The measure of your sales growth is valuable in determining the pace at which your organization’s sales revenue is increasing or decreasing. This is a key metric for your business, and it should be carefully monitored, since it is a crucial chunk of information that is needed when making growth projections, and is instrumental in strategic decision-making. It’s best to monitor this metric over an extended time period to gain a clear perspective of growth trends and normalize your values. This will help you to account for monthly or quarterly spikes in revenue.
The measure of your sales growth is valuable in determining the pace at which your organization’s sales revenue is increasing or decreasing. This is a key metric for your business, and it should be carefully monitored, since it is a crucial chunk of information that is needed when making growth projections, and is instrumental in strategic decision-making. It’s best to monitor this metric over an extended time period to gain a clear perspective of growth trends and normalize your values. This will help you to account for monthly or quarterly spikes in revenue.
The sales growth metric is used to provide executives and sales directors with an assessment and understanding of the sales performance of an organization. This metric can also be used to show how sales teams or sales representatives can make contributions towards achieving organizational goals. Instead of providing each sales team with a broad objective of increasing total sales by 25% this year, you can set attainable goals that will help them to effectively contribute towards achieving your business objective.
It’s a known fact that by tracking the growth of your sales, you will also track the growth of your company. In general, it’s very important to be mindful about your sales Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Sales KPIs depend on the industry and the specific goals you are interested in tracking. There are a number of KPI types that you will want to monitor for your business. Once you’ve selected your key business metrics, you want to keep track of these KPIs in a real-time reporting tool. This tracking can be done using state-of-the-art business dashboards, which gives your entire organization insights into your current performance. This will enable you to follow the performance of your sales reps, their target industry and area. Let’s say for example, your team focuses on many verticals and only one of them has proven to bring significant returns. This could give you a clue about how you may want to redistribute the verticals in your team. As a result, you’ll then be able to have higher returns. By being flexible and analyzing your sales metrics, and you’re sure to gain more sales revenue for your business. Over a specific period of time, a positive sales growth tells you that you are on track with your sales goals.
Your KPIs should have proper structure, and should not be too costly to obtain, or too difficult to monitor on a regular basis. Make sure that the KPIs you are choosing are in alignment with the goals and objectives of your organization. This will help you to stay on track and will not lead you on a ‘wild goose chase’. Remember to ensure that the data that you are obtaining is accurate and reliable. You don’t want to make very important decisions based on inaccurate information, which can have devastating effects. Your KPIs should keep everyone on your team moving in the same direction. This means that the information is most useful when everyone knows where the business is and what must be done to move forward. As time goes by, your business will be changing and evolving, and it’s only natural that its KPIs will do the same. Always stay on top, no matter what time of year, no matter how long you’ve been in business, and remain consistent and steadfast in getting all the details you need about how your business is performing as a whole.The KPIs that you choose to monitor for your business should have data that is easy to attain. What’s worse than having incorrect or unreliable data? Data that you can’t get access! Furthermore, the insights that your KPIs give you should now give you the power to take the necessary action.
How to see whether you are on track regarding your sales targets
As with any entrepreneur, one of your top priorities is to be able to understand if you are on track with reaching your goals. Questions you should ask yourself include: Is your actual revenue better or worse than what you expected? When you first planned your goals, what did you base it on, and is your baseline included in your charts? The answers to these questions will help you to expect deal activities and results, and in case inconsistencies arise, you’ll be better equipped to recognize outliers versus trends. Using this metric will let you know if your team is doing what they should, if they need help or if the whole strategy should be adjusted. It’s crucial for forecasting, and it lets you know if other factors can impact your bottom line. You know your business is doing well when your revenue has outperformed its forecasted amount.
Track your Average Revenue Per User to track progress
The Average Revenue Per Unit or User (ARPU), is a sales KPI that indicates the average customer’s revenue from all your sales. A simple and easy calculation, it takes your total monthly revenue and divide it by the total amount of customers that you have in your roster. It’s worth pointing out that if your ARPU is rising with your acquisition costs, you could end up trouble. In order to earn a profit from your revenues, your customer acquisition costs should always be lower.
A rising ARPU is an indicator that you are signing bigger customers, or signing customers with bigger plans, and this is a very good sign for your business.
Tracking and measuring your sales metrics will help you to keep your business afloat, as you would be able to spot a dangerous situation before it has a chance to make a negative impact. Employ the use of simple tools that will give you the reports you need and you’ll be armed with the information that you can actually put to use. Take all of these factors into consideration and find the right software for your business that will give you to the power to make decisions that can affect your business’ present and future.
