The “legend” has it that commercial indicators are only used to feed management’s huge appetite for dashboards and all sorts of statistics… But KPIs start to make real sense once they are aligned with the specific needs of each individual.
Here is a quick overview of the indicators that are essential for the different members of a sales team.
CRM indicators for sales representatives
Salespeople are always pressed for time, focused on what matters most, and primarily concerned with the revenue they bring in. While this may sound a little simplistic, it reflects reality: the sales force is there to sell (as the name suggests!). That’s why salespeople only need a clear and concise set of indicators.
The KPIs to be set up for the sales force are therefore those that allow them to measure the progress of their results and actions, with a more or less precise time frame by month, quarter or half-year.
Among these are sales revenue or gross margin achieved (overall and by period). This is one of the most closely tracked indicators by sales representatives because it is usually used to calculate their commissions. Depending on the compensation structure defined in the company, some will also pay attention to the invoiced or production volume, since all or part of their bonuses depend on it.
The activity data result is also a set of key CRM indicators used to measure the number of new contacts and leads captured, the number of calls, visits, demos and commercial proposals made. This information makes it possible to determine the real commercial effort and, if necessary, adjust upcoming actions.
Finally, CRM alerts play a crucial role here, regularly reminding you of actions to be taken and highlighting those that are potentially overdue.
CRM indicators for sales managers
The sales manager, through his role and responsibilities, is in charge of supervising his team’s activity and the people who make up that team.
It is important for the sales manager to have an overview of his team. He therefore needs KPIs that compile all the activity data for each sales representative (number of calls, visits, demonstrations, orders, etc.), as well as information relating to overall results (sales revenue or gross margin achieved). For more details on these indicators, find out which are the essential B2B indicators for managing your company’s sales activity.
He will also need activity indicators for each of his sales representatives, so that he can support and motivate them in the actions they find challenging. In short: to manage.
If his team’s performance is not up to expectations, it may be due to:
- a generalised problem. In which case, a team brainstorming session is needed.
- one or two salespeople facing difficulties. In which case, a one-to-one review (or additional training) will be necessary.
The sales manager is the “link” between the field and the sales department. He is the one who ensures that his team’s targets are achieved. As you can see, dashboards are therefore central to the day-to-day performance of his role.
CRM indicators for sales management
Beyond simply wanting a large number of different indicators (!!!!!), the core mission of the sales manager is to oversee overall activity, propose necessary adjustments and define the company’s short-, medium- and long-term sales strategy. It is very hard to steer effectively without accurate data from the ground!
To do this, the sales department must have:
- indicators to aggregate all the teams’ sales data at a given point in time
- indicators to compare current activity/results with meaningful reference periods (to distinguish structural from cyclical, especially in sectors of activity subject to seasonal variations)
- indicators for each of its sales teams, in order to manage sales managers and possibly organise sales challenges.
Thus, it will be necessary to build CRM KPIs tailored to each function, avoiding the two traditional traps: indicators that are too "macro" in which field roles will be lost; indicators that are too "micro" in which managers and directors will be lost, to the detriment of the overall view.