According to its own data, Salesforce is the world’s top Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, boasting more than 150,000 clients. Making up that platform is a host of tools, metrics and reports that can help any company improve focus, increase efficiency and grow their business. Making the most of this powerful CRM means making the most of its data and analytics.
Here are five of the most helpful Salesforce metrics you should be using:
1. Pipeline
The pipeline is the lifeblood of a sales or service company. Knowing the makeup of a company’s pipeline is therefore a critical component of any metric and one of the first places to focus. The Pipeline Dashboard tool provides a window into where the leads are and in what stage they are. It’s a way to determine if the leads are stagnant or moving through the sales cycle. Observations of the metrics and data in Pipeline can be tailored to fit goals and increase engagement with leads.
Customers at various stages in the pipeline might have different needs. These metrics provide the insight and data to address those needs and move them along. The pipeline is critical, so it goes without saying that metrics centered around it are equally as valuable.
2. Sales Cycle
The average time it takes to move customers through the pipeline and close deals will inform the sales process and indicate if leads are aging properly. If leads are not converting, the Sales Cycle metrics offer many opportunities to uncover root causes.
It could be that there’s a problem with the quality of the leads, an issue with a particular sales channel or that a group or individual sales associate lacks the ability to close. Sales Cycle even lets companies assess the overall lead nurturing process efforts.
3. Open Opportunities
Open opportunities refer to the total number of sales leads that are somewhere in the life cycle. The metrics around Open Opportunities reflect the amount of effort needed to convert all of those leads into sales.
Based on these metrics, you can assign resources based on the required efforts and distribute work evenly amongst sales teams for greater efficiency. It provides an efficient way to delegate sales efforts, get a picture of the overall pipeline and then eventually move the leads through the process.
4. Lead Conversion
Lead Conversion metrics can be instrumental in reducing marketing costs and keeping businesses from throwing good money after bad. This tool and its metrics show where the highest returns are with marketing campaigns and from where the best leads are coming.
Using Lead Conversion to focus on the most rewarding marketing strategies will increase margins by converting more and driving costs for unsuccessful campaigns down.
5. Win/Loss Rate
If leads that are not converted outpace the ones that are, a gap is created in the sales process. Digging deeper into the Win/Loss Rate on the Dashboard will yield insight into the sales funnel, messaging, brand presentation and even the potential quality of the leads. Win/Loss Rate is a way for sales teams to effectively look in the mirror and assess where they are headed.
Decisions informed by data and metrics are infinitely more likely to succeed. Powerful CRM tools provide all of the data companies need if the end user knows where to look. Focusing on the metrics above will keep your company properly focused on objectives and free from getting bogged down with too much data or inefficient campaigns.
Efficiency and effectiveness are paramount to success in business. Companies should measure both with the tools above and take full advantage of their CRM dashboard.