AMA: UserTesting VP of Sales, Katie Harkins on Sales KPIs

An important KPI that I see sales teams completely missing is how many chorus or gong calls were listened to in a month//quarter outside of YOUR calls. It's important to learn from your peers and other people who are successful in your role. Even if it's a different segment or different vertical. You can still listen to someone's pivot points or how they sell around common objections. I recommend downloading the Chorus//Gong mobile app and listening to calls when you're driving or working out. Mark Cuban says, "Time is the most valuable asset you don't own." Your ability to blow past your quota consistently is your ability to manage your time.

Here's some advice I would give to someone tasked with taking the sales function up-market in an existing business structure: *What sales cycles are repeatable that have closed up market? *What hiccups did you see in that original sales cycle? *Competitive Landscape *What potential objections change and how do you sell around them differently? *What was the process around: Security? Legal? Procurement? If you haven't closed anything up-market yet in your sales org, I recommend first asking for recommendations from your current customers that are down-market. An introduction is the best way to start this process from someone who is currently spending money with you. 

Here is my favorite hit list of OKRs for Sales: *ASP *Average Sales Cycle *# of net new logos *Total discos scheduled *Percentage to quota I've been at different organizations that also liked to measure the following: * Total Appointments//Discos * Total Pitches Completed * Total Number of Net New Logos * Total Transactions from Cross Sells * Total Selling Days in Month//Quarter * Total Calls//Emails (Calls2Set +Emails2Set Ratio) * Total Talk Time * % to Quota * Selling Days * Show Ratio * Average Deal Size I live by "RGA" = Revenue Generating Activities 

Compared to a sales-assisted org, your KPIs change with a self-serve product. You want product lead growth that funnels your NRR to feed your MRR that feeds your ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue). Some of my favorite self-serve product metrics are the following: *CAC *Unique traffic visits *fulfillment speed *active trials at any given time *AHA moments *virality & recommendations received post AHA moment (flywheel effect) *LTV *at what point does a human step in? (support or sales) *What percentage of your self-serve sign-ups convert to ARR? What steps from Marketing can speed this up? 

My process for figuring out what metrics to hold sales accountable for is related their percentage to quota each month//quarter & their W2. You can never take your eyes off the target. We are responsible for first and foremost revenue and making the company money. My favorite engineer use to call me "Paycheck" because he knew any deal I sold helped him get paid every 2 weeks. You'll want to make sure that AEs and sales managers are hitting the goals they set at the beginning of the year to have their best W2 ever! It's also critical to get buy in from your sales team on what's getting measured that makes them a better AE long-term. 

Everyone has seen the "SMART" goals sheet. Are you specific with your goals when selling into new markets? Maybe it's by geo or by vertical or by title or by named accounts? Can you measure these goals on a weekly basis? Are the goals you set achievable? It's ok to shoot for the stars. Then here comes the tweaking part. You have to be realistic in a given time frame. It's always ok to ask for help. Usually, your network or higher-ups in your organization have seen mistakes or successes opening up new markets. Never eat alone and pick their brains whether it be in person or over zoom. 

If you have a quota, you should take ownership over all your KPIs. Make sure you make them easy to find in one dashboard. I usually call this my "Birds Eye View." I usually see sales leaders not asking enough demand generation questions. What keywords are you bidding on? Why? Why haven't we tried these keywords? I take my top 10 objections in my sales cycles and turn them into collateral. Whether it be a blog post, webinar or ebook. It's easy to user in sales cycles to farm prospects when you already know their objections. 

Some of the worst KPIs to commit to achieving are usually around Talk Time. God gave you 2 ears and one mouth for a reason. We should look more at engaging questions asked in a sales cycle. Sharing is caring. You can ask different titles within your organization how they would like to be asked these types of questions or what's the last time they purchased and what made it a great experience. 

Some KPIs that are over-hyped and unimportant is Talk time. Did you hit your number? Are you asking great questions? Are you pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone on every pitch? It's cool now that we have visibility into the longest monologue or team talk time, but total talk time I've seen misconstrued and abused in different sales organizations. 

We develop quarterly and annual sales OKRs every year. We've done V2Moms that were due in January by every employee. We've made it a requirement to post them publicly inside our Slack profiles so everyone in the company has visibility into your V2Moms as well. I recommend exporting your work calendar from last year and mapping what you did with your time and what was accomplished. This way you don't start from scratch. 

I recommend socializing KPIs in team meetings, emails and in your slack channels. I have a weekly schedule I've followed over the years: MONDAY: Make it personal, pre-call prep for the week, praise from last week, etc TUESDAY: Who needs to get excited about the next 4 selling days? Who needs a gut check? WEDNESDAY: KOOLAID! Press hits on your company, new case studies, competitive wins, etc. THURSDAY: Low/High/KPIs. It's not too late to turn it around. It's time to praise those that have worked their tail off the last 4 days. FRIDAY: Praise. I also recommend managing up. Don't look at it as bragging, look at it as keeping people in the loop. Can they get a glimpse into your world? This is what I've included in the past: * Warm & Fuzzies from a winning perspective * Stat Rat (Sales KPIs) * Demand Generation Updates to keep the pipeline growing * People Updates (Good & Bad) * Top Competitors * Top asked for product integrations * Upcoming Pitches (it's a small world after all) * Personal updates