As a business leader in manufacturing or B2B services, you’re no stranger to juggling countless responsibilities — from overseeing operations to ensuring customer satisfaction and driving growth. Yet, while these tasks dominate your attention, monitoring sales performance is just as vital for keeping your business competitive and poised for future success. The problem? Time is a precious commodity, and adding another task to your already overflowing to-do list may seem daunting.
But here’s the truth: monitoring sales performance doesn’t have to be a time-consuming, manual task. By leveraging the right CRM tools, like HubSpot Sales Hub, you can streamline this process, gain valuable insights, and make data-driven decisions — all without adding unnecessary burdens to your schedule.
Let’s dive into six key actions you should take based on essential sales pipeline metrics, and how monitoring them efficiently can drive business success.
1. How Many New Opportunities Are You Missing? Track and Grow Them
A key indicator of a healthy sales pipeline is how many new opportunities are being created each month. If this number is steadily growing, your lead generation efforts are paying off. If it’s declining or stagnating, it could signal that your sales team is struggling to find new prospects or that your marketing strategy needs adjustment.
Use HubSpot’s reporting dashboards to track how many new opportunities are being added to your pipeline. By setting up an automated report, you can monitor this metric over time, identifying trends that signal whether your lead generation tactics need improvement or if your sales team is missing potential opportunities.
The number of new opportunities is a leading indicator of future revenue. A dip here could point to problems further down the pipeline, such as lack of qualified leads or ineffective marketing campaigns. Catching this trend early allows you to course-correct before it impacts your bottom line.
2. Are Your Leads Worth Your Time? Measure Their Qualification Rate
Not all opportunities in your sales pipeline are created equal. Some leads will be a perfect fit for your products or services, while others won’t. Monitoring the percentage of leads that become qualified helps you understand the effectiveness of your sales team’s qualification process.
Set up a report in HubSpot that tracks the conversion rate of leads from the “New” stage to the “Qualified” stage. If your qualification rate is lower than expected, it’s time to re-examine how your sales team qualifies leads. Are they asking the right questions? Are they focusing on the right types of prospects?
A low qualification rate may indicate that your sales team is spending too much time on unqualified leads, leading to wasted effort and missed opportunities. By improving your qualification process, you can ensure that your sales reps are focusing their time on prospects most likely to convert.
3. Is Your Sales Team Doing Enough? Keep Tabs on Their Activity
Sales isn’t just about strategy; it’s about execution. To ensure your team is working effectively, you need to track how much activity — calls, emails, meetings, etc. — is being generated by each team member. Low activity can be an early warning sign that certain reps need additional coaching or support.
Use HubSpot’s activity reports to monitor sales team performance. By setting up a dashboard that tracks sales activities by rep, you can quickly see who’s on track and who may need additional training or support.
If your team’s activity level drops, it can slow down the entire sales process. Monitoring these activities ensures that your sales team remains proactive in nurturing leads and closing deals. With real-time insights, you can intervene and offer guidance to keep the momentum going.
4. Are Deals Getting Stuck? Track Time in Each Pipeline Stage
One of the most powerful metrics you can monitor is how long deals stay in each stage of the sales pipeline. If deals are getting stuck in a particular stage for too long, it could be a sign that something is wrong with your process — whether it’s a lack of follow-up, unclear next steps, or bottlenecks in decision-making.
Set up a report in HubSpot that shows the average time deals spend in each stage of your pipeline. This will give you a clear picture of where deals are getting stuck and help you identify process improvements. If deals are stalling at the “Proposal Sent” stage, for example, you may need to revisit how your team follows up or ensure that they’re providing prospects with all the necessary information to make a decision.
The longer a deal stays in any stage, the more likely it is to stall or fall through altogether. Monitoring this metric allows you to optimize the sales process, ensuring deals move swiftly from one stage to the next, increasing your chances of closing the sale.
5. What’s Your Close Rate? Measure It and Maximize Revenue
At the end of the day, the most important metrics are how many deals your team closes and the average value of those deals. By tracking these numbers, you can assess the overall health of your sales pipeline and identify areas for growth.
HubSpot’s sales performance reports make it easy to track your close rate and average deal size. Regularly reviewing these metrics helps you see whether your sales strategies are working. A declining close rate might mean you need to adjust your sales tactics, while a dip in deal size could indicate that your team is focusing on smaller, less profitable opportunities.
Your close rate and deal size directly impact revenue. Monitoring these metrics gives you a clear understanding of whether your sales process is working and highlights areas where you might need to adjust your strategy.
6. Are You on Track? Compare Sales Goals to Progress
Setting sales goals is a great way to keep your team motivated, but simply knowing your sales targets isn't enough. Do you have the right KPIs in place to tell you if you're truly on track? Many business leaders know their end goal, but lack the leading indicators needed to gauge progress early on. Monitoring the right metrics is just as crucial as setting the goal itself.
Leverage HubSpot’s sales goal tracking feature to set specific targets for each sales rep or team, then track their progress in real-time. If someone is falling behind, you can identify where the disconnect is and offer support, or adjust the goal to better align with their performance and realistic outcomes.
By tracking the right KPIs alongside your sales goals, you ensure your team is focused on achieving measurable milestones, not just chasing an end result. When everyone is aligned with both objectives and leading indicators, you're far more likely to reach your overall revenue target
Time for Action: Let’s Get Your Sales Pipeline Running Smoothly
As a business leader in manufacturing or B2B services, your time is valuable, but keeping an eye on your sales performance is critical for growth. By tracking these top sales pipeline metrics, you can ensure that your team is operating efficiently, your processes are optimized, and your pipeline is healthy.
However, you don’t have to do it all alone. At TANK New Media, we specialize in helping businesses like yours set up customized HubSpot dashboards and reports that take the guesswork out of sales monitoring. Whether you’re looking to track your team’s activity, optimize your sales stages, or increase your close rate, we can help you get there.
Ready to get started? Schedule a time with our team today for expert recommendations on how to streamline your sales reporting and set up the dashboards that will drive your business forward. Let us help you turn your sales data into actionable insights that lead to growth.
