Defining the right KPI(s) for Account Managers is one of the most important responsibilities for sales leadership…The real work is identifying KPIs that measure progress toward outcomes and give Account Managers clarity on what success looks like.

They didn’t know who to talk to, what to say, or how to start. That’s not onboarding. That’s orientation.

We rebuilt the onboarding plan from scratch. Within two weeks, those same reps were booking qualified meetings and building pipeline. Here’s what changed, and what I recommend every founder do differently.

Every sales leader and small business owner eventually asks the same question: how can you improve sales performance? The easy answer is to buy tools or follow playbooks. But the real answer comes from the people who use those tools every day.

Key account management KPIs aren’t simply numbers that describe what’s already happened. They’re signals. They’re early markers of what should happen, what could happen, and sometimes what’s about to happen if nothing changes. They’re meant to be studied, not just reported. Let’s discuss how to do just that.

I once watched a seasoned rep spend three hours 'organizing' his CRM. He adjusted colors and cleaned up notes on dead leads. He felt productive, but his pipeline was bone dry. He was avoiding the 'frog' sitting on his desk—the phone.

Funnel management isn’t about buzzer beaters. It’s about the regular season. Just like championship teams win through practice, preparation, and fundamentals, sales success comes from disciplined pipeline maintenance, healthy top-of-funnel activity, and consistent execution. Do the right things repeatedly, and the wins will follow.

A leaky sales funnel drains performance no matter how much pressure you apply. Quick fixes may quiet the noise for a moment. Lasting improvement requires leaders to open the system, examine the parts, and repair the leaks that cause deals to stall or disappear.

While a quick hire based on industry experience is tempting, this article outlines how staying true to a proven process makes the difference in securing long-term performers on your team. By focusing your energy on creating an intentional sales hiring plan, you'll be ready to generate a qualified candidate pool that pays off in the long run.

This past weekend, I was working on a toilet that was constantly running... I'd replaced all the parts inside the toilet tank less than six months ago... I took the fixture apart and found a piece of debris keeping the valve from shutting off completely. Sales teams work exactly the same way.

To enable ongoing sales growth, your salespeople need a mindset of continuous improvement, and a range of sales development support. Just as markets, competitors and buyer trends continue to evolve, so must your salespeople if they are to stay relevant and resourceful in the eyes of your customers. Sales training plays an important part in the sales development process, but as a stand-alone its effectiveness is greatly diminished.

Continue reading this article to learn how to define and leverage key sales accountabilities as a means of informing dependent activities such as setting proper expectations during the sales hiring process, developing the “right sales metrics” and how to utilize them to coach for success, and creating a sales culture that promotes self-directed sales execution and accountability.

Leadership buy-in for any forecasting tool depends on whether the dashboard behind it earns their trust. Forecasts only influence decisions when the data is visible, reviewable, and tied to the business outcomes owners care about most.

Sales leaders know reps waste 70% of their week on admin—not selling. Here's the playbook to cut that by 40% with AI, reclaim hours, and crush quotas.

Accurate sales forecasting transforms your CRM from a passive data repository into a strategic revenue engine. With reliable projections, leaders can confidently plan inventory, hiring, and pricing decisions without guesswork.

For decades, B2B sales coaching has relied on the traditional "ride-along" - a sales leader spending an entire day in the car with a rep, attending back-to-back customer meetings. While valuable, this approach is time-intensive, geographically limited, and increasingly misaligned with how modern selling actually happens. The good news? Technology has transformed what's possible. Today's sales leaders can coach more effectively, more frequently, and with greater flexibility than ever before.

Your sales team just closed another strong quarter. Revenue targets were met, celebrations are in order, and leadership is pleased. But three months later, you're staring at a dangerously thin pipeline wondering, "How did we get here?" This scenario plays out in organizations everywhere. It's a direct result of managing sales performance through the rearview mirror. The solution? Predictive sales metrics that give you visibility into future performance before it becomes past results. 

Sales success is like loading the wood bin: small, consistent actions today create the heat you’ll need tomorrow. An action plan for sales improvement isn’t about hacks, it’s about habits.

Top-performing sales organizations align skills with customer needs by mapping specific sales skills to each stage of the customer journey, using dual-perspective assessments from both sellers and managers. They integrate skill gap findings into quarterly review processes and take targeted corrective actions through development and restructuring, focusing on building consultative partnerships rather than merely transactional order-taking.

Closing is the finish line, but your ability to win is determined by how well you’re filling the sales funnel. Just like a soccer team can’t score without midfielders or a marathoner can’t finish without training, sales success depends on the work you put in at the top of the funnel.

Effective sales skill training transforms your team’s performance by turning vague goals into clear, measurable behaviors tied directly to your sales process. Learn practical steps to define, demonstrate, practice, and apply sales skills with data-driven coaching that drives real business results and scales across your organization.