What's your process for figuring out what metrics to hold sales accountable for?

My process for figuring out what metrics to hold sales accountable for is related their percentage to quota each month//quarter & their W2. You can never take your eyes off the target. We are responsible for first and foremost revenue and making the company money. My favorite engineer use to call me "Paycheck" because he knew any deal I sold helped him get paid every 2 weeks. You'll want to make sure that AEs and sales managers are hitting the goals they set at the beginning of the year to have their best W2 ever! It's also critical to get buy in from your sales team on what's getting measured that makes them a better AE long-term. 

Your process should be dependent on your targets:

• Are you focused on new logo acquisition vs. expansion?
• Is your goal to drive more revenue through self-serve as you go up market?
• How are you holding the team accountable? What metrics is most important to them (how they get paid)?
• Are you based on monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual quotas?
• What are the key KPIs that your business is struggling with? How can we incentivize (spiffs) the team to focus their efforts here?

If there is a metric that you need to focus on (i.e. generating new pipeline this quarter), I recommend putting a spiff in place for the team to overachieve that target. Sellers are incentivized by money. Make it fun and competitive.

These are just a few things to consider as you look to build your process around your key sales metrics.