Same Old Song and Dance

It’s not easy to lead an enterprise B2B sales team. In addition to being responsible for hitting the number, there’s pipeline management, forecasting, process improvements, people issues, and a dozen other things to consider. There’s also tremendous pressure to show that things are going “up and to the right” at all times.

Sales leaders often respond by playing “reporting roulette”: they change what’s reported each period based on what makes them look good, instead of what’s really happening with the key drivers of the business. Spinning that wheel like a record may work in the short term, but it’s bound to cause some major skips in performance sooner rather than later.

Here’s why: business is rarely all positive, and the fundamentals of growth don’t change that much. Pretending that you’re in the groove, and showing supporting evidence via dashboards and other reports, might save you today. But savvy senior leaders and board members will soon catch on. Tomorrow, they’ll ask the smart yet simple questions that always cut through the spin, and you’ll still have to answer why your team fell short. Do this enough times and they’ll find someone who will play a more consistent note.

A Change Would Do You Good

Here’s a practical way to keep from spinning out of control:

• Key metrics: Once you set your annual goals, take some time to lay out the specific, actionable activities that will drive performance. Start with the typical top hits, like pipeline coverage multiples, new deal creation, and deal ACV. Layer in the relevant time periods based on your sales cycle, plus your major products, geographies, and/or business segments. Create a CRM dashboard that shows total performance and as many key metrics combinations (metric plus time/product/etc.) as makes sense to know if you’re on track. Review the dashboards frequently with your team, again as often as makes sense for your deal cycle. Be honest about how you’re doing against your overall goals and the benchmarks for each metric. Finally, spend your time fixing shortcomings in each area instead of coming up with new and clever ways to look at the data. Tip: Review your key metrics every 3-6 months. It’s possible that one or more need to be tweaked slightly or replaced altogether to drive growth more effectively. An example could be realizing that later-stage pipeline is a better predictor of closed won deals than overall pipeline. Make the change, and be sure to communicate the reasoning and analysis behind it.