1 Important KPI that Sales Leaders Should be Tracking (but are not)

When Ernest, our marketing manager asked me what the most important KPI for a sales leader was and if I could write a small blog post about it, I was overwhelmed. Tilda, our Global Sales Director, could see in my eyes that my brain immediately went through dozens of KPIs that sales leaders track and focus on. 

There were so many important KPIs. Number of leads, conversions to opportunities, client meetings, number of milestones such as POCs in the forecasted opportunities, deals in “commit”, new logos, renewal rate, open head counts, the list goes on. How could I possibly reduce it to THE ONE KPI every sales leader should focus on.

After battling with myself for some time, it struck me. It’s what most sales leaders forget in their busy daily schedules:

How much QUALITY time do I dedicate to train and develop my team?

It serves the biggest wish of salespeople: to develop, grow, get better at their job and earn more money. At the same time, it will enable your team to better hit all the other KPIs that you need to care of.

The Status Quo

Unfortunately, not all sales leaders spend enough quality time with their team. Oftentimes, more emphasis is placed on just going through the numbers instead of coaching, which hinders the sales rep from growing and getting better at their job. As a result, the sales rep doesn’t feel nurtured, does not earn enough money, gets discouraged and ends up leaving the company. Doing so really is counterproductive to the overarching goal – which is to close more deals.

Hence, spending quality time with your sales team to actually see what they’re doing is very crucial. It allows you to understand the problems that they encounter and give them guidance on how they can navigate these problems in order to succeed.

How Can I Spend Quality Time with My Team & Coach Them Effectively?

iSEEit can help prepare you before going into a meeting with your team, so that you’re equipped with the knowledge on the sales rep’s progress and can instantly identify gaps to understand where their problem areas lie.

Through visualizing your sales process, the gaps in the opportunity where the sales rep needs help can be easily revealed. In this way, both you and the rep can target weak points and tackle them together, such as gaining access to the Economic Buyer and identifying the right Champion.

As a result, lengthy deal reviews that solely focus on business and numbers can now transform into a chance to nurture your sales rep to uncover gaps in the sales process and overcome them.

So there it is, the 1 KPI that every sales leader should be tracking but probably isn’t. By setting aside time to coach your team, you’ll be able to ensure that your salespeople grow and get better, and at the same time, continue to help your sales organization succeed.

Let me know what you think in the comments below! Click here to learn how you can implement iSEEit on Salesforce.