AMA: AlphaSense Director of Sales, EMEA, Brian Tino on Sales KPI's

Sheer “number of activities” (calls/emails) completed is one of the most over-hyped metrics. While it is easy to measure with modern tracking tools, I find it incentivizes the wrong behavior of reps and ignores the importance of quality.  Now often the best sales reps in an organization also top the leaderboards in the frequency of their activities, but volume alone is not the solution. Today generic templates & sequences spammed out to hundreds or thousands of prospects is a losing strategy ...Read More

Usually my process for figuring out what metrics to hold accountable for looks something like... Step 1: Work with a cross-functional group to align on the ultimate goals & objectives that are aligned with the strategy of your sales team or revenue organization. Step 2: Then take those goals & objectives and break them into the core tasks, behaviors, and milestones that if achieved will be a leading indicator to the success of your team. Note: these tasks/behaviors/milestones should be f ...Read More

Ideally the work of socializing KPIs starts at the very beginning. Usually my recommended process looks something like this… Before the work starts Work with a cross-functional group to align on the ultimate goals & objectives that are aligned with the strategy of your sales team or revenue organization. Then take those goals & objectives and break them into the core tasks, behaviors, and milestones that if achieved will be a leading indicator to the success of your team. Once you have a ...Read More

The worse KPIs to commit to achieving are those that you and your team do not have direct control over. If the KPI is highly reliant on the coordination of cross-functional partners your control becomes indirect. If your KPI relies on the action of a customer or prospect (which can you influence but not control), then you are putting your chances of success up to fate. Ideally, you are committing to inputs and not outputs. You can’t guarantee a commit to pipeline build goal (output), but you can ...Read More

Agreed…setting KPIs that are focused on outcomes or the results of complex efforts without historical information can feel arbitrary. Therefore my coaching generally in the event you are setting up “first of kind” KPIs, whether it is a new organization or a new market, it is always better to focus on the inputs rather than the outputs. It’s impossible to accurately predict your ability to attain a revenue goal or a pipeline generation goal when you are doing something for the first time. Instead ...Read More

Quota attainment & revenue will always the most important outcomes of any sales organization. However, the most mature sales organizations can align on a set of KPIs that will serve as leading indicators to success.  It’s not to say that consistency hitting KPIs will guarantee achievement of revenue goals 100% of the time, and similarly it’s not to say you cannot meet or exceed revenue goals if you miss KPIs. Sometime all it takes is you being in the right place at the right time with one lu ...Read More