How you measure success has a direct impact on achieving success. Most sales-focused organizations measure success based on...well...sales. Measuring only the dollar amount or number of widgets sold can limit your company's overall success.

While it seems logical to measure that which matters most - sales - it probably should not be the most important number, and certainly should not be the only number you measure. Whether you are an owner, manager, or direct producer, you measure results and therefore can benefit from a fresh look at what matters.

Let's analyze the most basic scenario: a leasing salesperson who is judged each month on the dollar amount of his fundings. That makes sense because fundings are what create revenue, right? But, measuring only dollars funded may cause the salesperson, and therefore his company, to fund less. The salesperson may only focus on big deals and ignore smaller deals. Or, the salesperson may spend most of his time on the deals that are likely to fund and ignore those that take more effort or are at an earlier stage in the sales cycle. In both instances, the total potential of fundings is decreased because some deals are being ignored.

Ultimately, this focus on only amount funded is counterproductive to both a salesperson and his company. The easy deals probably don't need as much attention; it's those hard ones that really need sales skills. Ignoring three $40k deals to work on one $100k deal, or spending all your time on one deal that is about to fund instead of the ten applications you received doesn't make much sense either.

In a perfect world, each salesperson does everything possible to quickly fund every deal. In the real world, where there is never enough time or energy, choices have to be made. Rules are created in order to make the decisions easier. ("I'm in a hurry, so should I drive 100 miles-per-hour?") The ways in which results are measured are simply rules to help marketers and salespeople decide how to spend their time. Rules are created when heads are clear, not halfway through each deal or on the last day of the month.

Owners, managers, marketers and producers need to create rules, or measurement systems, that help them continue to stay focused on all the things that matter. A good place to start is with your business challenges. What are your opportunities to improve? Is vendor retention an issue? Could your close rates be better? Is your marketing generating the response you want? Identify the big issues facing your business, and then consider how you can measure results that are most closely tied to those big issues.

For instance, if you wish you had better retention of vendor relationships, each day call ten vendors you have worked with. No matter that you don't have a deal working with them. No matter if it is last day of the month or you are pitching a new vendor that day or it is perfect golfing weather - call ten vendors. Consider it one measurement of whether you had a successful day. If you think improving your close rate is a major opportunity, call each of your applicants every day, even if they said it would take them a couple days to sign the documents. Don't give them a whole day to reconsider or shop other options - talk to each of your applicants every day. Make that another daily measurement of success. Does your business suffer peaks and valleys in your sales pipeline? Are you funding a lot in the last week of the month and nothing in the first week? Make it a goal to complete twenty cold calls every day in order to keep your pipeline full at all times.

Moving your metrics for success closer to your business opportunities keeps you from getting distracted by the one hot deal only to lose five more. It helps motivate the actions that lead to more success. It helps build both your confidence and sales pipeline by achieving small victories every day. Take some time and decide what else you should be measuring in order to achieve the results you desire in each area of the sales process. You will probably find that when you start measuring activities closer to your business's big opportunities, the amount funded each month will take care of itself.