What are some of the *worst* KPIs to commit to achieving?

The worst KPIs I've seen are those that encourage the wrong behavior or provide a false sense of security that the business is doing better than it really is. Take pipeline coverage, for instance. Pipeline coverage is a fundamental KPI. There's no sales ops team in the world that doesn't measure pipeline. But the best teams know that when identifying the right KPIs, quality is just as important as quantity. Having a large quantity of pipeline means nothing if there's no thought behind how the qu ...Read More

TL;DR: The worst KPIs share one trait. You can hit the number and hurt the business. Most RevOps teams inherit a scorecard built by people who confused "we can measure it" with "we should commit to it." Activity and adoption metrics dominate that list because they are easy to count. They are also the metrics most likely to create gaming behavior inside a quarter. The repeat offenders: Activity counts as primary measures. Calls dialed, emails sent, meetings booked without a quality screen. Reward ...Read More

The KPI that I tend to disagree with the most is hiring targets (I am using the term KPI very loosely here as some revenue ops are not involved with headcount planning). It is, of course, important to push businesses to grow, particularly when sales territories are too enriched and one salesperson cannot handled all the business themselves (undermanning = loss of revenue simply due to workload!). HOWEVER, this is a dangerous, double edge sword. When we set hiring targets without thorough capacit ...Read More

Any KPI where you either do not understand the mechanisms to drive that KPI or cannot influence the outcome is a bad choice. Not understanding what would be necessary to hit a KPI is a recipe for failure because you can't give direction to the people who have to take that action. Let's say there was a KPI to reach some higher level of CSAT but no one knew what the underlying causes of low CSAT are because of a lack of data and feedback from customers. It would be unwise to commit to achieving a ...Read More

When it comes to selecting KPIs, one of the biggest traps teams can fall into is committing to metrics that fail to pass the crucial "so what" test, don't drive specific actions, or are too vague and not SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound). These types of KPIs can lead to misdirected efforts, wasted resources, and can be detrimental to the business's overall strategy and growth. Here are some examples of what, in my opinion, can be considered the worst KPIs to focus on ...Read More

There is a two part test that would apply here: (1) whether the KPI measures activities or output which meaningfully contribute to a strategic priority; and, somewhat related to the first question, (2) whether there is business alignment and support that this is the right set of indicators to measure, report, and hold teams accountable to. The first question helps counter the restaurant menu approach to reporting, where KPIs or metrics are ordered because they could be "nice to haves", without m ...Read More