For a sales organization, continuous improvement is everyone’s job, every day. Sales leaders rely on benchmarking to identify areas or functions that need to be improved and to measure the improvement that is achieved.

Benchmarking sets the bar—it establishes the foundational metrics that quantify current levels of achievement and provide the data leaders need to set meaningful goals.

In sales, there are two general types of benchmarking: performance and behavioral. Performance is an obvious measure, and every sales organization tracks and compares quota and revenue achievement. A CRM tool makes more sophisticated comparisons possible, such as measuring sales activities, opportunities, pipeline and forecast against performance standards.

Behavioral benchmarks capture more elusive data: the quality of the activities that have a bearing on client and prospect engagement. The MHI Global Sales Best Practice Study is an example of a behavioral benchmark.

Another way of thinking about benchmarking is internal vs. external. Internal benchmarking generates data from your organization, about your organization, and this is essential to any sustained effort. External benchmarking compares this internal data to outside reference points, which could be similar companies—similar in terms of size, market or other characteristics—or  to a set of performance standards.

It’s been clear for years now that companies can no longer rest on their laurels—you’re either gaining ground or losing it. World-class performance simply does not persist in the absence of a sustained and determined commitment to getting better all the time. Top-performing sales organizations are on a relentless quest to increase sales productivity and are willing to invest the resources necessary to make it happen.

In fact, continuous improvement is one of the best practices of World-Class Sales Organizations. At the MHI Research Institute, studying sales best practices and leadership strategies is our main focus, and we’ll be sharing recent insights with you at Dreamforce. I hope you’ll join us at 10:45 a.m. on Monday, October 13, for the “Top-line in Sales Leadership” Sales Summit session.  

Joe Galvin leads the MHI Research Institute, formerly known as Miller Heiman Research Institute, as Chief Research Officer. (Miller Heiman has joined with four other companies to form MHI Global.) His mission is to continuously research, measure, and analyze the best practices, innovations, and emerging trends for complex B2B sales organizations to provide clients with the insights required to make strategic decisions.

To learn more about growing with sales data, visit our website, or download the free e-book.