The Sales KPIs Your Agency Should Track Beyond Just Revenue
Here's this week’s question:
“I want to start tracking key performance metrics to get a clearer picture of what’s working and what’s not. Beyond revenue, what sales KPIs should agencies track to better measure the success and efficiency of their teams?”
There are plenty of metrics you can track to measure sales effort and performance, so it's important to focus on the ones that align with the services you offer. A simple way to approach this is by breaking down each part of your sales funnel and deciding what makes sense to track at the…
Top (Awareness)
Middle (Consideration)
Bottom (Decision)
Leading vs Lagging Indicators
Before we go any further, it's important to note the difference between leading and lagging in your sales funnel.
Leading Indicators help you predict whether you're on track to get the results you want. These are activities you can control to push prospects through the funnel, such as the number of sales calls made, emails sent, or proposals delivered.
Lagging Indicators measure the actual results of your sales efforts, like deals won, revenue generated, or contract value. These metrics show the outcomes but can only be measured after the fact.
Ideally, you want to track both leading and lagging indicators to get a full picture of your sales performance. Now, let’s apply this thinking to each stage of the sales funnel. And just to be clear—don’t track all of these KPIs. Choose the ones that make sense for your agency based on the services you sell.
Top of the Funnel (Awareness)
At the top of the funnel, the focus is on outreach and lead generation to build awareness of your agency.
Leading Indicators:
Number of new leads generated
Number of outbound emails or sales calls
Engagement with content (e.g., downloads, webinar registrations)
Lagging Indicators:
Conversion rate of leads to qualified leads
Value of new opportunities added to the pipeline
Middle of the Funnel (Consideration)
Here, you're nurturing leads and making sure they're a good fit for your business.
Leading Indicators:
Number of discovery calls or meetings scheduled
Number of proposals sent to qualified leads
Number of follow-ups after meetings or proposals
Lagging Indicators:
Proposal acceptance rate
Bottom of the Funnel (Decision)
At the bottom of the funnel, you're working to convert prospects into clients.
Leading Indicators:
Number of decision-maker meetings or final presentations
Number of pricing discussions or contract negotiations
Follow-up activities after sending the contract
Lagging Indicators:
Number of deals closed
Total value of deals won
Close rate (percentage of proposals that turn into won deals)
Why Focus on Whole Funnel
Most agency owners tend to focus on the lagging indicators in the Decision stage (like deals closed or total value won). But it’s important to understand everything that leads up to those KPIs. I laid it out this way so you can see what needs to happen earlier in the funnel.
Often, I see owners frustrated when they don't hit their sales targets, but they’re not tracking or acting on the leading indicators that drive those results. Before you get upset about not moving the needle on deals closed, ask yourself: are you putting in the work on the activities that lead to those wins?
Monitor Conversion Rates
Once you’ve chosen the KPIs that make sense for your business, start tracking conversion rates between each stage of the funnel. This will highlight where things might be getting stuck. For example, if you're generating plenty of leads but hearing prospects say "you're too expensive", you might need to adjust how you qualify prospects. If proposals aren’t turning into closed deals, the issue is likely with your positioning (usually) or pricing (rarely).