Outcome metrics

Outcome metrics count results, not effort. Deals won, the revenue from them, margin, win rate. They answer the question the owner cares about most: did the team sell, and was each sale worth making?

They come from deal statuses and amounts in the CRM, and from payments in the books. Count them by close date or payment date, not by the date the deal was created. Otherwise one month borrows results from another, and every comparison drifts.

Revenue $50,000 from 10 won deals with a margin of $15,000: average deal size $5,000, margin 30%.

Outcome metrics lead the sales dashboard and the monthly review with the owner. The head of sales reads them weekly over a rolling four or eight weeks, because one week holds too few deals. The owner reads them monthly, with margin next to revenue.

They tell you that something is wrong, not what is wrong. When results drop, you turn to activity metrics and conversion between stages to find the cause. Outcome metrics change the large decisions: hiring, the size of the plan, pricing, the advertising budget.

Read outcome metrics in pairs. Revenue without margin can hide heavy discounting. Win rate without the count of decided deals can hide a tiny sample. Activity metrics explain the outcomes, and the sales dashboard keeps both kinds in one view.

• Looking only at revenue. A seller who wins through deep discounts looks strong until you check margin. Put margin next to revenue for each seller and each month.
• Reacting to one week. Results are lumpy, and one large deal moves the whole number. Use a rolling period before you draw any conclusion about a seller or a channel.
• Counting won deals that never paid. A deal marked won but not paid is not yet a result. Agree on one definition, such as the first payment date, and keep it.
• Managing by outcomes alone. By the time revenue drops, the cause is often weeks old. Read outcomes together with the activity and conversion that stand behind them.

By Friday, the head of sales writes down the definition of each outcome metric on the dashboard. One sentence each: what it counts, by which date and what it leaves out. Then check revenue and margin per seller over the last eight weeks. Bring one question from that table to the next review with the owner. It should be a question that needs the owner's decision, not only their attention.

Which numbers to check every week, with one definition for the whole team.