Revenue Engine KPIs
by: Scott Swanson
Principles
Our ability to collect data exceeds our ability to respond to it. Therefore, all KPIs must have thresholds where volatility within the threshold is ignored. All metrics must inform a business decision. Therefore, those decisions – the levers – must be discovered before the KPI is created, not after. TIme should not be spent tracking metrics that do not map to a business decision.
KPIs should be largely aligned to these 5 questions:
- Reach: Are we engaging with enough people?
- Conversion: Are we talking to the right people?
- Velocity: Are buyers acting with urgency?
- Return: Which investments drive revenue?
- Value: Will we meet our bookings target?
Questions answered in this document
- What will we measure?
- Why will we measure it?
- How will we measure it?
- How will we act on it?
- What are the next steps?
What we will measure, and why
Pivots for each of these metrics include source / medium, campaign, touches, content, sales development rep, account executives, outbound vs. inbound, and inferred buyer intent (e.g. High: Demo, Case Study; Medium: White Paper, Analyst Report; Low: Blog Subscription)
Pipeline Metrics
| Metric | Questions Answered |
| Volume (INQ, AQL, MAL, MQL, SAL, SQL) | Are we engaging with enough people? Are we setting enough meetings? Are we closing enough deals? |
| Cost per (INQ, AQL, MAL, MQL, SAL, SQL) | Are we making the right investments? |
| Conversion Rates (INQ > AQL > MAL > MQL > SAL > SQL > CW) | Are we talking to the right people? |
| Velocity (INQ > AQL > MAL > MQL > SAL > SQL > CW) | Are buyers acting with urgency? |
SDR Metrics
| Metric | Questions Answered |
| Time to First Call | Are we reaching the suspect when they’re most likely to be ready to hear from us? |
| Total Touches | Are we engaging (calls and emails) with the suspect enough times to book a meeting? |
| Booked to Held Rate | Are we booking the right meetings? |
| Conversations | How many conversations does it take to get a meeting? Are we having too many? Not enough? |
| Connects | Are we having difficulty reaching the prospect at the appropriate time? |
| Talk time (future) | How does talk time lead to meetings booked? |
How we measure it
We will ensure data is being collected timely, accurately, and consistently through the use of systems and processes. We will automate data entry where possible and where automation isn’t possible we will create processes and incentives when needed . Salesforce will be the single point of truth, so all systems will be required to integrate and/or feed data for this purpose. Data sources include:
- Pipeline performance: Website Forms, Google Analytics, Pardot, Advertising Channels
- Inside sales performance: Agent logging, Sales automation (Outreach, Salesloft), Pardot, Dialer, Zoom
- Revenue performance: The typical location for most of this data is already within Salesforce, but where the connection does not already exist the data will be imported. (Pipeline estimates, deals, customer churn)
How we will report and act on it
We will set quarterly goals and measure attainment against that goal. We will set a weekly pipeline meeting that serves as mission-control for the revenue teams. We start with a shared goal, figure out where we are, and chart the course for how we are going to improve in the future.
During this weekly meeting all teams will report their metrics and bucket them into one of three standardized categories:
- Green: > 90% (attainment)
- Yellow: 75 – 90%
- Red: < 75%