How to Identify Key Metrics for Sales Prospect Tracking

I met a sales team that tracks 27 different metrics. But none of them matter. They measure: - Calls made - Emails sent - Meetings booked - Demos delivered - Talk-to-listen ratio - Response time - Pipeline coverage But they all miss the most important number: How often prospects share your content with others. This hit me yesterday. We analyzed our last 200 deals: Won deals: Champion shared content with 5+ stakeholders Lost deals: Champion shared with fewer than 2 people It wasn't about our: - Product demos - Discovery questions - Pricing strategy - Negotiation skills It was about whether our champion could effectively sell for us. Think about your current pipeline: Do you know how many people have seen your proposal? Do you know which slides your champion shared internally? Do you know who viewed your pricing? Most sales leaders have no idea. They're optimizing metrics that don't drive decisions. Look at your CRM right now. I bet it tracks: ✅ When YOU last emailed a prospect ❌ When THEY last shared your content ✅ How many calls YOU made ❌ How many stakeholders viewed your materials ✅ When YOU sent a proposal ❌ How much time they spent reviewing it We've built dashboards to measure everything except what actually matters. The real sales metric that predicts closed deals: Internal Sharing Velocity (ISV) How quickly and widely your champion distributes your content to other stakeholders. High ISV = Deals close Low ISV = Deals stall We completely rebuilt our sales process around this insight: - Redesigned all content to be shareable, not just readable - Created spaces where champions could easily distribute information - Built analytics to measure exactly who engaged with what - Trained reps to optimize for sharing, not for responses Result? Win rates up 35%. Sales cycles shortened by 42%. Forecasting accuracy improved by 60%. Stop obsessing over your activity metrics. Start measuring how effectively your champions sell for you. If your CRM can't tell you how often your content is shared internally, you're operating in the dark. And that's why your forecasts are always wrong. Your move.

In 2025, I've noticed many B2B sales teams struggling to leverage LinkedIn effectively. After speaking with 50 top-performing sales leaders, I’ve identified 3 key metrics that make the biggest difference for success on Sales Navigator: 1. Connection Request Acceptance Rate The best teams consistently achieve a 30% acceptance rate from 800 monthly outbound attempts. This isn't just a vanity metric - it's a clear indicator of your targeting accuracy and initial appeal. 2. Response Rates High-performing teams see 25-30% of their messages spark a response. If you're falling short, it's time to reassess your ICP or refine your messaging strategy. Remember, a response, even a negative one, is valuable data. 3. Positive Reply Rate Top performers aim for 20% positive replies. This metric is crucial for qualifying leads before they enter the discovery phase. It's not just about quantity; sentiment analysis is key here. BACKGROUND: I've been obsessed with optimizing LinkedIn outreach since 2018. Back then, most teams were flying blind, measuring success by the number of connection requests sent. It was a spray-and-pray approach that yielded mediocre results at best. As the platform evolved, so did our strategies. We moved from mass outreach to targeted campaigns, but still lacked concrete metrics to guide our efforts. That's when I stumbled upon a podcast featuring a sales leader who had cracked the code. They were achieving consistent 40% acceptance rates and 35% response rates. It was my Roger Bannister moment - I knew it was possible, and I had to figure out how. TAKEAWAY: These metrics aren't just numbers on a dashboard. They're the pulse of your LinkedIn strategy. By focusing on these three key areas, you'll filter out the noise, qualify leads more effectively, and streamline your sales process. But here's the thing - these metrics are useless if you're not acting on them daily. The teams that win on LinkedIn are the ones that obsess over these numbers, constantly tweaking and optimizing their approach. Shoot me a DM if you're looking to turn LinkedIn into a top revenue channel for your company this year.

The Power of Lead Scoring: A Case Study One year ago, I worked with a tech startup with a big problem at hand... They reached out to me because their lead conversion was extremely low. Here's their story: This client faced a common struggle: Turning leads into customers. Despite their efforts, they couldn't crack the code. And there was one main reason for this—they had ZERO lead scoring in place. Now, I know what you might be saying “Jordan, what’s lead scoring?” Okay, so here's the deal with lead scoring: It's like having your own personal radar system for your sales and marketing efforts. You're basically assigning points to leads based on how interested they are in what you’re offering and how qualified they are—by a strict set of standards you create. So, instead of wasting time chasing after every lead out there, you can focus on the ones that are most likely to buy. It's all about working smarter, not harder. That's how you close more deals with less effort. Now, here’s the 5 part lead scoring system we put in place for this tech startup: Demographics: We looked at the industry, company size, job title(s), and location of their prospects. Behavioral Data: We monitored website visits, content downloads, and social media engagement. Engagement Level: The frequency that leads interacted with their content. By looking at this we were able to identify the most engaged prospects. Purchase Intent: Signals like demo requests or inquiries about pricing helped us to prioritize leads that were ready to make a decision. Lead Source: Understanding where leads came from provided insights into their level of interest and intent. Together, we introduced a cohesive lead scoring system—a smart move that changed the game for this startup. By implementing these five key criteria, they could finally stop wasting time and pinpoint which leads were worth pursuing. With this system in place, they saw incredible results. Leads weren’t just numbers anymore—they were real people with real needs. By focusing on the most promising leads, our client saw their conversion rates soar. In the end, it all came down to simplicity. By streamlining their approach and zeroing in on what mattered most, they saw record high sales numbers that year. P.s. - Does your company use lead scoring? If so, what’s the biggest challenge you’re facing right now? Thanks for reading. Enjoyed this post? Follow Jordan Nelson Share with your network to help others increase their sales with lead scoring.

#salesfam The lists you get from your sales manager probably suck. When I was an SDR, all the unsuccessful SDRs relied on the “leads” they got from management. Smiled and dialed down those lists. Pumped out 70 calls a day, every day, wondering why they weren’t getting results. The reality is, a lot of sales leaders aren’t all that sophisticated when it comes to putting together quality outreach lists for their sellers. Sorry but not sorry 🤷 Fast forward to 2024: if you’re still relying only on dusty old CRM records and lists you get from your manager for prospecting, you’re probably doing yourself a huge disservice. You know who’s probably the best person to create a super high quality contact list for prospecting? It’s you 🙂. Below are 25 potential prospecting indicators you can go off of (in no particular order) so you can avoid using garbage lists and so you can make your own set of great lists. (Table stakes: Assumes you have a defined ICP and target buyer personas, and assumes that at worst you understand who’s in your TAM) Potential indicators: 1. Recently changed jobs 2. Recently got promoted 3. Company visited your company’s website 4. Specific contact(s) visited your company’s website 5. Attended one of your company’s webinars 6. Clicked on a marketing email 7. Opened a marketing email multiple times 8. Follows your company on LinkedIn 9. Follows you on LinkedIn 10. Follows your competitors on LinkedIn 11. Viewed your profile on LinkedIn 12. Liked or commented on one of your LinkedIn posts 13. Liked or commented on one of your company’s LinkedIn posts 14. Leadership, management, or ICs are actively posting their own content on LinkedIn 15. Actively hiring in the same department you sell into (e.g. if you sell marketing software, the company is hiring marketing people) 16. Department headcount is growing YTD or year over year 17. Company recent funding round 18. Recent merger or acquisition 19. Recent tradeshow / conference / offline event attendance 20. Recent podcast appearance 21. Recently hosted a (legit) live webinar 22. Recently rebranded 23. Recently redesigned their website 24. Evaluated your product/service last quarter/last year 25. Used to be a customer of your company 2+ years ago 👆🏽 that should be enough to create a bunch of different high quality prospecting lists for yourself hopefully 🙂 What did I miss, #salesfam ? . .

If outbound was a key source of my pipeline, I’d demand better metrics. Most outbound measurement is super tactical: activities, connect rates, reply rates. Sure, you measure meetings and pipeline created but there’s a serious gap between inputs and results[1]: 1. Activity 2. ??? 3. Pipeline To (partly) fill the gap, here’s one metric I’d suggest: incubation period. Credit for this goes to Erik Huddleston, one of the best operators I know. Incubation period = time from account assignment to meeting set In a dynamic books model, the clock starts ticking when the account is assigned. In a static territory model, you may want to measure it from first engagement with an account after territory assignment. Why does it matter? Urgency - shrinking the incubation period speeds up the velocity of your entire revenue engine. The faster you create (qualified) pipeline, the faster you can get to close Rep Diagnostics - large variations between reps helps identify skill gaps Segment Comparison - large variations between different account segments could mean you need segment-specific messaging or tactics (or even that your ICP is over-broad) Signals Evaluation - theoretically using signals to trigger outreach should shrink incubation period—if it’s not, perhaps the signals you’re chasing need to be re-evaluated Channel Velocity - this same metric can be applied to inbound (first indication of awareness to meeting set), allowing you to compare velocity of inbound and outbound It's so useful, I figured Erik couldn’t be the only one thinking about this. I took a look at The Revenue Architecture book, thinking it might have something to say. The closest it comes would be roughly combining Δt1 and Δt2 as a prospect moves from awareness —> prioritization (aka the “pipeline pipeline” phase[2]). However, their examples are much more geared towards inbound (e.g. Prospect—>MQL—>SQL). Maybe it's more common than I realize. If you're using it, let me know! If you're not, I highly recommend you look at it for your team. — [1] AKA The Underpants Gnome problem. Look up the South Park episode if this reference is too old for you. [2] Shoutout to Sam Nelson for this

Most of us think we have a clear ICP. But when you look at the pipeline? It’s a wild mix of company sizes, industries, and personas — all getting the same campaigns & pitch. 3. Some deals move fast. Others stall for months. 2. Some channels print money. Others burn cash. 1. Some personas love the product. Others ghost after a demo. This isn’t a sales problem. It’s a segmentation problem. If we don’t know who our best-fit customers are, we’re running blind. Here’s how I segment 👇 Side note: Get the spreadsheet template along with step-by-step guide from my newsletter. Click the link in my profile to get a copy. 📌 Step 1: Pull Closed-Won Deals Your best customers leave clues — follow them. - Pull closed-won deals from the last 6-12 months. - Grab key data: Job titles, company size, industry, ACV, deal cycle. - Clean up your CRM (because it’s always messy). Why? Real data > gut feelings. Sell to who’s already buying. 🔍 Step 2: Enrich Your Data CRM data alone won’t cut it. Use Clay to enrich contacts (seniority, decision-making power). Pro Tip: Integrate Keyplay to your CRM have accurate industry tags added to your account. Add growth signals (hiring, funding, ad spend). Think of it as turning an old map into GPS with live traffic. 📊 Step 3: Find Your Winning Segments Look for patterns in your best deals: - Which industries & company sizes close the fastest? - What roles drive decisions? - Which channels bring in high-ACV deals? Example: Demos from Marketing VPs at Mid-market Dental SaaS = High ACV & 2x faster close rate. When they come from Paid Channel, the sales cycles are longer compared to when they come organically. Once you see the patterns, targeting becomes easy. ❌ Step 4: Learn from Closed-Lost Deals Your losses reveal what’s broken. - Pull & enrich closed-lost deals. - Identify why deals fell through — wrong fit? Wrong persona? Budget? - Which channels did these closed lost deals come from? - Compare all of these with your closed won patterns. Red flags to watch: - High demo volume, low conversion → Fix qualification/messaging. - Some industries never close → Stop targeting them. - Prospects ghost post-demo → Value prop isn’t landing. 📈 Step 5: Prioritize, Cut, Scale Put your segments into a 2x2 matrix: - High demo volume, high conversion → Scale this segment fast. - High demo volume, low conversion → Fix qualification/messaging. - Low demo volume, high conversion → See if it makes sense to prioritize based on if you have enough time, money, and people. - Low demo volume, low conversion → Stop wasting effort. Why? More focus = more predictable pipeline 🚀 👆Link to the template along with the full guide in my latest newsletter. Grab it by clicking on the link in my profile.

I recently helped one of my clients exceed their sales team's monthly quota by $30,000. (something they've never done before) Here are 3 strategies I implemented: 1. Mapped the Math: One problem I see with companies and sales reps is they don't understand the math to get to their goal. They'll know their quota, but they don't know how they can get there. This was one of the problems my client had. So the first thing I did was create a weekly sales tracker to keep tabs on a few key metrics, like: → a. Open MRR → b. Open deals → c. Closed MRR → d. Closed deals → ARPU → Deal/Revenue run rate → g. # of Demos scheduled → h. # of Demos given → i. Demo held rate → j. Demo run rate Every week I would look at these KPIs to see if we were farther or closer to our goal. 2. Sales call & deal debrief: When reviewing the open deals in their pipeline for the month, I'd prioritize the deals that had a) the highest revenue and b) the highest probability to close. The sales call debrief: Within those deals, I'd listen to all of the sales call recordings (i.e. discovery calls, demos, follow-ups, etc). I would use a discovery + demo scorecard to measure whether or not we had enough information about the prospect and the deal (e.g. decision criteria, etc). The deal debrief: For each deal, we'd dissect the following items (which we would also discover in the call debrief): → a) Prospect problem/impact → b) Current solution (i.e. status quo) → c) Goals/decision criteria → d) Who they're evaluating (competitive landscape) → e) What were the next steps at the end of each call (not just the most recent one) → f) Deal blockers: what was either explicitly said (or observed by us) that would derail this deal? → g) Deal drivers: what can we do to move this deal forward that the prospect would care about?a) Prospect problem/impact 3. Multi-Thread Internally & Externally: Many sales managers/reps talk about mutli-threading to other stakeholders. That's good, but it's half the work. We knew that to stand out against our competitors and be viewed as a true partner, we had to have my client's internal team be involved in the deal at different stages. For example, we frequently had the CEO (my client) reach out to a high-level executive on the prospect side (sometimes the founder/CEO and other times the SVP). Many times, we had them jump on follow-up calls and lead the conversation at the beginning and tail end of the call. Sometimes you need someone from a different altitude to move the needle (and we leveraged that a lot...and still do). P.s if you've found these helpful, you'll like my newsletter. Every week I share tips from the front lines as a seller and coach on how to build, qualify, and close pipeline. Join 6,000+ subscribers here: https://lnkd.in/eWsyreAt

Sales - Effort vs. Booking vs. Cashflow If you are selling to an enterprise, managing sales performance needs you to understand two important concepts: - Leading and lagging indicators - Sales cycle and cash cycle It is very common that leaders create an aggressive sales plan with their team, only to realise towards the end of the financial year that they have missed it by a big margin. Sales is a lagging indicator, i.e. it's an effect. The effect takes time to show up, and at times where the sales cycle is long, it may be too late to act and course correct. A better way to manage sales is by looking at the cause, i.e. what yields the sales, and how is that metrics moving week on week. E.g. we at Indus Net Technologies (INT.) measure the following leading indicators: 1) growth in pipeline 2) conversion rate % 3) # of performing sales reps #1 helps us see the "quantity" of work, #2 helps us see the "quality of work" and #3 tells us if we have put sufficient performing resources to achieve the target - i.e. is the sales leader hiring, onboarding, and training sales reps as per the plan! With past experience, we know where these numbers should be for us to meet the target of $x, and tracking them tells us the deviation from the target every week. And this gives us the opportunity to fix things before it is too late. By measuring these intermediary numbers transparently, we can also avoid micro management, which boosts team morale. Now moving to the sales cycle and cash cycle. It is important to know the time lag between "first contact to deal closure", and "deal closure to money in the bank". Very similar to the concept of lagging and leading indicator, your efforts in sales will be visible in the form of cash flow only after "sales cycle + cash cycle" which can be multiple quarters. This means, the current sales booking or cashflow is an outcome of work done in the past. Therefore these numbers shall not encourage or discourage you, because it must be "expected" if your leading indicators are measured properly without any bias. How do you measure your sales performance? I would love to learn from your experience, so please do share. #sales #growth #salesmanagement #metrics

As a solo searcher, tracking a few key metrics can make or break your search. Having clear visibility into your prospecting volume, pipeline progression, due diligence momentum, and financial management gives you the data needed to course correct and optimize your search strategy. Here's a detailed look at a few of the most critical KPIs to monitor: 👇 First, diligently log your prospecting outreach volume - specifically the number of first contact emails sent per week and initial calls booked per week. Consistently filling your pipeline with high-quality prospects that match your search criteria is the lifeblood of your process. Monitor your prospect reply rates as well to optimize your outreach messaging and targeting. Second, track your due diligence meeting and NDA signing momentum. This shows that your prospecting efforts are successfully identifying and engaging real, qualified sellers. The number of offers submitted per month then becomes important – both offers accepted and rejected provide invaluable learning to improve future offers. Third, focus on expanding your opportunity funnel over time. Measure the growth in your target company list each month through proactive research and expanding professional connections. Attend industry events and grow your network of brokers. Leverage interns and offshore Upworkers. This widens the top of your funnel and fuels a robust pipeline. Fourth, diligently track your financial KPIs. Calculate your quarterly burn rate versus remaining search capital. And remember, time is money! Assess how you’re allocating time across search activities where you can gain efficiency. Monitoring these financial and time management KPIs ensures you remain laser-focused while also identifying areas for improvement. The search journey is arduous for everyone. Managing the madness is a bit easier if you have a dashboard of indicator lights... and that's what KPIs can do for you. And in my experience, searchers that manage their metrics are much more likely to acquire.

I recently explored a game-changing approach to sales performance—one that shifts the focus from just hitting numbers to actually understanding and improving the factors driving success. Sales teams often work under immense pressure, but what if we focused on leading indicators instead of just lagging results? Here are 10 Sales KPIs that go beyond revenue targets and help build sustainable success: 1️⃣ Lead Response Time ⏳ How fast does your team follow up with inbound leads? A delay of even 5 minutes can cut conversion rates in half. 2️⃣ Qualified Leads per Month 🔥 Not all leads are equal. Tracking qualified leads (instead of just total leads) ensures you focus on real opportunities. 3️⃣ Win Rate 🏆 How many deals are actually closing? A high volume of calls doesn’t mean much if conversions are low. 4️⃣ Average Deal Size 💰 Are you selling bigger solutions, or are deals shrinking? This metric reveals whether your value proposition is strengthening. 5️⃣ Sales Cycle Length 📅 How long does it take to close a deal? Shortening the cycle means optimizing the buyer journey and eliminating friction. 6️⃣ Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) 💸 Are you spending more than necessary to acquire a customer? A sustainable sales process should lower CAC over time. 7️⃣ Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) 🤝 Are customers coming back? A high CLV means you’re selling long-term value, not just one-time deals. 8️⃣ Churn Rate ❌ Are you losing clients faster than you’re gaining them? A high churn rate signals deeper issues with customer experience or product fit. 9️⃣ Sales Productivity Metrics ⚙️ Track key activities like calls, emails, and demos per rep. Are they focusing on high-impact activities or just staying busy? 🔟 Forecast Accuracy 🔮 If projections are constantly off, there’s a disconnect between sales teams and market reality. Refining this improves strategic decision-making. 💡 Here’s the shift that caught my attention: Instead of measuring just outcomes, high-performing teams measure what drives the outcomes. Sales isn’t just about closing deals. It’s about optimizing the right behaviors, refining processes, and creating value—so revenue becomes the natural result. 🚀 Which of these KPIs do you track the most? Let’s discuss! #sales #marketing #business #sale #fashion #shopping #entrepreneur #realestate #digitalmarketing #onlineshopping #b #smallbusiness #deals #style #discount #love #branding #promo #success #forsale #cars #instagram #follow #salestips #instagood #lagos #property #motivation #socialmedia #salesalesale