Measuring Sales Performance Metrics

Sales leaders need to put an end to this MADNESS. Here's a strategic seller who was put on a PIP after hitting 166% of his $1.2M quota because he didn't hit the required "activity metrics.” There’s a better way to lead: It's simple... Stop treating knowledge professionals like factory workers. Specialized knowledge, building networks, and embracing tech innovation are more important growth levers than measuring activity inputs. This is especially true for strategic sellers. If you're leading sellers who have to engage with multiple executives at large companies and you're scrutinizing their "activity metrics,” I suggest you do an audit of your management style. Here are 3 great places to start: 1. WHO DO YOU WORK FOR? The average tenure of a VP of Sales is 17 months (down from 26 mos in 2010, per Gong). You’re in a high-pressure position, so it’s a good time to think about who you *truly* work for if this trend has any chance to reverse. Instead of thinking of your board and C-Suite as your bosses, what if you flipped the model on its head? This is known as Inversion Thinking. Instead of: “What do I need to show people at the top to keep my job?” Ask: “What can I do to help the people below me reach their full potential?” 2. WHAT IS THE MEASURE OF SUCCESS? Is the team you lead given a revenue quota or something else? Businesses need revenue to survive and grow… Not more meetings on the calendar. So why over-index on activity inputs if the important outcomes are being surpassed? This is known as Linearity Bias, the assumption that a change in one quantity produces a proportional change in another. More calls, emails, and meetings ≠ more revenue. Instead of chastising reps who are over quota but under activity, try deconstructing their unique approach and giving them a platform to share it with the rest of the team. Viewing sellers like this as “lucky” will limit your growth and tenure. 3. HOW MUCH TRUST DO YOU HAVE? “We had 2 reps put in their notice this week, and I know 2 more who are about to resign.” This was verbatim from a Strategic Account AE I spoke with last week at a Series D startup. Why? Because their senior sales team must participate in 2 cold call blitzes each week in addition to 80 outbound outreaches. “We feel like glorified SDRs. 1,000 calls have produced 10 meetings, a 1% return.” They’re fed up and burned out…so they’re leaving. If a tenured seller leaves tomorrow, what’s the cost of finding, vetting, onboarding, and training a new seller? What's the cost of lost momentum with existing pipeline? If you’re leading with activity and not strategy, I guarantee you don’t have trust in your sales team. As we enter 2024, I encourage you to think differently. The era of 17 months tenure, <40% quota attainment, and 63% of sellers experiencing burnout doesn’t have to continue. You can be the change. 🐝 P.S. Strategic sellers seeking a better way, subscribe: https://buff.ly/3noPjbn

Wingstop's Q4 results, just announced. An absolute scorcher of a year. Domestic same-store sales increased 10.1 percent. In Q4 2023, comps were up 21.2 percent. So the brand managed to grow double-digits on top of 20 percent-plus for a two year-stack of 31.3 percent. Digital sales lifted to 70.3 percent of systemwide sales. Speaking of, systemwide sales rose 27.6 percent to $1.2 billion. Restaurant AUV is now $2.1 million. That was $1.8 million in Q3 2023. Total revenue hiked 27.4 percent to $161.8 million. Net income was up 42.2 percent to $26.8 million. Adjusted EBITDA surged 44.2 percent to $56.3 million. Wingstop opened 105 net new stores in Q4 to reach 2,563 total units (2,204 domestic). For the full fiscal 2024 year, the brand opened 349 net stores. It expects global unit growth rate of 14–15 percent in 2025. Same-store sales in the U.S. across 2024 soared 19.9 percent on top of 18.3 percent (two-year view of 38.2 percent). System-wide sales increased 36.8 percent to $4.8 billion and revenue climbed 36 percent to $625.8 million.

THE GREATEST, SINGLE INDICATOR THAT YOUR DEAL OR DEALS ARE IN TROUBLE. The best indicator that your deals are in good shape or are in trouble comes down to the conversation you're having with the buyer. Are the conversations product-centric or problem-centric? Go look at your CRM, your notes, or your Gong calls. What do they sound like? If they are focused on the product and sound like this: "We need a new (product)" "Do you have x,y features?" "How are you different than the competition." "We are looking to implement this buy March." "We're not interested in this type of tool right now." "We already have a tool like this." "Can your product do . . . ?" etc. These questions and the respective answers reflect a product-centric sales process and product-centric sales calls kill deals. If your opportunities and deals are not problem-focused, they're in trouble. Problem-centric sales process subjugate the product to the problem and sound more like this: "We're struggling to do X and it's costing us." "We're losing abc and it's impact us this way." "We're unable to accomplish x and it's affected us in this way." "We are experiencing a decline in . . ." "It's been going on for over x time and it's only getting worse." This information is what we call BID Information or Buyer Input Data and it centers the sales process around identifying and fixing a problem. If your deals are centered around your product they're in trouble. Look for ways to reengage your prospect to uncover the BID data and center the deal around the problem. Problem-centric sales processes always close more often and everyone is happier. #sales #salesenablement #salesleadership #selling

Only 8% of buyers rate sales conversations as "very helpful." That's what new research found. I showed this to a prospect yesterday. His response? "Not our reps. Our conversations are great." Then I asked: "How do you know?" Silence. We decided to track what happened AFTER their demos. The data was WILD: - 70% (ish) of follow-up emails went unopened - 60% (ish) of sales materials were never downloaded - 80% (ish) of champions never shared our content internally - 90% (ish) of "checking in" calls led to zero progress They were having what THEY thought were "great conversations." But their prospects weren't finding them valuable enough to act on. This isn't just their problem. The modern buyer spends just 5% of their journey talking to salespeople. The other 95%? They're trying to build consensus internally. Without you. So we are changing up their approach: Instead of focusing on "nailing the demo"... We focused on what happens AFTER. Every sales call now ends with a digital room containing: - Only the content specifically requested - Tools the champion can use to sell internally - Collaborative space for all stakeholders - Anonymous Q&A for surfacing hidden objections The results I'm 99% we will help them hit? • Content engagement up by huge % • Deal velocity increase • Win rates jumping The best sales conversation isn't the one that impresses your prospect. It's the one that equips them to have better conversations when you're not there. Your demo isn't the finish line. It's the starting gun. What happens next determines everything. Are you still measuring success by how your calls go? Or by what happens after you hang up?

Your sales managers are drowning in data—but starving for clarity. I was on a call last week with a VP of Sales who showed me his dashboard. 47 different metrics. I asked him : "Which number, if it moved 20% this month, would change everything?" Silence. Here's what I see happening: Leaders know *something* is off. Pipeline isn't converting. Reps are busy but not productive. Deals are slipping. But they can't pinpoint the actual behavior or skill gap that's causing it. Here's how to actually diagnose what's broken (and fix it fast): —— Step 1: Pick ONE North-Star Metric Not 10. Not 5. One. What's the single number that, if improved, would cascade into revenue growth this quarter? Could be: → Connect rate → Discovery-to-demo conversion → Demo-to-proposal rate → Close rate Pick the constraint. Ignore the rest for now. —— Step 2: Work Backward to the Behaviors Metrics don't move themselves. Behaviors move metrics. Ask: What are the 3–5 specific actions that directly influence this number? Example—if your North-Star is close rate: • Multi-threading (are reps building champion + EB relationships?) • Next-step clarity (is every call ending with a concrete commitment?) • Objection handling (are reps folding on pricing or timeline pushback?) Now you have a target. You know exactly what behaviors to inspect and improve. —— Step 3: Inspect the Work, Not Just the Outcome Most managers live in lagging indicators. They see the deal lost, the pipeline gap, the missed forecast—after it's too late. Top leaders inspect leading behaviors weekly: → Listen to 2–3 discovery calls per rep. Score them on your behavior checklist. → Review pipeline hygiene: Are next steps clear? Are close dates realistic? → Check activity quality: Are reps reaching the right people, or just burning through volume? You'll spot the gap in week one. You can course-correct in week two. —— Step 4: Use BIPSY to Diagnose the Root Cause When a behavior isn't happening, most managers assume it's a skill problem and throw training at it. But the issue might be: B – Behavior: They don't know they should be doing it. I – Issue Diagnosis: We don't know the CAUSE of the problem. P – Process: There's no clear standard or it's not reinforced. S – Skill: They know what to do but can't execute it well. Y – You (Impact): YOU as the leader aren't doing the right things. Diagnose correctly, and your fix is 10x faster. Don't guess. Diagnose. —— Step 5: Coach the Behavior Until It Sticks One conversation won't change anything. Great managers build a weekly rhythm: Monday: Inspect the work (calls, pipeline, activity). Tuesday–Thursday: Coach the gap in 1:1s with real examples. Friday: Measure early proof (did the behavior improve?). Rinse and repeat. This is system force, not brute force. The Bottom Line: Your team doesn't need more dashboards, more meetings, or more motivation. They need clarity and specific actions.

Just watched another entrepreneur blow through his marketing budget. $100K conference booth. $250k ad spend. Cold email campaigns. Zero clue which (if any) actually work. How most entrepreneurs approach real estate sales: • Sponsor a $25k conference booth • Pay channel partners $15K referral fees • Launch cold email campaigns Wonder why they don’t know what’s working. The numbers they're missing: • Cost per acquisition by channel • Value of each funnel stage • Which touchpoints actually drive revenue 100% of them are surprised when I show them the funnel math. The systematic approach: Take a $200/month PropTech tool: 2.5 year average customer life = $5,000 LTV Smart entrepreneurs work backwards from LTV to value each interaction: • 1.5% website visitor to lead conversion • 20% lead to demo conversion • 15% demo to close conversion Suddenly every touchpoint has clear value: • Each website visitor = $15 • Each lead = $1,000 • Each demo = $750 Why this changes everything: That $500 cost-per-lead suddenly makes perfect sense. That $1,500 broker referral fee? Easy decision. You stop throwing money at channels that don't convert. The buyer complexity problem: But here's where most entrepreneurs still fail. Real estate has multiple decision makers. Your messaging needs to match the role: Asset Manager: Cares about operational efficiency Pitch: "Reduces operating costs by 15%, increasing NOI" Head of Acquisitions: Focused on deal flow and speed Pitch: "Analyze 3x more deals in half the time" Facilities Manager: Worried about day-to-day operations Pitch: "Eliminates manual processes, reduces staff workload" Development Director: Thinking about project timelines Pitch: "Accelerates project delivery, reduces delays" What separates winners from losers: Winners know: • Exactly what each funnel stage costs and converts • Who the real decision maker is (vs who takes the meeting) • Which stakeholders hold veto power • How to tailor messaging to each role's priorities Losers treat every prospect the same and wonder why deals stall. The bottom line: Start thinking systematically about funnel economics and buyer roles. Track every interaction. Know your numbers. Match your message to your audience. Details for our next workshop in the comments.

I audited a 250 rep sales team last month. Only 7% were following the sales process. And leadership had no clue. Here's what I discovered when I dug into their "successful" sales operation: The company spent $250K on Challenger training. Built beautiful playbooks. Had detailed process documentation in Salesforce. Everyone talked about their "world class sales process." But when I listened to actual call recordings and analyzed their CRM data... → 47% skipped discovery entirely and went straight to demo → 73% never asked about budget or timeline → 91% couldn't articulate clear next steps after calls → Only 7% actually followed the process they were trained on The reps weren't broken. The system was invisible. Leadership measured activity metrics (calls, meetings, emails) but never measured behavior (did they do discovery? did they create urgency? did they build business cases?). You can't improve what you don't measure. Most sales leaders track vanity metrics: Number of calls made. Number of emails sent. Number of meetings booked. Elite sales leaders track conversion behaviors: ✅Percentage of deals with completed discovery ✅Percentage of opportunities with quantified pain ✅Percentage of proposals with business cases attached When you measure the right behaviors, you get the right results. Your team isn't ignoring your process because they don't care. They're ignoring it because there's no accountability for following it. Start measuring what matters. — Activity isn’t the problem. Your reps are busy.  The question is … are they effective? https://lnkd.in/ghh8VCaf

The best systems need the least management. Yet we keep adding steps, checkpoints, and approvals. I used to believe great companies were built on comprehensive processes. My first startup had detailed procedures for everything — each sales interaction, support ticket, and feature release followed a precise playbook. As we scaled, our process documentation grew faster than our revenue. Team velocity slowed. Innovation suffered. Talented people spent more time following protocols than solving problems. The turning point came when we rebuilt our approach around outcomes instead of activities: 1️⃣ We replaced activity metrics ("number of calls made") with outcome metrics ("deals progressed") 2️⃣ We stopped documenting how tasks should be done and started defining what success looked like 3️⃣ We built automated guardrails instead of manual checkpoints 4️⃣ We focused quality control on system inputs and outputs, not every step in between The results were transformative. Teams moved faster. Quality improved. People stayed energized. Business process exists to manage risk and ensure quality—both valid concerns. But most companies implement these controls at the tactical level when they belong at the systems level. Think of it like this: You can micromanage a road trip by dictating every turn, or you can set a destination, provide a reliable vehicle with good brakes, and trust the driver to navigate. The difference is critical. Tactical processes control behaviors while systems-level thinking shapes environments. Some practical shifts to consider: 1️⃣ Replace decision chains with clear boundaries and after-action reviews 2️⃣ Substitute detailed instructions with clear success criteria 3️⃣ Trade activity monitoring for outcome measurement 4️⃣ Swap manual checks for automated testing 5️⃣ Replace rigid workflows with principles and guardrails Design systems that make quality inevitable, not processes that make errors impossible. Operational excellence is fundamentally about outcome clarity, not process quantity. #startups #founders #growth #ai

A CMO recently asked me a question I hear all too often: “How do I help my CEO and CFO understand we need to move beyond MQLs and short-term tactics?” Here's what I said. THE PROBLEM WITH YOUR CURRENT METRICS MQLs measure activity, not buying intent. More MQLs don’t mean more active buying cycles. They focus on individual leads instead of buying groups. They create turf wars over “marketing-sourced” vs “sales-sourced” pipeline. Worse, the attribution model behind MQLs is a logical fallacy. Marketing is not a gumball machine, e.g., insert budget, get leads. It’s a complex, non-linear system where multiple stakeholders interact over unpredictable timeframes. A deal that closes today was influenced by brand awareness built over months, content consumed 8 months ago, sales conversations, competitive dynamics, and interactions across 6-16 buying committee members. Trying to isolate marketing’s “contribution” is like determining which raindrop caused the flood. WHAT TO REPLACE YOUR METRICS WITH ✅ Brand: • Awareness, consideration, preference in target segments • Excess Share of Voice (ESOV) • Compare to industry benchmarks • Measure over 6-12 month horizons ✅ Demand: • Pipeline quality: coverage, deal velocity, win rates • New and expansion • Account and buying group level engagement (MQA, QBG) • Investment $ / pipeline $ [note: investment, not cost!] ✅ Overall System: • Net Revenue Retention • CAC Payback Period • Net Promoter Score HOW TO GET THERE Build credibility first. Fix obvious operational leaks in 30-60 days: lead response time, MQL quality, marketing-sales handoff friction. Quick wins buy permission for bigger changes. Reframe the risk. Show what status quo is costing: CAC rising, win rates declining, deals lost to competitors with stronger brands. Make inaction feel riskier than change. Build your coalition. Form a cross-functional “GTM Evolution Council” with Sales, CS, RevOps. When the CFO hears multiple department heads say “our model is broken,” it becomes a business problem, not a marketing complaint. (Let me know in the comments if you want more tips!) THE RESULTS WHEN YOU GET THIS RIGHT One B2B SaaS company moved from attribution battles to shared team metrics. Results after one year: pipeline up 32%, win rate increased from 29% to 36%, CAC down 18%. Another B2B SaaS company had 11% brand awareness versus competitors at 35-40%. So they shifted from 70/30 demand/brand to 60/40, and after four quarters awareness reached 28%, win rate jumped from 23% to 31%, and CAC dropped from $18K to $14.5K. THE JOB TO BE DONE Your job isn’t to prove marketing “sourced” a specific percentage of pipeline. Your job is to improve the performance of the entire revenue system. CFOs don’t need perfect attribution. They need confidence that marketing is improving system performance. Give them that, and you'll get the support you need. What’s worked for you in getting buy-in for the new playbook and better metrics?

I recently spoke with a sales leader about a common challenge: how overly complex internal processes slow down sales reps. “Our reps are spending more time navigating internal workflows than selling,” they mentioned. This is a widespread issue—when every step of a deal requires approvals or confusing steps, it keeps reps from engaging with prospects effectively. To fix this, simplifying the sales process goes beyond just removing steps; it’s about empowering your team and creating clear, action-oriented pathways. Here’s how: 1. Cut Down Approval Layers: Allow senior reps to make decisions within defined limits, reducing reliance on time-consuming approvals. This speeds up deal cycles and encourages ownership. 2. Use Clear Playbooks: Ambiguity breeds inefficiency. Standardized, easy-to-follow sales playbooks eliminate confusion and help reps move deals forward confidently, knowing what to do at each stage. 3. Automate Admin Tasks: Manual data entry and updating deal stages take up valuable time. Automation tools handle these low-value tasks, allowing reps to spend more time selling and less on busywork. 4. Streamline Communication: Simplify who’s responsible for what. Clear communication lines and fewer meetings reduce delays, ensuring that when reps need answers, they get them fast. 5. Empower Your Reps: Equip your team with the authority to make pricing decisions or offer discounts without having to escalate every time. Giving them the ability to act quickly builds trust and boosts productivity. By making these changes, you’re not just reducing steps—you’re unlocking the full potential of your sales force, enabling them to focus on what matters most: closing deals and building relationships. Simplified processes mean faster, smoother sales cycles and ultimately better results for your team. #SalesOptimization #SalesEfficiency #SalesLeadership #SalesProductivity #SalesProcess #AutomationInSales #SalesTeam #LeadConversion #RevenueGrowth #BusinessEfficiency