What are KPIs for business development
KPIs are metrics used to track performance of a business against their annual goals. Choosing KPIs that are most relevant to your industry and business purpose is essential. Focusing on the wrong ones can be catastrophic for your company.
In this post I explain what a KPI is and which ones to use for tracking your business development. I like to keep things simple. So I’ll be recommending KPIs that are relevant and easy to measure.
What is a KPI in simple terms?
What is a KPI? KPI stands for key performance indicator, a quantifiable measure of performance over time for a specific business objective. They provide targets for teams to aim towards, milestones to monitor progress, and insights that help leaders across the organization make better decisions.
Which KPI is most relevant for business development
As discussed in my previous post you need to measure both leading and lagging indicators. The leading indicators are those that predict future performance. Whilst the lagging indicators show your past performance.
Really you should be measuring both.
Leading indicators include volume of quotes/proposals, number of meetings, number of prospecting emails etc. While lagging indicators might include, revenue, profitability or number of units sold.
How to use your KPIs
At the beginning of my business development journey I had the bright idea of developing a score card for our business unit. I got the operations manager on board and was asked to develop it with the financial controller. What I was hoping for was an easy to view dashboard to give a snapshot of our performance. However, the controller persuaded me to have a dashboard with at least 12 graphs.
What we created was a huge print out that was difficult to interpret, a hassle to update every month and of absolutely no value to anyone.
We learn from our mistakes, right.
Your KPIs need to be easy to use. Period. Updating progress should take no more than 10 minutes. Easily interpretable trends are essential. Granularity of data is not needed. Trends that tell whether you are succeeding or not are all you need.
Take 1 or 2 leading and lagging indicators and start plotting them on a monthly basis. I personally focus on monthly revenue and monthly quoting volumes to let my team know that I’m keeping my sales funnel full and that opportunities are converting into dollars.
Start measuring your success
If you are not measuring your success I challenge you to start doing it right now. Keep it simple. If you are already tracking progress, that’s great news. Doing a double check to make sure it is useful would be a worthwhile exercise.
Remember, how do you know you’re winning if you’re not measuring your progress.
What are KPIs for Business Development
As we know business development skills are not necessarily innate to the individual and can be learned. What better place to start than by downloading my fast business development guide below. This gives a list of actions and activities to set you on the right path right now.
If you are enjoying my free content and want to get more in depth I would ask you to consider buying a copy of my new book Business Development Begins Here. It is available to order on Amazon. Visit the link to grab your copy now.
Coaching
If you want a more proactive and personal approach to your work winning I am available to help. Through one on on discussions I’ll set you on the right path and keep you accountable to future activity. I currently have space available on my 1on1 personalized coaching program. To learn more click the button below.