11 Ways to Effectively Measure Sales Productivity

Sales are the ultimate goal of any business venture. The quality, quantity, and frequency of sales directly impact the profitability of a business.

Thus, it’s very important to measure the sales productivity of a business accurately. It helps to find out the dos and don’ts of your sales strategy. It pinpoints areas to improve and tactics to continue for a better sales approach.

There are many parameters to measure productivity in sales. Yet, companies struggle to choose the right metrics. Sale productivity is distinct in every company. Hence, it’s all about choosing the correct KPIs.

Challenges of Measuring Sales Productivity

Measuring sales productivity is no piece of cake for Sales managers. It’s ironic given the ease of data collection and access we have achieved. The colossal amount of data gathered by CRMs and other sales productivity tools can be intimidating.

With so many insights spread across the table, it’s hard to decide what to track. Metrics are particular to each business. There is no one-size-fits-all handbook. It’s important to identify the right one to save the trouble of chasing the wrong indicators. For e.g.: Measuring how fast the sales occur rather than measuring the quality and profitability of deals.

Patrick William Joyce, Business Development Advisor at Regie.ai, warns, that “One needs to be smart about what he tracks.” He says “The number of phone calls or emails can be a leading indicator for pipeline volume, “But if you set goals within those metrics, it promotes behavior that inflates vanity metrics. Reps will make calls they know aren’t going anywhere to log daily minimums and protect their livelihood.”

Below are some common measures and metrics to compute sales productivity effectively.

How do measure sales productivity?

Before measuring sales productivity, it’s vital to realize what are its indicators and market trends of ideal productivity.

• Examine and Study Standards

Check for industry benchmarks by visiting sales organizations and communities, or using tools like “The Bridge Group’s performance grader”. This tells you the direction of stacking up.

• Track Indicators

Calls Closed, Meetings booked, Deals Made Proposals sent, Repeat Rates, etc are strong KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) which are leading indicators of future performance. Measuring them gives an idea about the coming status of a business.

Revenue Generated is a lagging indicator. It depicts what the company achieved in past. They contribute a little in forming future plans.

11 Sales productivity Metrics you should track

Here are the 11 most common and important metrics you should track:

1. Activity and Conversion Metrics

Activity refers to all chores done by a sales rep like calls made, emails sent social media conversations, demos, meetings, etc. These activities are barren until they bear productivity. Thus, we need to track how many calls were answered or recalled, emails replied, social media requests accepted, the number of conversations that started, conversations that led to potential leads, leads that became opportunities, opportunities made through the sales cycle, etc. These are called conversion metrics.

Conversions help you identify where SDRs are struggling. Accordingly, changes are introduced.

Sales reps should maintain their sales sheet and do their math to keep a track of activity.

2. Average Response Time by Leads

This metric finds which sales reps are following up with identified potential leads. It refers to the time taken by reps to reply to the interested prospects. The faster they attend leads; the higher chance is for successful conversion. Conversion rates highly depend on rep speed of response.

Keep a check on the status of leads and how much time it takes to jump from the new to the next stage. If you see that average response time is increasing per rep then hire more sales reps for dividing leads.

3. Average handling time

Handling time refers to the time spent by the rep on one conversation, email, call, or other follow-up activities. Decreasing average handling time will automatically increase the number of conversions. This does not mean that reps should make haste to build fast connections. The goal should be to form deep long-term bonds whilst having time management. Rushing may lead to loss of opportunities.

4. Time is taken in selling

How much time a sales rep takes to sell against other activities.? This can be measured through various sales management tools. Sells automation tools also help increase rep performance and focus on high-quality interaction.

5. Identifying lost prospects

It’s important to know which clients you lost and what was the reason behind it. Reps invest time and resources in converting the leads into the sales pipeline. Thus, minimizing the opportunities closed or lost reduces time wastage and improves productivity. You need to calculate the % of opportunity lost to the number of total opportunities. This percentage will guide the rep to upgrade their technique. If opportunities are lost more often will have to adopt a new strategy.

6. Calculating Win Rate

Win symbolizes a successful pipelining of prospects. It is calculated as several closed deals upon total opportunities pursued. It signifies improvement and progress. If the win rate is high, clap for your sales team. But if it’s declining, discover the weak points. You also need to see at which stage the team is lagging early, mid, or final.

7. Length of Sales Cycle

The sales cycle refers to the time a rep takes to prospect, move and qualify leads through the sales pipeline. The faster a rep completes this cycle; the higher number of leads will be generated. On contrary, if one cycle is prolonged then more resources will be used. Also, identify which stage in the cycle consumes the most time. Then, provide specific solutions to improve it.

8. Average Size of The Deal

Quality matters over quantity in all aspects. The sales rep should not chase over small prospects if it’s taking a longer cycle. Instead, reps should pursue more profitable deals. If you observe that your team is focused on small wins, encourage them to aim at the bigger picture. This will increase sales productivity automatically.

9. Learning Time

The newbies in your team should have a high aptitude for new skills, sales techniques, methodology, etc. The faster they onboard and adapt to the work process, the more revenue they generate. Tracking time-to-productivity gives stats on the training process, new reps’ speed, and performance To amp up this process, provide interns with advanced training and knowledge through a senior.

10. Sales Pipeline to Quota Journey

This tells you the worth of quotas and team performances. It is calculated as (total number of individuals rep’s sales pipeline/their quota). If they meet their quotas regularly, it’s time to take on new challenges. Calculate this all months to see whether reps are consistent in hitting their quotas.

11. Return on Investment(ROI)

Hiring a talented sales team is an investment made by a company to achieve desired results. Hence, it’s important to calculate individual and group ROI for knowing their cost effectiveness The higher the individual’s ROI, the more aligned they are with the company’s investment in hiring them. Also, share best Roi’s for motivating other employees.

Summary

Sales productivity is essential for better revenue generation. It depends on numerous key metrics which vary from time to time. The secret is to identify your KPC, be conscious about what you track and monitor your sales rep activities in detail and revert any demerits.

Learn how can you help improve your teams’ performances through their individual activity statistics and other sales data. Make Sales a common goal for all and achieve productivity effectively and efficiently.