Measuring your performance in sales quota is like a long war, and you have to reach the endpoint to make your victory count.
The quota system is a traditional method followed by the sales team to set their targets to drive revenues.
Being on the business edge, the sales team is supposed to retain client relationships and also find new clients to sell and make money for the company.
Under this immense pressure of performance, a single number or quota can be too controlling and demotivating to strive against the competition.
Quota follows a top-down method of management, where tracking of goals in real-time becomes ambiguous, and the window of experimentation is barely available.
So the sales team face performance pressure to sustain in the fierce market. Eventually, their short term goals fail to align them with the bigger company goals.
To help your Sales take on a different approach towards achieving goals, include Objective and Key Results into your management system.
Streamline their short period targets with long term goals, and make an exponential growth in revenue and customer satisfaction.
Here are a few examples of Sales OKR you can implement at your organization.
Example of Sales OKR
Objective: Increment in the sales funnel
KR1: Get 30% leads via email marketing campaign
KR2: Turn 70% of potential leads into customers
KR3: Daily 30 visitors on the landing page
Explanation: This is one of the most common objectives of any sales team, increasing their sales funnel.
This OKR requires a little input from marketing as well.
The KRs might vary from company to company. The first KR here focuses on getting leads with Emails and getting customer attention.
Also, the third KR focuses on attracting visitors on the website.
The second KR aligns with both first and third KR for the conversion of these potential leads.
So, this OKR fits well in any organization trying to increase their sales funnel.
Objective: Increase recurring revenues by Q3
KR1: Close monthly recurring review at $10,000
KR2: Hike annual subscriptions by 20%
KR3: Gain 80% recurring revenue via reselling
Explanation: Monthly recurring revenues are the primary target and challenge for the sales team to maintain the old clients.
The objective is clear and signifies the direction of work.
The first KR focuses on the number needed at the end of the month.
The second and third KR gives a push to sustain that number.
Objective: Improve the efficiency of salesperson
KR1: Introduce 3 training modules every quarter
KR2: 3x increment in conversion rate
KR3: 80% positive feedback from customers
Explanation: Efficiency of a salesperson might sound like a vague objective, but every sales manager wants a good salesperson in order to get most of the ROI.
The KRs here indicates the individual performance.
The first one is in collaboration with the HR department, but it is a practical decision for better sales techniques.
The second and third KR is a performance-based KR, which will define the efficiency of the salesman.
Objective: Improve the quality of approach
KR1: 70% of the surveys should have positive feedback
KR2: Get 40% callbacks after signups for Tele team
KR3: 10 mock sessions for all trainees
KR4: 3x gain in survey audience
Explanation: This objective focuses on the quality of the sales approach, and KRs are about how to improvise.
The first KR focuses on how positive feedback from the survey; the approach will be defined in the survey.
The second KR aligns the customer feedback again with the approach. If the customer comes back, your approach made an impact on them.
The third KR is training based KR. The mock sessions will be a prep session for how to tackle problems and face customers in real-time.
The last KR is an addition to the first KR, increment number of the survey will provide you with a better insight and details for improvement.
Objective: Maximize the sales of the new region
KR1: Identify 80 potential leads every week in the region
KR2: Present demo to at least 20 prospects every week
KR3: Set-up 3 outlets in the region
Explanation: Increasing customer base is significant for any product’s growth. This OKR focuses on improvising sales in the region.
The first and second KR will streamline potential customers. The third KR is based on expansion.
This OKR will further increase the chances of revenue growth
Objective: Increase inbound leads processing
KR1: Give 100% signups demo on the same day
KR2: Limit the surveys on the landing page to 6 questions max
KR3: 90% of customer queries solved within 10 hrs
Explanation: This OKR aims in retaining the customers for sustainable growth of the company.
The first and third KR is inclined towards customer service for inbound processing.
The second KR is not under the sales team, it is usually a task of marketing team but initiated leads for sales.
Objective: Increase profitability in Q3
KR1: Close quarterly revenue at 35% increment from the previous quarter
KR2: Start sales in 3 new regions
KR3: Increase the number of customers by 14% every month.
Explanation: Irrespective of the industry, most companies will always have an OKR for profitability. If you notice, this OKR is all about revenue increment, so it requires efforts of the entire team.
The objective and KRs solely focus on increasing the revenue numbers for the company.
The first KR is bound to increase the revenue and hence, sales by a certain margin.
The second KR is the reason why there will be growth in revenue in that quarter.
The third KR works towards an increase in the number of customers. The second and third KR align to promote growth in the first KR and hence, the objective.
How to use OKR to improve Team Management
Do you have your Sales OKR in your mind yet? It’s time to step away from the traditional quota system and let your Sales team flourish.