Case Study: Driving Sales Growth Through Forward-Looking KPIs

Industry: B2B Consumables
Annual Revenue: ~$400M
Region: US Southwest and West Coast
Team Size: 100+ Sales Reps, 6 Regional Managers, 1 VP of Sales
Project Duration: 8 months

The Challenge

The client, a $400M B2B consumables company with operations across a number of states and multiple time zones, managed sales performance using only two metrics: dollars sold and pounds sold. Both were rear-looking indicators that revealed past results but offered no insight into what activities actually drove sales.

With over 100 sales reps reporting into six regional managers and a newly promoted VP of Sales, the organization lacked a structured sales operations framework, leading to:

  • Inability to measure activity levels that predicted success.

  • Inconsistent performance across sales reps.

  • Reliance on lagging KPIs that limited proactive decision-making.

  • Ineffective system to drive activity that led to sales.

My Role

I was engaged as an outside consultant embedded directly alongside the new VP of Sales. My role spanned four dimensions:

  • Executive Coaching: Guiding the new VP of Sales in designing a sales operations system.

  • Framework Design: Developing a new KPI structure to measure leading indicators.

  • Manager Development: Coaching regional managers on managing via activity-based metrics.

  • Field Training: Working alongside sales reps to adopt new practices and interpret KPIs.

Solutions Implemented

1. Introducing Leading KPIs

  • Established number of sales calls per day as the first measurable leading indicator.

  • Created a simple, low-friction system: reps texted daily call counts to managers.

  • Used two weeks of data to create a baseline, then tracked improvements.

  • Result: Over 8 months, average daily sales calls increased by 19% across the organization.

2. Customer Segmentation Framework

  • Reps categorized accounts as:

    • Growing

    • Declining

    • Dead (inactive)

    • Steady

    • New target accounts

  • Regional managers tracked what type of accounts each call targeted.

  • Analysis revealed that top-performing reps devoted more time to growing and new accounts, while lower performers over-invested in steady accounts.

  • Established ideal call mix based on patterns of high-growth reps.

3. Coaching & Embedding Change

  • Trained six regional managers on how to coach reps using the new KPIs.

  • Co-designed with the VP of Sales a reporting cadence and performance dashboards.

  • Helped integrate segmentation and KPI tracking into onboarding for new hires, ensuring sustainability.

Results

  • +19% increase in daily sales calls.

  • Cultural shift toward activity-driven performance management.

  • 12% sales lift above target:

    • Target for year: $400M

    • Actual (annualized): $445M

    • Previous year: $365M

  • $45M incremental revenue gain achieved in just 8 months.

  • Lasting impact: Customer segmentation and KPI frameworks were adopted into company culture and new hire training.

Insights

  • Measuring only sales is like “driving by looking in the rearview mirror.” Leading KPIs empower leaders to steer future outcomes.

  • Minimal-intrusion data collection builds rep buy-in, especially when they see immediate personal benefit (higher commissions).

  • Coaching regional managers created leverage: one layer of leadership improved the habits of 100+ reps.

  • Embedding the system into onboarding ensured the improvements outlived the project.