Sales Management: Core KPIs and Goals for a VP of Sales

There are several options for key performance objectives or core KPIs that a company sets for the sales leader.  The obvious KPI would be the actual Sales $ closed but there is more to the job.  The key areas of measurable responsibilities of a sales executive (or any operational executive for that matter) with regard to execution are:

  1. People – hiring the right people (then onboarding & developing them)
  2. Execution & Operations – coordinating operations (managing execution and performance towards results)
  3. Strategic Direction – setting the strategic direction (action plan & the intended objectives)

Thus the Core KPIs have must reflect all these, but let’s first start with the 2 — People/Team KPIs and Operations/Execution KPIs and consider as guidance for the ones you will set at for your company’s Sales Leader:

  • People
    • Recruiting & Onboarding
      • how many candidates you hire and go through initial training and pass
      • Ramp and time to ramp effectiveness
    • Sales Team NPS from a 360 Review
    • Team Turnover (some people think a 30% turnover is good, but I think longevity is better)
    • How many new team members ramp and hit their “at-ramp” targets on time
  • Sales Execution & Operations  (many of these KPIs would be both Total or per Rep)
    • Total Sales $ Bookings
    • $MRR / $ARR added
    • Upsell/Cross-Sell $
    • Total # of Deals Closed
    • Average Deal Size $ (and by segment)
    • Average Win Rate % (and by segment)
    • Quota Attainment %
    • Sales pipeline generation and conversion (for Prospecting / SDRs)
    • Sales Forecasting Accuracy
    • Customer NPS (if they own Customer Success and post-sale relations)
    • Executive Team NPS (approval of the leadership & alignment with the VP of Sales)
    • Top or company-wide strategic goals achievement (anything they contribute and align to)

Of course, depending on your context, there may be many other KPIs like Territory related, Account Management related, etc.

What else?  What are some other goals or core KPIs you have set for VPs of Sales as the company’s CEO?