Whether they measure daily, weekly, monthly or annual activity, commercial activity management indicators let you track the actions and individual results of each of your sales representatives:
- number of clients visited each week
- average time spent per visit
- number of appointments cancelled each month due to service issues (reliability)
- assessment of negotiations (proposal rate, case rate, total number of cases received and processed)
- success rate of offers or prospects = number of prospects or offers converted into orders compared with the total number of offers or prospects
- monthly sales revenue per salesperson
- total production hours sold
- change in representation expenses relative to sales revenue
- margin on orders / commercial costs incurred
- new customer rate
- customer order renewal rate
- orders / offers made
- customer satisfaction index
- number of complaints about commercial activity = number of complaints / total number of commercial interventions
- speed of response to a request for proposals or specifications
- responsiveness of the sales department
- delay in making goods or services available to the customer
- discount amount
- penalty amount
- number of deliveries to customers that do not comply with their request
- follow-up with the customer completed within the requested time frame
- customer delivery time
1. Sales revenue achieved versus targets
This is the first indicator I recommend setting up (though I’m sure you didn’t wait for me to do that!). It lets you see in real time how far you still have to go to reach your set targets (monthly, semi-annual, and annual). A ratio equal to or greater than 1 indicates that sales are above target; a ratio too close to 0 should alert you and prompt you to look into potential issues within your sales force.
Be careful, however, not to rely on this single metric, which does not reflect the sales effort made. A low rate does not necessarily mean that your salespeople are twiddling their thumbs. Compare it with the sales activities carried out using the activity rate.
2. Sales revenue achieved per salesperson
This indicator helps you measure the performance of each salesperson over time, but above all to detect a potential slowdown, a lack of motivation, temporary difficulties or, on the other hand, exceptional results. For you, it is therefore an excellent management tool to highlight the work being done and re-energize the team.
Also consider, for sales representatives who have not met their numbers, taking a close look at the sales effort made, which can help qualify this indicator: the work may be real, but the approach ineffective.
3. The sales pipeline
The sales pipeline is one of the key indicators of the ideal sales manager. It allows you to consolidate the % chance of winning a deal (the closer the deal is to the order stage, the higher the %) with the expected close date and the value of the quote (or its estimate) per month, per quarter, and/or per year.
It makes it possible, beyond the revenue achieved at time T, to anticipate future revenue. You can also gain visibility into how well your team is meeting its objectives and take the necessary collective or individual measures.
4. Activity rate
This involves measuring the sales activities carried out by your team (number of calls, qualified leads or prospects, appointments booked, demos, quotes, etc.). In short, all the metrics put in place to evaluate the steps in your sales process and to compare these indicators with the objectives set.
However, be careful not to build this indicator over too short a period. Some periods are more conducive to calls, while others are ideal for booking appointments.
5. Volume of lost business
We don’t usually like to talk about lost business... Nevertheless, it is a key “trend” indicator for anticipating your future business activity. Losing a deal is not alarming in itself; losing several over the same period is. You absolutely need to ask yourself questions about the market (has a new competitor arrived?), the components of your offer (pricing, services included, etc.), and management (is there an internal issue within your sales team?).
Only once these five indicators have been established does it make sense to go further and consider new KPIs to deepen your analysis.
CRM indicators: Strategic tools for business development
