Research shows that over 80% of companies track only “lagging KPIs”, while 61% of companies primarily used office tools such as Excel analyse their performance.*
Most companies focus on sales, and it is obvious why. So, we set the sales targets and track the sales number by product, by channel, over the past week, past month, past quarter, and compare with the same period last year or last cycle and plan. All these are well and good, but it is like driving by looking only through your rear-view mirror. These are all “Lagging KPIs”. You cannot do very much about them to change the forward business.
To be successful, business need to be forward looking and tracks both “Lagging KPIs” + “Leading KPIs”.
“Leading KPIs” are KPIs that gives a strong indication of the forward direction and predicts the trend of the business. One good example of leading KPI is the number of new consumers switching into your brand. For example, by tracking the trend in new consumer generation, we can start to understand the forward sales growth potential.
Every business needs to track and balance both “Lagging KPIs” and “Leading KPIs”.
Sounds like an easy concept to grasp?
However, very few companies are tracking “Leading KPIs” + “Lagging KPIs” or the “Right KPIs” to drive the business forward.
Very important for the front-line sales team – what are the “Lagging KPIs” and “Leading KPIs” for success?
How to track them?
By tracking both “Leading KPIs” + “Lagging KPIs” over time, it gives us clear visibility to the Business Performance, and the Trends will help raise questions and direct our attention – for decision making to drive the business forward.
To track “Leading KPIs” + “Lagging KPIs” effectively, you need to have a good tracking system like SalesTrakPAL® to help you turn data into useful, usable analysis to help decision making.
For a discussion on KPIs setting and SalesTrakPAL®** sales performance tracking system, please contact [email protected]
* Advanced Performance Institute conducted an international survey in 2012 of 3,083 top tier companies
** SalesTrakPAL® is a joint development between PAL Solutions and Mitsui Group, Japan.