5 Metrics for Measuring Sales Talent

All reps are not created equal. By applying AI to their data in Salesforce, sales leaders can detect changes in selling skills before they impact revenue.

How do you quantify a rep’s product knowledge or engagement ability?

Leveraging data from 140M+ daily sales predictions, Rob Käll, Cien CEO, appeared on Donald Kelley’s The Sales Evangelist podcast and gave five metrics to measure your lead, pipeline and sales talent.

1. Lead Quality

All leads are not created equal. By evaluating them by industry, location and determining the conversions, you can identify leads that will most likely not close and stop wasting your time on them.

2. Prospecting Effectiveness

We all know that prospecting involves a lot of “no”‘s or non-responses. Rob says, “the only thing that really matters is engagement.”

Some sales representatives do this by making a lot of calls and sending a lot of emails. Others personalize their messages and use strategy to boost their engagement numbers.

Despite what approach you use, make notes of whenever an activity results in something and you will begin to see patterns that you can then act upon.

3. Pipeline Quality

How do you know when a pipeline is, at least, somewhat accurate? Rob points to three factors to consider in order to understand how your deals are progressing.

• Is this a big deal compared to other deals? Is it a deal that matters?
• Is it a deal that is unlikely to close?
• Has something happened that would make you think the deal is less likely to close?

4. Product Knowledge

“Many sales managers underestimate the importance of product knowledge in a rep’s performance,” he explains. “But either way, when a rep starts out at a business, they won’t have as much product knowledge as someone working there for 3 or 4 years.”

The easiest way to measure your rep’s product knowledge is just to ask them, but it doesn’t always mean that your best product knowledge is your best performer.

It’s not that you need to know every single factor of the product or the industry. You just need to know enough to be credible.

5. Engagement Ability

If you are able to generate a lot of engagement, you’re probably a good communicator.

Rob’s advice is to tell the prospect something they’re actually interested in, rather than using stock phrases and email templates that make them think, “this is just another sales email.”

Tune into the full episode to find out what other advice Rob had about improving overall company performance and to learn more about Cien. You can connect with Rob on LinkedIn or Twitter.

About The Sales Evangelist

Donald C Kelly is the host of the popular sales podcast,”The Sales Evangelist“. He is the founder of The Sales Evangelist Consulting Firm where he helps small companies develop killer sales process to scale their business and increase growth.Donald is also an award-winning speaker, sales trainer, and coach. He’s a big fan of traveling, South Florida staycations and high-quality family time. Donald has a belief that “anyone” can sell if they have the desire and receives the proper training. You can connect with Donald on Linkedin.