Sales KPIs: The 10 to Track, Formulas and a Weekly Review

What a sales KPI is, and how it differs from a metric

KPI stands for key performance indicator. In sales, a KPI is a measurable number tied directly to a goal the team has committed to, such as monthly revenue, new customers or a shorter sales cycle. A metric is anything you can count. Every KPI is a metric; most metrics are not KPIs.

The difference matters because a CRM will happily report hundreds of metrics. Emails sent, notes logged, tasks completed, pipeline by source, deals by owner. All of them are useful when you are investigating a problem. None of them should be on the wall unless someone is expected to move it and the team will change what it does when it moves.

A simple test: if the number fell by 20 percent next week, would anyone do something different on Monday? If yes, it can be a KPI. If the honest answer is “we would look at it and shrug”, it is a metric, and it belongs in a report you open when you need it.

The 10 sales KPIs worth tracking, with formulas

These ten cover the full path from a new lead to closed revenue. They are grouped the way you will use them: activity KPIs tell you this week whether next month is in trouble, pipeline KPIs tell you whether there is enough to close, and outcome KPIs tell you what actually happened. Write the formula down next to each one you adopt. “Win rate” calculated two different ways by two people is the most common reason a KPI review turns into an argument.

Activity KPIs: leading

1. Speed to lead

Formula: for each new inbound lead, minutes from the lead being created to the first outbound call, text or email. Report the median for the week, not the average, so one weekend lead does not distort it.

This is the cheapest KPI to improve and one of the most revealing. A lead who filled in a form is usually comparing options in the same sitting. If your median first reply is measured in hours, you are losing conversations before anyone has pitched. The guide to why leads are lost covers the rest of that leak.

2. Follow-up depth

Formula: for deals marked lost with the reason “no response” this period, the average number of logged touches (calls, texts and emails) before the deal was closed.

This catches the most common small-team failure: one call, one email, then nothing. If “no response” losses average two or three touches, the problem is persistence, not lead quality.

3. Conversations per rep

Formula: connected calls plus two-way text or email threads, per rep, per week. If you dial a lot, also track connect rate: connected calls divided by dials.

Dials and emails sent are easy to inflate. Conversations are not. A rep with high dials and a falling connect rate has a list or timing problem; a rep with plenty of conversations and few opportunities has a qualifying or pitching problem.

Pipeline KPIs

4. New qualified opportunities

Formula: count of deals that entered your first qualified stage this week or month. Pair it with lead-to-opportunity rate: new qualified opportunities divided by new leads in the same period.

“Qualified” needs a written definition, or this number drifts. The MQL vs SQL guide covers how to draw that line.

5. Stage conversion rate

Formula: deals that moved from stage A to stage B in the period, divided by deals that were in stage A during the period. Calculate it for each stage in order.

This shows you where deals stall. A team that converts most first meetings into proposals but few proposals into wins has a different problem from one that loses half its leads before the first meeting. If your stages are not well defined, start with the sales cycle stages guide.

6. Pipeline coverage

Formula: total value of open deals expected to close in the period, divided by the revenue still needed to hit the period’s target.

Coverage answers the question every owner asks in week two of the month: is there enough in the pipeline? Read it alongside your own win rate. If you close about a third of the deals you work, you need roughly three times the remaining target in open pipeline; if you close half, roughly twice. Use your own win rate, not a rule of thumb from a different kind of business.

Outcome KPIs: lagging

7. Win rate

Formula: deals won in the period divided by deals won plus deals lost in the period. Leave open deals out of the denominator.

Decide once whether disqualified leads count as losses. Most small teams get a more useful number by excluding “not a fit” disqualifications, so the win rate measures selling rather than lead targeting, and tracking disqualifications separately.

8. Average deal size

Formula: revenue from deals won in the period divided by the number of deals won.

Watch it together with win rate. A rising win rate with a falling deal size can mean reps are discounting to close.

9. Sales cycle length

Formula: for deals won in the period, the median number of days from the deal being created to being marked won.

A lengthening cycle is often the first sign of a stalled stage or a new decision maker appearing late. It also sets how far ahead your pipeline KPIs need to look.

10. Revenue against target

Formula: won revenue in the period divided by the target for the period, for the team and for each rep. Per rep, this is quota attainment.

This is the number the business runs on, and the one you can do least about in the final week. That is why it sits at the end of the list: the nine KPIs above are how you change it before the month is over.

If you want one number that combines four of these, sales velocity is the usual choice: number of open qualified opportunities, times win rate, times average deal size, divided by sales cycle length in days. It gives revenue per day of pipeline. It is a good monthly summary and a poor weekly KPI, because a change in it does not tell you which of the four inputs to fix.

How to choose three to five for your team

Pick at least one KPI from each group: one activity KPI, one pipeline KPI and one outcome KPI. Then add one or two that match where the team is today.

• Owner-led sales, one to three people: speed to lead, conversations per week, win rate. The owner is the bottleneck, so the KPIs should show whether leads are being answered and worked at all.
• A team of four to ten reps: follow-up depth, new qualified opportunities, stage conversion, revenue against target per rep. At this size the risk is inconsistency between reps, so per-rep numbers matter.
• Separate prospecting and closing roles: give each role KPIs it controls. Prospectors on conversations and qualified opportunities created; closers on stage conversion, win rate and cycle length. The BDR vs SDR vs AE guide covers how those roles split.
• Mostly repeat or account-based revenue: add a retention measure, such as the share of last year’s customers who bought again.

Two rules keep the list honest. Every KPI has one owner, a named person who reports it and proposes the fix when it moves. And every KPI is something that person can influence within a week or a month. A rep cannot own revenue against target for the whole company; they can own their own conversations and their own stage conversion.

Setting targets from your own numbers

Published benchmarks for win rate or cycle length mix industries, deal sizes and team types, so they rarely describe a business like yours. Your own history does. To set a first target:

1. Pull the last 90 days for each KPI you chose, calculated with the written formula.
2. Find the median, and the best four-week stretch inside those 90 days.
3. Set the target between the two. The median is what normally happens; the best stretch proves something better is possible with the same team.
4. Revisit after a quarter. If the team hit it, raise it a step. If they missed it badly, check the data before blaming the people; a missing field often explains more than effort does.

For activity KPIs, set a floor rather than a stretch goal. “Every new lead gets a first reply within 15 minutes during business hours” is a standard, and it is more useful than “improve speed to lead”.

Be careful with activity targets used on their own. If the only KPI is dials, you will get dials. Pair every activity KPI with the outcome it is supposed to produce, so conversations sit next to qualified opportunities, and follow-up depth sits next to win rate.

The CRM fields that make the numbers true

Every KPI above can be calculated from a CRM, but only if the right fields are filled in at the right moment. When KPI numbers look wrong, it is almost always one of these:

• Lead created time and lead source: needed for speed to lead and lead-to-opportunity rate. Leads typed in by hand a day later break both.
• Owner: one person per lead and deal, or per-rep KPIs mean nothing.
• Logged calls, texts and emails: needed for follow-up depth and conversations. Calls placed from a personal phone and never logged do not exist as far as the KPI is concerned.
• Stage and the date each stage was entered: needed for stage conversion and cycle length.
• Amount and expected close date: needed for pipeline coverage and average deal size. A deal with no amount adds zero to coverage.
• Lost reason: required whenever a deal is marked lost, from a short list. It is what turns follow-up depth and win rate into a fix list.

The practical answer is to capture as much as possible automatically. Web forms that create leads directly, calls and texts placed from inside the CRM so they log themselves, and stage dates the system records when a deal moves, all remove the data entry that reps skip on a busy Friday. The CRM lead management guide covers the intake side in more detail.

A one-screen sales KPI dashboard

A sales KPI dashboard should fit on one screen and read top to bottom in the order you act on it. A layout that works for most small teams:

1. Top row, this week’s activity: median speed to lead, conversations per rep, and any lead with no next touch scheduled.
2. Middle row, the pipeline: new qualified opportunities against last week, stage conversion as a simple funnel, and pipeline coverage for this month.
3. Bottom row, results: revenue against target for the month and quarter, win rate and cycle length for the last 90 days, and lost reasons ranked by count.

Show each number with the previous period beside it. A KPI without a comparison is a fact; with a comparison it is a signal. Keep per-rep breakdowns one click away rather than on the main screen, so the team review starts with the team’s numbers.

The 20-minute weekly KPI review

KPIs only change behaviour if someone looks at them on a fixed day and leaves with a decision. Once a week, with the dashboard open, work through four questions in order:

1. Did every new lead get a fast first reply? Look at speed to lead and list any lead still waiting. (5 minutes)
2. Is the pipeline being fed? Compare new qualified opportunities with the weekly number you need to stay covered. (5 minutes)
3. Where are deals stalling? Find the stage with the weakest conversion and name the three oldest deals sitting in it. (5 minutes)
4. What is the one change for next week? One action, one owner, written down. (5 minutes)

Outcome KPIs, such as win rate, deal size and cycle length, move too slowly to discuss every week. Look at them monthly, and look at the KPI list itself once a quarter: drop anything nobody acted on, and add something only when you can name the decision it will drive. For the broader operating rhythm around these reviews, see the sales operations guide.

In Conduyt, pre-built reporting dashboards are included on every plan, and the Professional plan adds custom reporting and dashboards, sales forecasting, and team analytics with leaderboards. Calls from the power dialer (included on Professional) and texts run on your own Twilio or Project Blue line, and each call’s outcome, recording and summary is saved to the contact record, so conversations and follow-up depth are counted without anyone typing them in. Pricing is a flat company price with unlimited users, so adding a part-time rep does not change the bill; see pricing for the current plans and the 20-day free trial. For the tracking side of the product, see sales tracking software.

Frequently asked questions

What are KPIs in sales?

Sales KPIs are the small set of measurable numbers a sales team has agreed to manage by, each tied to a goal: for example speed to lead, new qualified opportunities, stage conversion, win rate, average deal size, sales cycle length and revenue against target. Each one has a written formula, an owner and a target.

What is the difference between a sales metric and a sales KPI?

A metric is anything you can count, such as emails sent or notes logged. A KPI is a metric the team has chosen to manage by because it is tied to a goal and someone will act when it moves. Every KPI is a metric, but most metrics are better kept in reports you open when investigating a problem.

How many sales KPIs should a small team track?

Three to five. Choose at least one activity KPI, one pipeline KPI and one outcome KPI, then add one or two that match your current stage. More than that and the weekly review turns into reading numbers rather than deciding what to change.

What are examples of sales KPIs?

Common examples are speed to lead (minutes to first reply), follow-up depth (touches before a lead is marked lost), conversations per rep, new qualified opportunities, stage conversion rate, pipeline coverage, win rate, average deal size, sales cycle length and revenue against target.

How do you calculate win rate?

Divide the deals won in a period by the deals won plus the deals lost in the same period. Leave open deals out. Decide once whether disqualified leads count as losses and apply that rule every time, or the number will not be comparable from month to month.

How often should sales KPIs be reviewed?

Activity and pipeline KPIs weekly, because they can still change this month’s result. Outcome KPIs such as win rate, deal size and cycle length monthly, because they move slowly. Review the KPI list itself once a quarter and drop any number nobody acted on.