Every company and sales organization wants to grow, and grow faster. But how can they uncover the secrets to killer sales growth?
By turning to the data and focusing on the right sales metrics.
In truth, the secrets to killer sales growth are rather obvious. You need to increase your average deal size, decrease your sales cycle, and increase your overall win rate. Sounds easy enough right? By focusing on the right growth sales metrics and applying actionable insights from your data, it can be.
Want to see how YOUR own data is measuring up in terms of these killer sales growth metrics and secrets? Try out our blog widget below, which will safely draw from your own Salesforce data to measure yourself on these key growth metrics. Simply click on “Connect to Salesforce” and you’re good to go!
Now that you’ve measured yourself, read more below about how each metric can affect your overall sales growth.
1. Focus on generating the most winnable opportunities
Not all opportunities are created equal. Some are a better fit for your company and your product – these are the ones you should focus on.
For example, the opportunities generated from certain lead sources might significantly outperform those from other sources. If the data suggests reps are 10x more likely to win opps from Lead Source – Facebook than Lead Source – Conference, that is where the majority of their efforts should go.
Or look at your win rate when filtered by the size of the deal. This first chart shows the team’s win rate on opportunities valued between $1 and $19,999 – a healthy 20%.
However, when filtered for opportunities on the high-end of this company’s spectrum – opps worth more than $20,000 – the win rate plummets to 7%. This sales team is 4X more likely to win opps under $10,000 than they are to win opps above $20,000. Their focus should be on sourcing opportunities with an average deal size in this sweet spot, which are considered more winnable and efficient opportunities.
2. Work your opportunities and leads effectively and efficiently
Working opportunities effectively – reaching out early on first contact, following-up regularly – will lead to a lower average sales cycle. The difference in sales cycles between wins and losses is stark. At this company, winning opps that are worked effectively spend only 4.7 days on average in the qualification stage.
On the other hand, opportunities that are ultimately lost typically languish in qualification for 15 days, extending the sales cycle and tying up your reps’ valuable time. Be smart with how you work these opportunities, and know when to cut bait on opportunities that are unlikely to close.
3. Coaching the reps you have vs. hiring more reps
A natural inclination to growing your sales is to…grow your sales team! More reps = more closed sales, right? Well, not necessarily. It is important to first determine if you even need more reps before you go on a hiring spree. Do your existing reps have enough opportunities to work on? If there are reps with no open opportunities, you have a sales pipeline problem, not a rep problem.
Additionally, instead of focusing on external expansion, try your hand at internal growth and improvements with sales coaching. Look at each rep’s sales funnel conversion rates between stages – compared to the company average – to diagnose weaknesses in their individual sales processes. If one rep is struggling to convert from the demo stage, maybe he or she needs some additional coaching on how to deliver a powerful and persuasive demo.
Now that you know the secrets to killer sales growth, start measuring yourself on these key metrics to track your progress toward achieving your desired growth. If our opt-in widget shows you are hitting the specific areas we discussed above, you’re well on your way to killer sales growth.
