Most sales metrics tell you that you have a problem after the fact. Performance versus quotas, win/loss percentages, average deal sizes, sales cycles and margin contributions are valuable measurements. However, these measurements become operative only after the passage of time when enough deals have worked themselves through the system. Sometimes the numbers tell a good story and you're OK. More often they tell you that you have an existing problem that needs focus and attention. Unfortunately, time has been lost with both hard costs (salaries, expenses, etc...) and immeasurable opportunity costs (deals that could've been yours). How valuable would it have been to catch the problem earlier to nip it the bud? Tremendously valuable.
Measuring and carefully monitoring pipeline creation is one approach. Everybody is familiar with the sales funnel analogy -- put enough stuff into the funnel and you'll begin to see stuff coming out. If you see that the pipeline is not growing sufficiently, you have a sound indicator that sales will probably soon fall short. However, let me ask, what is needed to create a viable pipeline opportunity? A customer appointment. And, in most sales situations, there will need to be multiple customer appointments before a viable opportunity can be recorded in the sales pipeline.
Given this, doesn't it stand to reason that measuring, monitoring and managing the number of customer appointments salespeople complete is incredibly valuable? A leading indicator of success? Assume that your average salesperson is expected to be in the field 4 days per week calling on customers. Also assume that, in a perfect world, an average salesperson can complete 4 appointments per day. This suggests that your average salesperson has the physical capacity to complete 16 customer calls per week. If they make only 8 customer calls per week, I would argue that you have a problem. The problem may be that the salesperson is lazy or incompetent. More likely, the problem may be that your sales process is broken or that your sales organization is not optimally structured. For instance, the salesperson may be spending too much time handling customer service issues when that activity could easily be delegated to an inside sales rep. Similarly, the field salesperson could be spending too much time on the phone setting appointments when that activity could also be moved to an inside sales rep supported by strong lead generation programs. Perhaps the sales territories are improperly structured and too much time is spent traveling between appointments. You get the point.
Of course, the real world is more complicated than the simple example outlined above and each industry has its own unique requirements for successful sales. But, based on my experience working across a range of different industries, it is surprising how many companies fail to measure and manage the number of appointments their salespeople complete each week. Are you comfortable that your sales force is fully utilized?