Lies, Damn Lies And 5 Metrics Your Sales Team Needs
A well-run business is a vibrant ecosystem where everyone works in harmony to get the best results possible. This synergy can be difficult to achieve, particularly as a company grows and departments become larger and larger. At Uberflip, we make it a top priority to make sure every department knows what every department is up to, and to help each team out whenever possible.
As much as it’s important to work with everyone, two departments that are particularly intertwined are sales and marketing. Both teams have the combined task of leading prospects through the sales funnel in order to turn leads into customers, with marketing focused more on the top part of the funnel and the sales team targeting the bottom.
Great marketers always have an eye on their numbers, tracking key metrics that inform them of their progress and what areas to focus on. As it turns out, a lot of this insight is extremely valuable for the sales team as well. If you’d like to really make your sales team love you, here are 5 metrics for you to start sharing with sales immediately.
Lead Volume
For marketers, it all boils down to adding more leads to the sales funnel. You’ve got to find people that have a need for your product, create awareness, and engage them in order to convert them into customers. The sales team isn’t focused on these beginning stages, devoting much of its efforts to closing deals with high-potential opportunities.
Sharing your lead volume - the number of potential sales contacts that have an interest in your product/service - will provide sales with a more complete picture of what your funnel looks like. This new understanding of how many leads are out there will inform sales of the size of your company’s reach, which can then help determine if enough contacts are being targeted.
Cost Per Lead
Though the sales team is extremely keen on leads, it might not be as focused on what has led up to bringing these leads to its attention. More specifically, sales might not be overly concerned with how much money it costs to bring in each lead. The marketing team, on the other hand, is definitely aware of this number, since this is their primary focus.
If sales is unaware of what your cost per lead number is, you’ll want to share this metric right away. Knowing the cost of each lead will let sales better know how much revenue it should ideally be generating from each new deal. For instance, selling your mid-level product might seem impressive, but if that’s not enough to recoup the amount that was spent attracting leads, then sales may need to refocus its efforts on selling your top-level product instead.
% Marketing-Qualified Leads to Sales-Qualified Leads
This refers to the percentage of how many leads that are qualified for the top of the funnel end up making it to the bottom as sales opportunities. If the number is low, this might be an indicator that sales and marketing need to collaborate more. Perhaps marketing is not attracting the right prospects? Or, maybe sales is not focusing on the right opportunities? Either way, it’s never a bad idea to have more open communication and collaboration.
% of Marketing-Completed Deals
This metric refers to how many deals marketing has completed without requiring the sales team. It takes into account to things like promotions, direct sign-ups/purchases, and other items in place that have not required a sales representative to jump in. This will give the sales team a better idea of how much its efforts contribute to the number of new deals as a whole. If the number is significantly higher than the sales percentage, it might serve as a call for better efficiency in the sales team’s processes.
Customer Sentiment
It’s no surprise that the sales team is focused on selling, but is it doing enough to ensure long-term success as well? Be sure to share how your customers feel with your sales colleagues and make them feel awesome about how happy customers are with your product and/or the service they have received. Or, if customers aren’t happy, let sales know so it can make customers even more excited when coming onboard. The key is letting sales fully understand customer sentiment to better understand and relate to your audience.
Have any other metrics that you share with your sales team? Let us know in the comments below!