Sales Metrics: What to Track and Why

Hello and welcome to the show. Today we're going to look at the key sales metrics, the key metrics that you can use to track sales performance. For those of you who've been listening for the last two or three weeks, this is sort of like a carryover that we did from from that episode about I know it had something to do about tracking sales team performance. You know how to know if your sales team is performing OK, But I, if I remember correctly, in that episode, we didn't go into any kind of metrics that you should be looking at.

So that's the whole point of today's episode, basically. How do you know that your team is selling well? What are the metrics that you can use to to track that? So First off, as usual, definitions, what is a metric? For my own purposes on the podcast or whatever, I'm giving training sessions, I just like to say a metric is anything that you can measure. Now, why would you want to measure? What's the whole point of measuring?

The whole point of measuring is, well, you know how in management circles they say whatever gets measured gets done. That's the whole point really. You measure stuff so you can have systems of accountability around it. And also when it comes to sales and business development, basically we're measuring so that we can scale for growth. So if we measure something, we're doing good on it. We now know that if we teach the next person, we can multiply or we can't increase your efforts and then we're going to do better.

And that's the whole idea basically. So we're measuring for accountability sake and then also to scale for growth. Then OK, we're also going to look at the types of metrics now, because especially for those of you who are in, you know, in that whole fintech digital, you know, product kind of space, you guys really geek out about these sorts of things. But even for people who are in the non tech ecosystem, you'll be nice to know these sorts of things.

So whether you sell TomTom, you sell tissue paper, you sell consulting services or you sell, let me see catfish or wedding photography, some of the metrics things, some of the metrics that we're going to discuss would be useful things for you to know. And then I think after that, we'll just go straight into which is the best metric because people keep, it's one of these arguments is, you know, like people are saying this metric is better than this metric.

That metric is better than that metric. And even though there's some of us who keep saying time and time again that there's no such best thing, you know, it is contextual. It depends, you know, where you, what are you trying to achieve? I guess the debate is always going to continue. So I might as well, you know, put my hat in the ring and give an opinion on these sorts of things. So types of metrics, if you've done some research online, I'm sure you found some stuff about metrics and people just kept on going on about this tool and this ratio and this tool and that ratio.

And I don't think that's a very helpful way to look at it. I think if you're going to start thinking about metrics, are you going to track whether your sales team is performing well or whether you are performing well? Because there are some of us who are self-employed, you're a one man show or a two man show at best. You know, you and your business partner, you have to start looking at some of these things. Now, the way that I tell people to think about these things is when it comes to metrics, you think in two terms.

So First off they're activity type metrics and then they are money or numbers type metrics. The difference is activity metrics are just tracking what did somebody do? How many of XYZ did somebody do? Well, money metrics, number metrics are counting what came in at the end of the day. So on one end, we can be tracking how many of XYZ did you do. And then on money and metrics, we're tracking how much money came in at the end of XYZ.

So of course, you can see that they're kind of related. So let me just give you a brief rundown. And remember, I'm not trying to be technically correct here. I'm just trying to expose you guys to that's for those of you who are unfamiliar with metrics when it comes to tracking your performance or sales team performance. I'm just trying to tell you what's out there. So if you want the much more technically precise names, you know, do some research, There's Google, there's YouTube, and you will find them.

So activity metrics, one of the oldest ones or one of the really old one is calls. That's the number of calls that you made or the number of calls that you received. Some people like to track the duration of phone calls, although for me, I'm not really tracking a duration call kind of person for different reasons that we'll explore later. And so that is one of them. Before the phone call, of course, there were industries where things were door to door,

you know, going to go and visit people door to door. So like in Nigeria, for instance, back when photocopiers were, I think I hear that Tony Illumelu. I think it's Tony Illumelu the, the, the head of, I can't remember his bank, but I think he's head of Heirs Holdings and they are the ones that have bought Transcorp Hilton, Transcorp Hilton and let's see what else. I think he's the one, but I'm not sure, but I suspect he's the one that they said he started off in photocopy sales.

So back then in the, I don't know, he looks like a young guy, but let me just guess. He was born in the 50s or something. So back then in the 50s and 60s or whatever, folks like him, you would have been counting if he was a call metric, they would have been counting the number of doors. So you went to this street in Victoria Island and how many doors did you knock on? You know, how many residences did you go to or how many offices did you go to?

So this is an activity metric. Calls made can be phone call or if you're in one of these old school businesses cause like in America, roof repairs, roof repairs and what else? Roof repairs and solar sales pretty much door to door. So currently there are folks in America who, you know, that's they're doing, that's what they're doing. So as you're listening to this episode, there's currently somebody right now in America selling solar and is going from neighbourhood to neighbourhood.

You knock on the door, you know, come, come, come, anybody, their house or Madam, do you have solar, blah, blah, blah, you know, that sort of thing. So, yeah, one activity that you guys can track calls. So you check at the end of the day, how many calls did I make or how many calls did my guys make? Then another activity, another metric you can check is emails sent. And this is something that you, this is how marketing people love you guys really love this thing.

You guys love to hear that We used this platform, we automated this, we did this cadence and at the end of the week we sent out over 750,000 emails. They really, really love this thing, digital marketing people. So how many emails did you send And of course emails sent. That's not just the end of the whole story because like I like to remind people, it's not just that you sent the e-mail, you know the people open the e-mail.

So we also have to check the open rate and, and for those who was in sales, it's not just that people opened it. We also concerned about whether they took the action that we wanted them to take. So that is the click through rate. And then of course there's the reply rate. So those are some of the metrics you can check. How many emails did I send this week of the emails that I sent, how many people opened them or the people that opened, how many people clicked on the link or how many people booked the appointment or how many people took the next step?

You know, you ask yourself these sorts of things, how many people replied? So remember, when it comes to activity metrics, we're not just counting for counting sake. Please bear that in mind. So it's not enough to just see that all my sales people made 50 calls. Good. Give them pass mark. You know that's not how it works. All the marketing team sent out 750,000 emails last week. So give them pass mark. It's not that simple.

Let's see what else? OK, now the kind of metrics that really, really makes my tummy really nice and sweet is when we look at meetings, you know, so that for me that that is where I pay attention because it's nice to make 200 calls, it's nice to send 750,000 emails. But if I didn't get one-on-one with someone, I didn't enter their office or they didn't enter my own studio or we didn't do Zoom call or we didn't do WhatsApp call where we discussed a specific proposal or this or this or that or that there for me or not really making progress.

So for me, I actually pay attention to this whole these kinds of activities, you know, meetings, how many meetings did you schedule of the ones that you scheduled, you know, how many clicked? How many did people show up? And now the people that showed up and you had the meeting, how many of them had an outcome? And then we have a next clear step. So this is where me, I live and this is what I prefer. So if you made 250 calls in a week, I mean good, well and good.

You know, I clap for you because quite frankly, I can't do 250 a week. But you know, at the end of the day, you make 250 calls a week. Next week you make 250 calls. And so that is 2 weeks you've made 500 calls, but you didn't get one single meeting. You know, there's a problem like there's Valhalla. And remember when I say meeting, for me, meeting does not have to be. I go to the office or they come to my own office. For me, meeting can also be let's have a WhatsApp call,

let's have a Zoom call, let's have a whatever. But for me, meeting is just something that we prearranged and we agreed that we're going to have dedicated time to come and discuss a specific kind of outcome. So that can happen over the phone as well. So for me, I still count those sorts of things as meetings. So deliberate time that we set aside so that me and the other person or me and the other person and two other people on the group call, especially with WhatsApp, you know, you can do that sort of thing.

You know, you call Chukudi and you guys are having a discussion and then it looks like Ubernet's watching went to be on the call. And then you say, OK, hold on, let me ask you real quick. And then you bust you and then the three of you start hashing out everything. So for me, I would count that as a meeting, you know, depending on the business or depending on who your boss is or your sales manager, some people might say that is not really a meeting.

But anyway, that's that's an argument for another day. But what I'm just trying to say is that this is the one meetings. How many meetings did you schedule this week? How many appointments did you schedule? How many people showed up when you finished? What was the next step? That's the one that I find real sweet because I think that's where we start making progress in the business. And then of course, you see how everything flows from another.

So from the phone calls you make and from the emails that you send that hopefully you're going to be booking those meetings. So I prefer to pay attention to the meetings. Then there's also folks who like to count the number of proposals that I said the proposal, how will I put a proposal? OK, well the definition that I've been that I use time and time again or propose all over here on the podcast, I say a proposal is just something that people can say yes or no to.

Now typically the proposal is also what people would call the quotation, the price quote, the performer invoice, the OK, some people, some places RFP, that's responsible proposal. So whatever it is that it's called in your industry, that document that you send that shows somebody this is what we can do for you. This is how much it's going to cost. We'll be able to deliver this to you if you pay us, you know this by XYZ date.

So whatever document it is, quotation, performer, invoice, RFP, what else, whatever is called the industry, you know, so that is one metric that you can track. How many of those did you send this week? Because the idea is OK, let's say like in back in the insurance space. But you know it, it depends. That's on managers in insurance who don't like tracking number of proposals because actually sending a proposal is, is very easy.

All you need actually is to get the person's name, person's address, what else, what the person's need. And then you send off a proposal document. But sending off a proposal does not mean the proposal is going to be received. So there's some people who say less and not as many proposals as possible. Because if we send out 100 proposal, 100 proposals this week, you know, anyhow, anyhow, one or two months click. So that's the rationale.

Well, then there are some also some sales managers who say, look, any idiot can send a proposal. All I have to do is fill the form with the person's permission and then I send the proposal doesn't mean that the deal is going to get done. So you can see how, and that's the reason why I keep saying when people say which one is the best, it's a matter of, you know, it depends. Who are you, What is the business? What are you trying to achieve?

You as the business owner or your sales manager? What are you guys currently working on? So it depends. And then these things, they feed on each other, they lead into each other. So for me, I like meetings. How many meetings did you schedule? How many people did you talk to this week as incorrect conversations? And then what was the next point of action? You know, for me, that's where I live. But you're not going to be getting those meetings if you are not making those calls or if you're not sending those emails or if you're not going to people's houses or going to people's offices.

And then proposals, you know, it's not just about sending off the proposal if you didn't do a good part of a good rapport building, need analysis, figuring out what people want. Let's see what else. You know, if you didn't do all the preliminary stage correctly, then you sending our proposals, you're just keeping yourself busy. It doesn't mean that deals are going to close. So when we say activity metrics, these are the sorts of things that we're talking about.

You see. So technically speaking, they all have their own names. But like I said, you go and check Google, go and check YouTube, you'll find what the technical names are. Well, basically we're just trying to track how many of XYZ did people do, how many doors did they knock on for, you know, those of you who are in America and in solar sails and in roof repair, how many doors did you knock on? So you go to, I don't know,

Blvd. Lane or whatever, there are 50 houses there. How long did it take you to knock on every single door? You know, that sort of thing. Then how many phone calls did you make? How many emails did you send out or the emails that you sent out, how many people replied to you? How many people open them? How many meetings did you have for the meetings that you scheduled? How many people showed up? What was the outcome of the meetings?

And then how many proposals did you send? If you sent out 50 proposals last week, how many people have you heard back from all those sorts of things? So are tracking activities now there are some of you who prefer money or numbers type metrics and that is where people are concerned about total revenue that came in. So there's some sales managers who say, look, I don't give hoot what you're doing with your time. Quite frankly, if you're watching Netflix, I don't care.

My own is at the end of the month. I want to see a cool 5M per person per head at the end of the month and that's their own. So if you only work one day of the week, I don't care. If you only walk, make one phone call, I don't care. If you traveled to villa for two weeks of the month, I don't care. If you watch Netflix for four days of week, I don't care. Mahoney Shah, did you did you hear quota? Did you get the money?

Can I see the the what's it called? What do you call this thing though? Sorry, forgive me, I've lost my train of thought. But anyway, they just want to see the proof. Did you did you hear the numbers? How many people pinged or what are the, how much revenue are we coming? Are we going to get at the end of the month? So that some people that that is the only thing that they care about. And then of course there's that whole argument of look, it's not just about revenue, but it's about profitability, which is why I'm not a fan of this whole discounting thing because there's some people that can discount, discount, discount at the end of the day to get their number.

So if Olga, the business owner or the sales manager says, look, I need the revenue per person, you guys need to bring in five M revenue. So technically speaking, they can be discounting 10/10/10 percent and closing these deals. And at the end of the day, the total number of the deals adds up to five M Well, because the guy was doing 10/10/10, ten 10%, the business is looting, losing a shit load of money. So it's not just about total revenue.

And so some people when they look at numbers, the what they expect is profitability at the end of the day. So it's not bringing 5 M in revenue, but whichever number of clients that you're bringing in anyhow. Anyhow, anyhow, at the end of the day, when we look at the profits on top, that's by the time we, by the time we send out the materials and fulfill the order and everything, the profits, the one that remain should be 5 M you know, So those are ways of looking at it.

Some people are trying to track total revenues, some people are trying to track so is it gross, gross profits? So I didn't study accounting. So, and like I said, I don't the technical, the technically correct terms for all these things, I don't bother. I'm trying to remember them anyway, So long as you know, spiritually, I know what it's about. So some people are tracking total revenue, some people are trying to attract gross profits.

If you check Google, check YouTube, check your business books, you know, you'll find what the metrics are called. Then there's some people who try to track average deal size. So like, OK, OK, this is our monthly. So, so, so for the month of January, on average, you are bringing in, on average your class was bringing in 2.82 point 8. But for this month, the number has dropped down to 1.7. You know what's going on, you know what's happening.

So there's some sales managers, some business owners who have the conversation at that level that on average, OK, over the last six months you've brought in 20 clients, each client spending. So, so the average deal size has been this, that, that, that, that let's make sure that that money does not drop. So that's some business owners and there are some managers that have the conversation on that level. Then another set of numbers that some people like to track is sales cycles.

That's how long did it take to close the deal? For those of you who have been listening to the podcast for the last week or two, you should already be familiar with the sales cycle. Sales cycle is just the length of time that happens between when somebody picks up the phone to say hello, how far are you available at? So, so, so or do you have XYZ and can you supply fifty of them? So from that, hello, that good morning, that initial opening conversation until when they transferred the money into your OPA account, that is what we call the sales cycle.

So there's some people that track that. And so for a business owner or for a sales manager, you might have that meeting. Someone might say, look, Chinelo, you know, you're talking to people 12 weeks on average and look, that's too long. Can you see how we, let's be doing this thing 88 weeks? Because if you're taking 1212 weeks to close the deal, if you're able to shorten the cycle and do it, you know in 888 weeks that you know your profitability is going to go up because you're doing the same work in a shorter period of time.

So some people track sales cycles, then you people in tech space, you know, fintech people, blah, blah. You guys track customer acquisition costs. So that one is a technical 1. So I'm not even going to go into all the elements, the technical elements that are involved in calculating. But you're just trying to figure out how much did it cost to acquire a customer? So how many emails did you send? How many phone calls did you send?

What is the value of those phone calls? How many advertisements did you send? What is the value of those advertisements? What is the value of the salesperson sale salespersons time, you know, you add up all those conceivable costs and then divide it by I'll be you know what, let me not deceive you guys. What you you get, you get how you arrive at these things, take all the costs and then try and figure out, run the math, figure out, OK, how much money are we spending to get one person in in as a customer at the end of the day?

So that is a customer acquisition cost. Now that one is a very technical definition. So if you guys like numbers and you like math, then definitely check YouTube for this one. As in you find guys and girls who will tell you that, Oh no, this is the correct way to calculate it. This is the correct way to calculate it. This is the correct way to calculate it. But I don't bother myself with these sorts of things, but just notion that this is also something you can be tracking.

So are we spending? OK? Well, the whole point of customer acquisition cost is you're trying to figure out if it's worth all the hassle. Because if you're spending, if you do the math and it looks like you're spending 5500 naira to get one customer, but the customer is only buying goods worth 800 naira, You now think is it was worth the hustle for 500 naira to get the customer. At the end of the day, the customer is only buying goods of 800.

So profit is only 300. By the time, you know, remove and pay tax, the Inland Revenue, like what remains, you know, that kind of thing. The one that remains is not enough for phone call, for credit, for school fees, for this and this and that. So that's the whole point of customer acquisition and costs. But then again, if you're spending 5500 now and each customer that comes in spends 25K now, that looks like a much more.

That's a good deal right there. So that's the whole idea that customer acquisition cost. Then there's also another one customer lifetime value. The idea behind this, I've spoken about it on the podcast is you recognize that it's not just about the money that customer dropped. It's not just that they dropped 25 K now, but on average, how much do people spend while they're with you over the course of a lifetime? Now, of course, this thing is not lifetime, you know,

definitely because let's say, let me see mobile phone, OK, yes, because I'm using a mobile phone right now. So let's say mobile phones, you sell mobile phones. There's no how that somebody's going to buy mobile phones from you over the course of their lifetime because people move, they have different preferences. Mobile phones is not the kind of thing you have that kind of loyalty anyway. So if you sell somebody 1 mobile phone today, I guess you can expect that over the next three or four years, the person might buy the next set of phones from you.

You know, buy some for the child, buy some for the wife, you know, or you know, the wife wants to give the husband the best they give to buy from you. But you can expect that if somebody has bought a mobile phone from you and you do a good job now, you can expect to hear from them for another maybe a year or two. So lifetime doesn't mean that they bought for the whole life shark. So you know, it depends it's contextual.

But then OK, let me just leave it like that. You guys get the idea. So over the course of time that someone stays with you. So if if on average I'm not in the mobile phone space, so I have no idea how they will calculate in that space, but my guess is maybe 2-3 years. So it's not just how much did the person spend. Now the person bought phone 250K. It's not just that all the thinking source will be three years on average, how many phones do people buy from you and how much is that total value?

So that's the idea behind the customer lifetime value. Now, the first way I explained it on the podcast, my very first customer lifetime value episode was I spoke about me and Kano. And when I was leaving Kano after my National Youth service call year and my bread guy was hard to see me go and they gave me two loaves of bread and I told my flatmates, well, not really my flatmates. I was squatting in his house. DDA, really nice guy, engineer from Cameroon.

And we lived on Adesia Road back then, not far from is it Tahir, Tahir hotels? I can't remember first Tahir also, but nice place, nice restaurant, very good buffet back then. I don't know about now. So if you're a foodie and if the hotel is still on point and you're still in Kano, I think it's Tahir, you know, go check Tahir. The buffet is on point. And yeah, go there, have some fun. All right. Yeah. So I told my guy DTA that look,

I told bread guy I was leaving and he was sad to see me when he gave me bread. And DTA said, of course not, I won't be sad. I think about it, since you came here, how many times you buy bread from the guy? I was like, Oh, well, actually I buy bread 3-4 times a week because me and DDA, we used to have this thing where in the evening, especially during Hamatan, we just sit down with bread and butter and then we'll make tea because in Hamatan,

Kano can get very cold. And DDA used to put, what's it called, lemongrass, lemongrass in his tea. And I thought that was weird because where I grew up, you know, Abuja, for us, lemongrass is a weed. You know, you cut the thing and you throw it away when I say he'll go and cut it and then he'll put it in tea. And I'm like, how can you drink this thing? I'm like, oh boy, this thing is medicinal, you don't know what you're missing, blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah. So, yeah, And I don't know, there's some people that drink lemongrass. Yeah, I think it's a Witcher. So those of you who drink lemongrass, please consult your doctor. I see no reason why you're drinking weeds. So we'll be there, you know, with the bread, just chilling, watching TV, abusing politicians and having a good time. So I was buying bread from my bread guy. Yeah, like four times a week. And each time I buy 2 loaves because me at the chop, I was in a chop go.

Like I can eat a whole loaf of bread, although wifey doesn't like it when I do that. So I try not to eat a whole loaf of bread at least when she's not around. Like if she travels or training and things like that, of course, by all means I'll enjoy myself. Boy, she's around. I try not to. So if you know her, don't let her know that when she travels. I ate a whole loaf of bread, so I'll buy 2 because me alone, I eat a whole loaf.

You know, DDA will clear maybe like half. And then at the time his girlfriend Ulama, like if she comes the next day, you know, be nice for her to have some bread as well. But they're married now. They have like, I think they have three wonderful kids. It's been a while since I've seen them. So 2 loaves of bread. So the guy said, hey, do the math. Now you're buying this bread 3-4 times a week. But let's just say you only buy twice.

Each time you buy 4 loaves, how much is the bread you guys would be shocked by? Actually, at the time, I was buying this bread at 120 naira. So yes, if you're listening to this podcast in 2024 and beyond in Nigeria, you'll be shocked. But yes, there was a time in Nigeria when some of us used to buy bread for 120 naira. Right now, bread in Abuja is like one 1005, some places 2000. In fact, 2 days ago I saw bread that was like 2003.

I think that was in facts, I think it was butter bread or something, 2003, 2008. So yes, I was buying the bread then. 129. So we just did the math. If I was doing 120, I'll leave you guys to do the math. By the way, I'm not good at numbers, so let me not do this now and then. Plus the calculator. I would have used this on my phone and I'm using my phone to make this recording. So where was I? So 2 loaves of bread, sorry,

buying twice a week each time I buy 2 lows. So that is for 120 assuming profit margin and then do the calculation. I was in Kano for a year and close to six months. So that is 4 lows per week. 4 * 1 data is that 1616 lows a month. Then 16 * 12 will give you the number of loaves of bread, you know, per year. And then, you know, multiply that by 120 naira. So anyway, basically the guy was sad because when I was leaving Kano, it was not just 120 naira that was leaving this guy, it was 120 naira multiplied by 4

multiplied, that's by 4 a week, multiplied by four again for the month, multiplied by 12 a year. So actually it was quite a huge chunk of money that was walking away with me leaving Kano. That is the idea behind costing my lifetime value. So it's not just the bread, the murmoy, the mobile phone, the computer, the exercise bike that the person bought today is how much will the person buy from you over the course of a lifetime.

Exercise bike doesn't really spoil every day, every day. But you would hope that if the person buys exercise bike today in 2024, the person uses it every day. Maybe it packs up in 2029. You would hope that the person will come back and buy that they gain from you or maybe by rowing machine or something, so that over the course of maybe five years the person is not just worth the 1.2 that it costs to buy the exercise bike, but any I'm delivering the points, let me just stop here.

That has cost my lifetime value. So there are some people who like to keep a note of that. And then there's also sales quota attainment. Yeah, sales quota attainment, especially big organizations. So for those of you who are still selling financial products, your line managers, yeah, they always look at these sorts of things. So we have 50 people here. The quota is supposed to be 10 M per head. How many people hit the 10 M?

How many people are above quota? How many people are close? How many people are failing? All those sorts of things. So with this brief overview of what I've given, now you can see how when it comes to tracking sales performance, you know the tools. Plenty, plenty, plenty, plenty. So that's what I'm thinking in terms of a specific tool. Just think in terms of activity or think in terms of numbers. Which one are we going to track?

So now this is where our heading to. The one that people like to argue about which is the best. The best is contextual. I mean, it depends. If you're selling slippers, the metric that you use is not the same as if you sell insurance, and the metric you use is not going to be the same as if you sell mobile phones. And then of course, it depends on what you are trying to achieve as the business owner or what the sales manager is trying to achieve.

So it is contextual, but the only thing I would say is this activity based metrics. How many phone calls did you make? How many emails did you send? How many meetings did you book? How many people's doors did you knock on? How many proposals did you send? Activity metrics are wonderful because they are granular. They're looking at the nitty gritty. So that is where we can now start diagnosing if there is a problem. So that's why I love activity metrics and I say we should pay attention to them.

Even though some people say let's go straight to the numbers. When you're trying to manage your sales team, you're trying to figure out what is the problem that we need to solve? Where is the leak? Let us plug the leak. Activity based metrics are good for that because you'll be able to see that look, Chukuti is making 250 calls a week, but he's not even setting one single appointment. So there's a problem with how he's making his phone calls.

You will now sit down with him and say, OK, Chukuti, your phone call was the script. OK, how do you start it? When people say this, what do you say? When people say that, what do you say? You now try and fix that problem so that the phone calls can start manifesting into meetings and manifesting into proposals and manifesting into deals. So that's the reason why I like activity based metrics because we're trying to figure out where is the problem, Where am I

falling short? Where's my sales team falling short? Activity metrics, I'm going to help you with that. So if somebody is like those of you in America, solar sales, if you go to something, something Blvd. and there are 250 houses there and you went and you used three months, you knocked on every single door. At the end of three months, you didn't close one single deal. We now know now know that OK, there's a problem. You knock on door, Madame opens or a guy opens while you're fumbling the conversation.

We now know, we now know, OK, this is where we need to train up. This is where you need to study or watch this YouTube video. Let us start role-playing, blah, blah, blah, all those sorts of things. So that's why I like activity based metrics because it helps you figure out what the problem is. But then financial metrics, the answer the question, are we making any money? And yes, at the end of the day, we have to ask yourself that question because if people are doing all the right metrics by the end of the day, your wallet is is flat or the bank account is not the zeros in the background is not is not motivating your emotions, then there's a problem.

So the answer actually is you should be doing both. So in my own opinion, 1 is not better than the other. You should be doing both. But if you're trying to diagnose where are we losing money with the sales team, then we start with the activity based 1. So do both, but just start off with whatever comes naturally to you. So for me, since my own concern at the end of the day is personal sales, when I'm face to face with someone, am I closing this deal?

Am I moving the business relationship forward? That is where I start off eventually. So you know, it will be nice to have somebody on the other end, whether the business owner or your business partner also trying to keep a track on OK, how much money are we making at the end of the day, Let it not be that we had 50 meetings this month and we think 50 of the meetings were promising. And after the 50 we closed 30 but shared money they entered the bank account is not looking real sweet, you know.

So we need to be keeping the track of both. So please for your business, do the research, stop at whatever catches your fancy. But please let me not catch you arguing with people saying this is the best, that is the best. It is a waste of time to start looking for the best metric. So philosophically, you can see track the number or track the activity you're leaning towards one. Start from there, but realize you should be doing both.

So for now, start with what you fancy and I think you'll be fine. So that's it for today. Please connect with me on LinkedIn. My name is Tava Shima Ayede, the host of the show. You'll get the correct spelling of my name if you just check the link where you're listening to this episode. If you're watching YouTube, this bottom left above the subject. My name is them Highlight, copy, paste in LinkedIn. You see the right type of your map and yeah, connect with me there.

Then if you're listening on the podcast, well, you know where to find my name on the podcast. My e-mail address is also there in case you like to connect through e-mail then WhatsApp. My details are 08064662140. The country code is +234 for those of you who are not Nigerian. So hit me up in the WhatsApp inbox or SMS, you know, for questions, queries, insights. Maybe you need something clarified, something in the episode that just doesn't quite make sense.

Yeah, I tried to get back to everybody within 24 hours, 48 hours last last. But The thing is, eventually you'll hear from me, so thanks for your time and attention. I'll catch you guys in the next episode.