I’m old enough to remember when data and analytics on the sales floor consisted of a Monday morning forecast of what would close that week and a Friday check in, where you reported the number of meetings you’d had and everyone shared closed deals against quota.
All verbally. Or on a whiteboard. A spreadsheet if you were fancy.
We’ve come a long way in the last 30 years or so.
Data and analytics emerged as a game-changer. Capturing information is now big business and, used well, it allows sales teams to better understand their customers, fine-tune their engagement strategies and identify how to improve performance in a really detailed way.
Sounds great doesn’t it? But how do you make a start on doing this if you’re not a native of the language, techniques and tools? The real challenge lies in knowing what data to measure, how to interpret it, and how to apply those insights to make informed decisions.
I’m going to try and show how it works by taking a closer look at metrics, choosing the right lens for analysis, and understanding key performance indicators (KPIs).
Metrics
What are you measuring?
Metrics are the backbone of any data-driven sales strategy. The first step is to identify what you need to measure. Effective sales teams focus on a blend of quantitative and qualitative metrics that provide a rounded view of performance.
Quantitative metrics include hard numbers that give you a clear picture of your sales funnel’s health and efficiency. Things like the number of leads generated, conversion rates, average deal size, and time in pipe.
Qualitative metrics, on the other hand, might include customer satisfaction scores, the quality of leads, or feedback from sales reps. These are softer measurements that provide context to the numbers, offering insights into why certain patterns emerge.
Getting the balance between hard and soft numbers is important and, of course, industries, products and sales cycles dictate what you focus on and how you use it. Short lead time products will differ greatly from long lead time solutions in terms of the importance placed on metrics such as leads generated and time in pipe.
What’s important is to invest the time to really look at the data you have, in order to determine patterns. Understanding which data informs those patterns allows you to recognise the metrics you need to capture, and ultimately help you to better predict what’s going to happen.
How do you collect it?
Modern sales tools like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, marketing automation platforms, and sales enablement platforms have massively changed the ease with which data is gathered and organised. Not everyone has access to all these tools but even at the most basic level, taking the time to evaluate whether your CRM is set up to capture the data that you really need is time well spent, as is making any changes to it that you identify.
Just collecting data isn’t enough though; you need to ensure that it’s accurate, relevant, and up to date. The great thing about modern systems is that they incorporate a lot of automation when it comes to data collection, allowing your team to focus on selling. This does not however, absolve sellers from practicing good data hygiene and ensuring that those metrics that do require manual input such a close dates and stage progression are regularly updated. Some sellers are disciplined in their approach to administration others much more lax. It’s up to you to use your management skills to ensure you get what you need, explaining why you need it and why you need it to be accurate and timely is a great place to start.
What are you looking for?
The objective, as always, is to use the data you’ve collected to inform the right metrics for your sales goals. For instance, tracking the time it takes for leads to move through different stages of the funnel can highlight bottlenecks in your process that need to be addressed, while analysing win/loss rates can reveal which tactics are most effective and help you to identify when one of your team is doing something different that needs to be shared with everyone.
The right lens
Should you be looking at data about your sellers? Data about your customer behaviour? Or both?
Understanding the full picture requires looking at data through the right lens—or rather, lenses. Sales enablement doesn’t just hinge on understanding customer behaviour; it’s equally important to analyse the performance of your sales team.
Data about your sellers includes metrics such as individual performance, productivity, and engagement levels. Are your sellers hitting their quotas? How much time are they spending on actual selling versus administrative tasks? These insights can help you identify top performers and those who may need additional training or support. Moreover, understanding the sales process from your team’s perspective can lead to more effective resource allocation and process improvements.
It’s not uncommon to find out that the way your sellers actually sell is in fact quite different to how your sales process assumes they do. Things change over time and unless your using data and analytics to compare whether your assumptions about how things work is true and keep on top of change as it occurs you’re not properly informed.
On the other hand, customer behaviour data offers valuable insights into how your target audience interacts with your products or services. Are there certain points in the journey where prospects drop off? What patterns can you observe in buying behaviour? For instance, if you notice that customers who engage with your content early in the sales cycle are more likely to convert, you might double down on content marketing efforts and use Account based marketing (ABM) to identify and engage stakeholders in target accounts early and often.
The real power of data and analytics in sales enablement comes from integrating these two perspectives. By correlating sales team performance with customer behaviour, you can identify which actions lead to the best outcomes. If you find that sales reps who engage in more personalised follow-ups tend to close more deals, you can encourage this behaviour across the team.
KPIs
Are you looking at the right numbers? Do you understand what’s really important?
The key to successful sales enablement lies in focusing on the right key performance indicators (KPIs). These are the specific metrics that directly impact your sales objectives. However, not all KPIs are created equal, and understanding what’s truly important can make the difference between success and stagnation.
The trick, as always, is finding the signal in the noise.
One of the most overlooked yet vital KPIs is “time to lose”—the time it takes to identify when a deal is no longer likely to close. It’s an obvious but overlooked KPI for pipeline health. While most sales teams focus on time to close, recognising when an opportunity is no longer viable can be just as important. Identifying and discarding low-potential opportunities early, sales teams can focus their energy on opportunities with a higher likelihood of success, improving overall efficiency & win rates.
Other critical KPIs might include customer acquisition cost (CAC), customer lifetime value (CLV), and pipeline velocity. These indicators help you understand the financial efficiency of your sales processes and the long-term value of your customer relationships. It’s important to regularly review your KPIs to ensure they align with your evolving sales strategy. For instance, if your goal is to increase market share, your KPIs should reflect metrics that contribute to expanding your customer base rather than just maximising individual deal sizes.
We’ve come a long way since the days of a twice weekly paper form being faxed to head office.
The abundance of data in the modern age means it’s easier than ever to better understand your people, your processes and predict the future.
By focusing on the most relevant information and scrutinising it through the appropriate lenses, sales teams can create realistic relevant KPIs. This provides a solid foundation on which to base performance and drive consistent success.
Tell me your data woes! I bet my fax machine I can help you.
Matt Iveson miveson@salesengine.co.uk