The Biblical Sales Force Part 3 – Numbers: Metrics and KPIs

This is my third article using the Bible as an analogy to sales and I am currently reading Numbers.  What is Numbers if not God’s mandate to Moses about, well, the required numbers for success?

While there are several business leaders who can be credited for the creation and development of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) or metrics, the earliest evidence of KPIs goes back to the 1870’s. If you think the 1870’s was a long time ago, it pales in comparison to God working with KPIs more than 5,000 years ago.

In Numbers, God told Moses exactly what would be required to successfully defend the land that God provided to the Israelites through Moses and the clans.  God specified, for each clan, and by their ancestral houses, exactly how many tens of thousands of men over twenty years old, should be included.

While you could argue that the numbers that came down from above aren’t truly KPIs, I would argue that they are.  God dictated the performance in numbers of fighting men that Moses must enroll, in order for the Israelites to defend their land against its enemies.  Then God had to hold Moses accountable for those numbers and, as with most of the instances of God making demands of Moses, the demands were met.

In my experience, most companies have KPIs in their sales organizations but the real issue is usually whether or not the KPIs they trot out actually drive revenue. In most cases, they do not.

KPIs must be forward looking indicators, not lagging, or backwards looking results and most companies fail to make that key distinction.  While last month’s revenue and gross profit numbers are an indicator of how the company performed (past tense), they do not indicate how the company WILL perform (forward looking).

In sales, everything that occurs PRIOR to a sale is a potential KPI but the challenge continues to be identifying those which:

• Can be measured (example: conversions)
• Drive revenue (example: new meetings with new prospects)
• Are key milestones (example: qualified opportunities)
• Incentivize desirable behaviors (example: call attempts)
• Tell an important story in a glance (example: change in pipeline value)

Coming up with the most appropriate KPIs is only half the battle though.

The next part is where you play God, and demand that those metrics be met on either a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.  Note, you will not be asking, suggesting, or hoping that these metrics are met.  You must decide and make it clear that meeting those KPIs are conditions for continued employment.  Period.  God’s punishment for failing to follow his commands  were harsh.  Your punishments are up to you, but without following through, you won’t achieve compliance.

Make your sales team biblical and do God’s work.  Work on your KPIs!