initiative. Ideally this should be designed in the pre-work so everyone knows what they're going to get on a pre-set schedule (this helps avoid getting asked for ad hoc reviews too!).

How that gets distributed is up to you and depends on the same factors as above -- a 1:1 might be enough, or you may need a meeting with a steerco or exec team for a major program.

My team and I are in the midst of this now. We defined four primary KPIs and ~20 secondary metrics we wanted to track for a major GTM model change. Those were turned into a nicely organized document, we build the dashboards and reports needed, and now assemble that monthly and share with the leaders involved in the program. It's a bigger lift for a large program but has been hugely helpful setting expectations and conveying performance data in an organized way.

Before I answer the ‘How’, I want to start with the ‘Why’. Here why it is important to socialize KPIs -

• Fosters accountability: Know how performance is measured and what is expected of you. Clearly defined KPIs and regular reporting create transparency and accountability. 

• Bring everyone to the same page: To ensure teams work together, it is important that everyone understands the KPIs and how their work contributes to moving the needle.  Navigate together! 

• Increases engagement: When we understand the "why" behind the work and can see impact, we improve engagement. KPIs provide a clear picture of progress and achievement, boosting morale.

• Enables data-driven decision making: KPIs provide valuable data that can be used to make informed decisions about strategy, resource allocation, and process improvements

Now, how to socialize before work begins , set the stage -

1. Keep it  simple: Explain what is being measured and why it matters to the company's goals. Show how individual contributions connect to the big picture. Everyone needs to know their role and how it contributes to winning.

2. Work together, Collaborate: Involve teams in setting KPI targets. Make it inclusive and seek inputs. This fosters a sense of ownership and encourages everyone to strive for success.

3. Over Communicate: Answer questions, address concerns, and be transparent about why certain KPIs were chosen. This builds trust and ensures everyone is on board.

When the work is done, keep the momentum going -

1. Share regular updates: Provide frequent progress reports and make the data easy to understand. Understand the current state and what we can do to improve.  

2. Make it visual & engaging: Make it easy to understand progress and trends. Use charts and graphs to present data in a clear and engaging way.

3. Celebrate the small wins, enable success: Recognize achievement, Celebrate wins, both big and small, to keep morale high and reinforce positive behaviors.

4. Be flexible and adapt: Things change, so be ready to adjust KPIs to stay aligned with business goals. 

Foster a culture of transparency, accountability, and shared success!

● Before: Align with stakeholders on definitions and expectations. 

● After: Regularly review in team meetings, dashboards, and executive reports.