As sales teams play a critical role in generating revenue for companies, marketing could benefit from using sales data to inform their decision-making processes. When you are a B2B brand utilizing Account-Based Marketing (ABM), the alignment of sales and marketing is crucial for generating high-value leads and closing larger deals.
There are various ways sales and marketing teams can collaborate to align their goals and strategies. In this article, we are focusing specifically on how sales metrics can drive and improve marketing decisions.
What Are Sales Metrics?
Sales metrics are simply data points that sales teams use to gauge the performance of their department or the performance of the entire company. The idea behind sales metrics is that they provide a way to track progress towards goals and objectives, which can help a company better achieve growth. For example, sales metrics can help you tell if you are spending enough time and effort on the right sales activities and whether or not those efforts are paying off.
There is a wide range of sales metrics to track, but the ones that are most important to the sales team’s success are what are known as key performance indicators (KPIs). KPIs are the metrics that play a direct role in helping the business meet its overall sales goals.
How Can Sales Metrics Benefit Marketing?
Just as sales teams have goals they are working towards, so do marketing teams — and while these are two separate departments, they often have similar objectives. However, the processes and methods they use are often different. That said, marketing teams could benefit from sales metrics as they can provide them with better insight into how buyers are spending their money and making decisions.
Most people assume that marketing’s job is simply to attract leads and it is the job of sales to convert those leads. However, if marketing used messaging that not only attracted leads but also personalized messaging to speak directly to target buyers to influence their buying decisions, then it would make it easier for sales to then convert those leads.
Thus, marketing could benefit from the same metrics sales uses to inform their decisions as it can help align the strategies of these two teams to more effectively target the right buyer and influence their buying decisions.
Key Sales Metrics to Track to Inform Your Marketing Strategy
What are the right sales metrics to track that can help improve marketing efforts?
1. Total Revenue
Total revenue, or gross sales, is perhaps one of the most important sales metrics to track as it provides insight into the company’s overall financial health and success. This is important for both sales and marketing to be aware of.
2. Revenue Per Account
The average revenue per account, or per product or service, is another essential metric to track as it helps managers in both sales and marketing understand where they need to focus their resources and attention. It also lets you know what accounts the business is most heavily dependent on.
3. Market Penetration
The market penetration rate or market share is your total customer base compared with the total market potential. In other words, it lets you know how many customers you could be reaching and how many you are actually reaching. This is important because it helps with the development of strategies to increase market share.
4. Win Rate
The win rate is the measurement of successful deals in comparison to total deals made, which can include deals that are still open, lost, or slipped. In other words, win rate measures sales effectiveness. This is helpful for marketing to know because if sales are consistently not as effective as they could be, it could indicate an issue with the marketing campaign and messaging as opposed to the sales tactics.
5. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
NPS is a metric that measures customer satisfaction and loyalty, which could indicate how likely they are to recommend your brand to others. This is a crucial metric for both marketing and sales as it helps you to better understand customer experience so you can take necessary action to improve customer satisfaction.
6. Number of Deals Lost to Competition
This is the total number of sales lost due to competition that offers a similar product or service. Knowing what opportunities you are losing to the competition is vital as it can offer insights into what you could be doing differently to enhance marketing techniques.
7. Conversion Rate by Sales Funnel Stage
This metric refers to the number of leads that are converted at different stages of the sales funnel. This is important as it can help identify where there are bottlenecks and roadblocks in the sales process. Marketing could potentially help by providing content that the sales team can use at those stages where they are experiencing setbacks to help provide more value to the buyer.
Increase Your Wins with Sales-Driven Marketing
Tracking the right sales metrics can ensure that both your sales and marketing teams are aligned and making progress toward shared goals. This kind of alignment is key to Account-Based Marketing, and at Cogo & Co., we specialize in helping B2B brands experience growth with ABM strategies.
Take our Growth Readiness Scorecard to receive a score on your sales and marketing approach with customized results, detailing how you can improve your results quickly and easily. Schedule a free consultation to learn more.
