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Sales metrics: What to track, how to track, & why [expert tips]
HubSpot Sales Blog
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Calculate email response rate using: Email Engagement Rate = (Total Number of Engagements / Number of Emails Sent) X 100 For example, if you sent 100 emails and received a total of 200 engagements (e.g., 100 opens and 100 clicks), your email engagement rate would be 200%. Why I recommend tracking it: Email engagement rate is a valuable metric for understanding how recipients interact with your emails and how you can improve your email campaigns going forward. 24. Total Revenue From Partner Deals Measures:Sales performance and effectiveness Who this sales metric is helpful for:BDRs, SDRs, account managers, sales managers+ Partnerships are a fantastic way to grow your business. Total revenue from partner deals is the amount earned from partnerships or collaborations with other companies. This revenue is generated from agreements with other companies to offer products, services, or solutions to its customers. The partner company typically earns a commission or a percentage of total sales generated through channel sales. What I look for:As a sales rep, I collaborated with partners and enjoyed having an alternative sources of leads. Knowing how much revenue comes through direct sales versus partner deals helps you understand the effectiveness of your partnership programs. This metric is important for monitoring channel partners and supporting them in their marketing, business development, and sales efforts. 25. Revenue by Partner Measures:Sales performance and effectiveness Who this sales metric is helpful for:BDRs, SDRs, account managers, channel/partner managers, sales managers+ Revenue by partner refers to the amount of money your company earns from each partnership or collaboration. It provides a detailed view of the revenue generated from each partner, allowing you to understand which partnerships are the most profitable and valuable. “To drive expansion, I used tiered margins, MDFs, and sales playbooks to incentivize upsells.” The average cross-sell and upsell rate of partner customers refers to the average rate at which customers make additional purchases from a company through a specific partner. How I improve it: I found the best ways to motivate partners to extend deal value is often to offer tiered margins or incentive plans to partners that sell premium subscriptions, high end products, or your customer success programs. Access to sales enablement resources like playbooks, demo environments, MDFs, case studies and customer conferences can also motivate partners to find ways to increase deal value. 29. Average Customer Satisfaction Score of Partner Customers Measures:Customer satisfaction Who this sales metric is helpful for:BDRs, account managers, SDRs, sales managers+ The average customer satisfaction score of partner customers refers to the average rating or score customers give regarding their experience with a company through a specific partner. The average customer satisfaction score of partner customers can be calculated by taking the average score from all customers who have transacted through a specific partner. What I look for: Like the sales metric above, this metric tells me the quality of the business each partner is bringing in. 30. Percentage of Time Spent on Selling Activities Measures:Sales activity Who this sales metric is helpful for:Individual reps (including SDRs, BDRs, account managers), sales managers+ The percentage of time spent on selling activities refers to the amount of time your sales representatives spend engaging in activities that directly contribute to generating revenue, such as making sales calls, conducting product demonstrations, and closing deals. What I look for:My goal with this metric isn’t to micromanage my reps’ time. This metric gives me the big picture of a sales team's efficiency and productivity and helps me understand how much time is needed for internal meetings, training, coaching, team-building, etc. 31.
What I look for:By calculating revenue by partner, you can decide which partnerships to keep, grow, or discontinue, and which partners should be rewarded with market development funds (MDFs), awards, and opportunities to achieve higher certification levels. 26. Margin by Partner Measures:Sales performance and effectiveness Who this sales metric is helpful for:BDRs, SDRs, account managers, sales managers+ Margin by partner refers to your company's profit from each partnership or collaboration. Why I recommend tracking it: It provides a detailed view of the profit generated from each partner, allowing you to understand which partnerships are the most profitable and have the highest margin. 27. Retention Rate of Partner Customers Measures:Sales performance and effectiveness, customer satisfaction Who this sales metric is helpful for:Individual reps, account managers, sales managers+ The retention rate of partner customers refers to the percentage of customers that continue to do business with your company after their initial transaction through a specific partner. What I look for:Partners aren’t just channels — they’re extensions of your brand. But many focus only on core requirements. To drive expansion, I used tiered margins, MDFs, and sales playbooks to incentivize upsells. The best partners became co-strategists, not order-takers. Measure not just their revenue —but their expansion rate. 28. Average Cross-Sell and Upsell Rate of Partner Customers Measures:Sales performance and effectiveness Who this sales metric is helpful for:Individual reps, account managers, SDRs, sales managers+ In my experience, many partners are laser-focused on selling the products that meet the customer’s core requirements. They often don’t go the extra mile to upsell or cross-sell your complementary products and services because it may exceed the customer’s budget, or they may be reluctant to add scope to the project. “I found the best ways to motivate partners to extend deal value is often to offer tiered margins or incentive plans to partners that sell premium subscriptions, high end products, or your customer success programs.” Percentage of Time Spent on Manual Data Entry Measures:Sales activity Who this sales metric is helpful for:Individual reps (including SDRs, BDRs, account managers), sales managers+ The percentage of time spent on manual data entry refers to the time that employees or sales representatives spend manually entering data into a company's systems or databases. This can include inputting customer information, updating sales records, and entering product information. What I look for:If you find that you’re spending too much time on manual data entry and similar tasks, it might be time to invest in sales tools that automate the process and give you time to focus on selling. AI-powered tools can take notes, enter and enrich CRM data, and free reps up for higher-value selling activities. Automating manual tasks is the most popular way for sales reps to save time with AI. 32. Percentage of Marketing Collateral Used by Salespeople Measures:Sales activity Who this sales metric is helpful for:Individual reps (including SDRs, BDRs, account managers), sales managers+, marketing teams I’ve seen decks gather dust because they didn’t reflect real objections or because the sales team simply didn’t know they existed. The percentage of marketing collateral used by salespeople measures how your sales representatives use various marketing materials, such as brochures, flyers, product sheets, case studies, and other promotional items. How I improve it:I recommend creating an easily accessible library of content and a dashboard for marketing and sales enablement teams to track which collateral is used most and least often. Tracking your usage helps to prioritize which collateral needs to be updated, expanded upon, or taken out of circulation. This data can be used as an icebreaker for conversations between sales and marketing on the topics and kinds of collateral that resonate with customers the most. 33.
Conversion rate = (Total number of won deals / total number of opportunities) x 100 How I increase it:It can be difficult to move the needle on conversion rates. If conversions are low, recycling the same pitch over and over won’t work. As a sales rep, I learned to personalize my sales pitch based on the information I had about my prospect. This could be information the rep gleaned from conversations or rich intelligence from your CRM data. 5. Cost of Selling Measures:Sales performance and effectiveness Who this sales metric is helpful for:Sales managers+ The cost of selling, also referred to as selling expenses or sales expense ratio, is the overall comparison of a sales activity's expenses to the revenue it generates. It’s helpful to measure it as a percentage. Calculate sales expense ratio with this formula: (Cost of sales) / (Total value of sales) x 100 What I look for:Understanding how much you spend throughout your selling process lets you know if you’re spending money in valuable ways. If you have a lower ratio, you’re effectively generating revenue. If you spend more money selling than you get as profit, you’re overspending to bring in customers and can benefit from revisiting your sales strategies and optimizing your process so nothing goes to waste. 6. Average Length of Sales Cycle Measures:Sales performance and effectiveness Who this sales metric is helpful for:Individual reps assessing personal performance, sales managers+ for team performance The average sales cycle length refers to the time it takes for potential customers (leads) to go through the various stages of the sales process until they become a successfully closed deal. Calculate the average length of sales cycle with this formula: (Total number of days to close all deals) / (Total number of deals) = Average Sales Cycle What I look for:Knowing how long it takes to convert a lead into a customer helps with forecasting, resource allocation, and planning. “Win rate = (Number of won opportunities / Total number of opportunities) X 100” It helps sales managers to identify pipeline bottlenecks, improve forecast accuracy, and benchmark team and individual performance. If your company can sustain a healthy win rate long-term, it bodes well for YoY growth. Once you understand your team’s win rate, the next step is improving it through better sales processes, training, and resourcing. Sales Focus Inc. outlines five strategies to increase sales performance, from tightening your sales metrics to leveraging outsourced sales teams. 9. Year-Over-Year Growth Measures:Sales performance and effectiveness Who this sales metric is helpful for:Account managers, sales managers+ Year-over-year (YoY) growth is the metric that compares revenue generated from year to year. Calculate YoY Growth using: YoY Growth = ((Current Year Revenue - Previous Year Revenue) / Previous Year Revenue) * 100 For example, if your company had revenue of $100,000 in 2021 and $120,000 in 2022, it had 20% YoY growth in revenue from 2021 to 2022. You can also use this formula for any specific sales period. For example, if you wanted to see quarterly growth, you would simply do (current quarter metric - previous quarter metric)/ previous quarter metric * 100 What I look for:YoY growth is a valuable way to evaluate overall performance and success in growing your business and meeting your goals. It’s also a metric you can use as a selling point. When I worked for a Microsoft partner, I remember how exciting it was to represent a solution with a 40% growth rate and strong positive feedback from clients and partners. 10. Revenue by Product or Service Measures:Sales performance and effectiveness Who this sales metric is helpful for:Individual reps, sales managers+ Revenue by product or service is the income generated by a product or service. It’s vital for understanding the financial performance of different products and services. The best way to track this is within your CRM since it’s typically automatically tracked.
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