Sales is a tough gig. You have to be an extrovert, a great communicator, and a people person. But there are some things that can make your job easier - like Sales OKRs.
OKR is a company-wide initiative to align the sales strategy with the business. It is an ever-evolving process that aims at unifying the overall sales strategy with the mission and vision of your company.
It's not about just hitting your numbers but more importantly about maximizing success for you as well as your team.
Sounds interesting, isn't it?
Let’s dive in to know more about Sales OKR's!
What is Sales OKR?
Sales OKR is an acronym for Sales Objectives Key Results system. It is a dynamic management system for generating focused, effective, and measurable sales goals.
It allows managers to set SMART objectives and track them in real-time--knowing when you're on track or out of targets at any given point during the year.
With Sales OKR, your entire team will be laser-focused on attaining these essential goal fast - now that they know their sales goals are being tracked by smart analytics and KPI's!
It is a way to tie an individual's short and long term goals to actual results. To establish what goals should be set, the following questions need to be answered:
- What is my baseline revenue target for this year?
- What is my most optimistic revenue target for this year?
- What is the sales goal I'm shooting for, realistically speaking, that will provide me success by any measure other than getting fired or quitting because of failure?
Once these targets are established, then it's time for setting monthly interim targets with specific quarterly commitments. Then start working on an annual plan.
It can be helpful for someone who feels sluggish or unmotivated from time to time since they can check what their prior goals were and see if it is accomplished or not.
One of the best sales OKR software that takes care of your company's goals is Fitbots, make sure to check it out.
What's The Objective Of Sales OKRs?
The objective of the OKR is to set and determine achievement for targets.
Specific strategies need to be implemented, including negotiating with potential prospects or finding new ones through networking events to meet these goals successfully.
In turn, this can lead to higher returns on revenue and continued growth in market share.
Example of Objective:
An "Objective" is something measurable and quantifiable like
"Hire 3 new reps by December."
You know what results look like: Hiring three new reps puts $320k on your top-line total! Make sure every goal has both elements, so it aligns with company objectives.
What Is The Sales Key Result?
A "Key Result" in OKR allows a company, or its employees, to set specific and achievable objectives that are aligned with business strategies.
As a result, you can reach the goals more quickly without putting undue pressure on individual teams too early in the year.
Setting sales goals can be the key to success for your business - by setting these targets, you'll know what needs to happen to reach them. With a specific goal set, each member of the team will work hard and have something that they're aiming at.
Plus, it helps motivate everyone on board as seeing their efforts being reflected is an ultimate motivator! Frequent positive feedback to your sales team will create a good working environment.
Examples Of Key Results:
- Our team has established some clear Key Results we’ll focus during this first 3 months: achieving ____________ _______% revenue growth by increasing customer satisfaction; improving conversion rates through acquisition tactics
- “Getting 20 leads by December 31st,” which could be put as a critical result in an annual review with your boss.
What Is The Acronym Of SMART?
- Specificity measures your efforts on quantifiable data such as speed or weight measurements.
- Measurability helps assess progress against objectives with milestones in mind.
- Assignability emphasizes accountability by delimiting responsibility for specific tasks/goals that you can assign at any point during the implementation of said plan.
- Relevance ensures that priorities are set so one won't spend too much time focusing on less essential items while neglecting more pertinent ones.
- The task needs to have meaning or a reason behind why it should exist. So each task shall be time specified to achieve your goal.
OKRs, or Objectives and Key Results, are great for setting goals at any company level. It works well in both the workplace environment as well as your personal life.
Setting goals is often a tedious, time-consuming process. With the OKR system, this can be made much more accessible. In addition, it works for companies of all sizes, new markets, and individuals who want to get things done without supervision from senior leadership being present or needed.
How Do You Set OKRs To Shorten Sales Cycle?
Many salespeople find it difficult to establish objective goals that will yield the desired, measurable results.
A method for setting these objectives is outlined in this article: first, identify a target market and then set some realistic but ambitious goals related to how many contacts you will need to make each day.
You may also want your targets based on an average sale price so that if you hit your goal accurately, for instance, $1000 per week, you can achieve them at any time of year, even when business slows down.
Similarly, sales managers need to be careful when setting business objectives because it impacts how employees perform their day-to-day tasks. If a manager sets unrealistic or unattainable goals, it is bound to frustrate them and lower morale in general, which means a reduced productivity.
A good strategy involves establishing realistic SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable/Achievable) milestones with each employee before reaching specific targets for individual performance metrics like productivity levels.
The SMART goal-setting principles are tried and true, but in today's evolving business world, sales leaders need more than just a set of goals to stay competitive because there are huge chances of getting derailed from the process if not properly organized.
This can lead to decreased sales as well. It is no longer enough to be committed to hitting benchmarks; now, you have the opportunity to take matters into your own hands with OKRs (Objectives and Key Results).
OKRs provide everything that you need for an efficient way of setting sales goals that will move the needle.
Also Read: How To Generate B2B Leads Efficiently
OKR Framework To Strengthen The Sales Analytics Process
The goal-setting method known as Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) can provide a straightforward way for sales teams to streamline work. Using OKR, the team can set critical objectives that are specific but not overwhelming in scope.
Each person then determines what activities they need to complete to achieve the common goal.
This system guarantees visibility into everyone's progress with precise tasks outlined from day one without micromanaging every detail while still allowing employees freedom of expression when it comes time to match these results back up against planned targets at any given point along the journey toward success.
When senior management sets the company's strategic OKRs, they work with departments and teams to help develop tactical objectives.
This bottom-up approach leads directly to goal alignment across corporate levels. It also ensures that the individual managers are engaged by setting personal goals for themselves or those under supervision.
The color-coding system of red (in need), yellow (some progress), and green (on track) is used at weekly, monthly, quarterly check-ins as well as during presentations where it can be displayed live.
So everyone knows how we're doing against our targets all year long. This level of inspection creates accountability which helps keep employees moving toward achieving key results quickly when needed through correction if necessary.
Also Read: Top 50 Sales Influencers To Follow On LinkedIn
Discover The Right Way
The first step of the management consulting process is discovery, so let's take a look at how you can use OKRs to uncover your prospect's desired outcomes.
Asking questions grounded using OKRs as the framework will help identify what information needs to be uncovered through research and conversations with prospects.
For better sales, this method could also prove helpful for deal reviews or qualification assessments if used strategically.
Will OKRs Make You Better Sales?
Let's understand with a practical example how OKR's were adopted by Google.
The story behind "OKRs" is a meeting that took place in 1999 when venture capitalist "John Doerr" introduced this concept to the founders of Google.
The team was gathered around one table, which doubled as their working space and boardroom at times; it even had ping-pong paddles on either side for some fun breaks during work time!
Sales objectives are a significant benchmark for any company. They allow you to evaluate the success of your sales team as a whole, and from there, determine if anything needs adjusting to ensure continued growth. You can also use OKRs to keep track of the monthly recurring revenues.
Doerr's presentation on objective and key results for that meeting was simple:
THE OBJECTIVE:
To create a planning model for GOOGLE based on three key results:
THE KEY RESULTS:
- The first one was to complete the "PRESENTATION ON TIME"
- The second was to set up "Quarterly OKRs"
- The third was to set up a 3 months agreement on a trial basis for the OKR
Google then used this management paradigm to develop its company strategy, and the rest is history.
Based on VideoForm's research, OKRs correlate with increased sales, i.e., an increase in the potential customer base.
There are many reasons for the rise in sales, including a greater focus and accountability from employees and more efficient communication between departments when it comes to the management of time.
In fact, Forbes Magazine's article "The Science Behind Successful Objectives" by Bradley Chambers shows us how easily one can overcome obstacles.
Not just through sheer willpower or hard work but also because human beings naturally strive toward goals they've set for themselves.
According to a survey, B2B SaaS businesses have seen a 20% upswing in revenue due to their success implementing this strategy, highlighting the benefits of setting measurable targets!
As someone who works full time, you know that sales is a numbers game. It's about getting as many potential customers to click on your website and convert that into sales. Here's something to think about:
How did Google grow its user base tenfold in just five years with only one product?
The answer lies deep within the OKR framework, where companies can set goals for themselves based on what they want specifically (objectives) and then track progress towards those objectives using key results or metrics, which are quantifiable measures of success like page views, downloads, etc.
Will OKRs Work & How Do You Measure?
Sales goals are a crucial benchmark for any company. They allow you to evaluate the success of your sales team as a whole, and from there, determine if anything needs adjusting to ensure continued growth.
Examples of well-crafted team OKRs for your sales department can help you alter your company culture by giving world-class employee experiences.
So it is possible to measure your OKRs in many ways. For example, you can score performance out of 10 and classify anything above, say, an 8 as a success.
Alternatively, you can break things down in a binary fashion – either the goal was achieved, or it wasn't.
It's also worth noting that if there were some risks involved with meeting all goals successfully. However, it could be considered successful depending on how accurate your measures translate into gains for the company based on customer feedback from their bottom line.
OKR Examples For Sales Head
Objective: Surge 25% Sales In South USA
Key Result:
Find 100 new prospects
Make a new sales training on priority
Hire 5 Salespersons in South USA
OKR Example For Sales VP
Objective: Increase monetary sustainability by generating a record-breaking 30% in Q1
Key Result:
For the enterprise sales team, hire 2 new account executives
In the mid-level sales pipeline, generate 1 million dollars
Reduce the number of opportunities that are closed or lost from 1000 to 250
Increase the number of weekly demo reservations from 25 to 40
OKR Example For Sales Manager
Objective: Achieve the team's sales quotas in the Q1
Key Result:
Each rep must close 0.5 million dollars in sales
Close 1 million dollars in sales upsells as a secondary goal
Key Increasing success rate to 35% sales
Team review meetings twice a month
OKRs For SDRs (Sales Development Representatives)
Objective: Enhancement in inbound leads handling
Key Result:
Warm lead response within 48 hours
Inbound demo requests response within 24 hours
Cold lead Video Email within 5 working days
Increase the demo bookings by 10% in a week
Ryan O’ NeillFounder, Legitfit
OKR Examples For AEs
Objective: Reach targeted accounts, find, and engage with key players
Key Results:
Increase cold calls from 25 to 35 per day
Increase Video emails from 25 to 35 per day
Increase prospect meetings (One on One) from 1 to 3 per week
Increase conversion rate from 2.5 to 5% per month
OKRs For Channel Partner Sales
Objective: Increase Annual sales in North USA by 50%
Key Result:
Increase upfront bonus by 15% for job posting campaigns
Identify and hire 6 new associate channel partners for the North USA branch
Create a new area on the website for channel partners
Improve the process flow and guidelines for channel partners
Increase commission by 20%
OKRs For Sales Training Manager
Objective: Create a top-performing sales department
Key Result:
Obtain certification for our technique from 95 percent of sales reps
Create personalized coaching profiles
Provide 3 hours of one-on-one mentoring to each sales rep
Contribute to a 15% increase in the conversion rate
5 Tips For Setting A Good Sales OKR
The best way to set a good sales objective is by using these helpful tips:
1. Make sure you know what exactly it is that the company wants from your objectives. This will help ensure success with meeting the objective and encourage continued growth in your career.
2. Set measurable and achievable goals for yourself rather than vague resolutions like "make more deals." This ensures time won't be wasted on tasks or projects.
3. Setting quarterly key result targets (OKRs) can provide additional accountability.
4. Ensure your OKR is filled with a SMART objective: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound.
5. Add metrics whenever possible, so there is data behind decisions.
When you have a clear set of goals and objectives, it can make your team more productive. By setting these OKRs (objectives) at the beginning of each quarter, they can focus on specific tasks that will help them reach those higher-level goals faster than before.
The complete goal-setting process is made much more effective when teams have a set of measurable and achievable objectives or OKRs.
This ensures that all team members contribute to the company's larger goals, rather than just their agendas.
These results can be anything from improving customer satisfaction rates down to completing regular performance reviews for your employees every six months!
Dos & Don'ts Of OKRs
Finally, a few points to keep in mind when designing or implementing your OKR strategy is setting limits. Having more than 3-4 objectives within a given sprint may be too much for you and the team.
It will take some time before you understand how goals are measured with this process, but it's worth it!
Linking every task to your primary business goal is essential because, without those small steps, everything would feel like one giant leap instead of many smaller ones that can all lead to success.
OKRs are the key to operational agility and efficiency. But, you can't expect them to work perfectly from day 1 – it takes some time before your OKR list becomes 100% accurate in every area of focus.
The same goes for everyone on your team - make sure all tasks assigned have clear objectives, so no one is left wondering why they were told something specific or how their contribution will improve company operations overall!
If you want to have clear goals in place, Videoform is here to help you. Video emails are the new way of connecting with your customers. It is an easy and effective means for reaching out, getting feedback, or just checking up on the prospects!
.svg)
