How do you recommend socializing KPIs (before the work starts and when it's done)?
I recommend socializing KPIs in team meetings, emails and in your slack channels. I have a weekly schedule I've followed over the years:
MONDAY: Make it personal, pre-call prep for the week, praise from last week, etc
TUESDAY: Who needs to get excited about the next 4 selling days? Who needs a gut check?
WEDNESDAY: KOOLAID! Press hits on your company, new case studies, competitive wins, etc.
THURSDAY: Low/High/KPIs. It's not too late to turn it around. It's time to praise those that have worked their tail off the last 4 days.
FRIDAY: Praise.
I also recommend managing up. Don't look at it as bragging, look at it as keeping people in the loop. Can they get a glimpse into your world? This is what I've included in the past:
- Warm & Fuzzies from a winning perspective
- Stat Rat (Sales KPIs)
- Demand Generation Updates to keep the pipeline growing
- People Updates (Good & Bad)
- Top Competitors
- Top asked for product integrations
- Upcoming Pitches (it's a small world after all)
- Personal updates
Once the KPIs are clearly defined, communicate the rationale via a meeting and/or deck with key stakeholders (managers, cross-functional team members, reps, executives) and provide supporting resources before launch. Once these are completed establish regular check-ins with key stakeholders to keep everyone up to speed.
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 draft of those leading indicators, socialize them to other cross-functional leaders to confirm & validate their agreement that those are the right tasks, behaviors, and milestones to measure. After you have aligned on what to measure, it’s all about determining how you are going to measure it. If you can’t measure it, then you can’t manage to it.
As the work begins
Then it’s time to go on a roadshow across the organization meeting with executives, cross-functional partners, and the sales reps themselves sharing:
The “why” behind the KPIs you chose & how they connect to the overall goals/strategies of the team
How those will be measured, reported, and socialized
The expectations for the team of what they need to do to be successful
I’d also recommend giving yourself some flexibility by communicating these will be the KPIs to “start” and over time as we learn more we can iterate as needed.
While the work is in progress
Finally, it’s about creating a cadence of regular review and communication on those KPIs. Personally, I recommend a weekly cadence if possible and socializing those KPIs as publicly as you can to drive accountability, with the caveats that new motions take time to adopt & KPIs may be iterated on over time.
KPIs are best socialized in the largest setting, where they are relevant for all stakeholders. This establishes transparency and consistency for those who it applies to.
For smaller companies this might be a Sales All Hands, while larger organizations might be done in a Team Meeting. Of course, you'll want to allow for questions and clarity to be proven. This can be done in either a group setting, but I also suggest you give space in a 1:1 for nuanced questions to be addressed. Every seller should be crystal clear on what their goals are and how they are being measured.
Once your measurement period is up, whether that be monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually, it is important to reflect with your seller on their specific performance and how it compared to expectations. Speak about what they did to exceed expectations (have them share best practices with their colleagues) as well as what got in their ways from achieving expectations (coaching opportunity on removing obstacles).
KPIs should not be a secret and how sellers are performing against them should be very transparent. Do your sellers a favor and don't sugar coat the performance. Clear is Kind.
I would recommend to share KPIs very early on. Transparency helps to set expectations and progress. It allows to celebrate success and also to identify areas for improvement. It also creates a competitive mindset which we want to see amongst sales teams. (In a healthy manner!)
If the question is referring to the planning phase, then I would say to socialize KPIs with the management team (cross functional leaders) and only share once they are confirmed
I would say adding more rigor around the reporting of KPIs on a weekly basis does help reps stay accountable. It should not be a one and done discussion if you want certain behaviors to be consistent.
It is also beneficial to make sure KPI expectations are understood by any new reps coming in to a business. Ensuring good behaviors are exhibited from the start of a new reps tenure will set them up for ongoing success.
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