July 31, 2023 – The landscape of the sales industry is always shifting, but COVID-19 caused a significantly dramatic change that shook up everything. In-person meetings went virtual, kitchen tables morphed into sales desks, and Zoom became the tool that every sales rep needed in their arsenal. How are we supposed to keep up in this new sales environment? By utilizing new sales metrics.
Here are a few sales metrics that your organization can utilize in the new sales environment:
- Recurring revenue
Recurring revenue can refer to subscription-based sales, leases, affiliate sales, and ad-based revenue. Essentially, it’s an actively returning customer measured by the number of active accounts to the cost of your products. Recurring revenue is great for your organization because it’s a predictable revenue stream for your organization, and it helps with your sales forecasting.
- Customer lifetime value
The customer lifetime value accounts for all likely customer purchases from a single company based on their past purchasing behavior. The appeal of maximizing customer lifetime value is business resilience, fueled by a steady revenue stream. Prospecting and one-off sales aren’t going anywhere, but the consistent purchase behavior of loyal customers creates a predictable revenue stream and equips you to make better forecasts.
- Customer retention
Customer retention is an important metric because it tracks the percentage of customers that remain active buyers. It can be used to track the average length of a customer’s relationship with your company. Coupled with the customer lifetime value, customer retention is a metric that your organization needs to understand. Instead of looking at transactional customer satisfaction, you can redirect your focus to building long-term relationships.