Can Weighted Score Be Part Of Your KPIs?

Cricket is a game to keep the stattos very happy.

Numbers gush forth for almost any situation, performance and result.

A classic revolves around a player’s “average”. For a batsman, this comes from the accumulated runs ever scored, divided by the number of times they’ve lost their wicket.

A decent Test international batting average is deemed to need to surpass 40. This century, averages around 50 and beyond have developed. The all time best ever – and outlier – being the famed 99.94 of Bradman.

It seems this season’s new England management eschew the traditional measure. They recalled to the side Jos Buttler. Previously discarded with an average of 37.

They preferred to amend this figure. It got weighted. They took into account the opposition, conditions and match scenarios of each innings.

His average under this new criteria improved to 60.

Duly recalled to the side, he shone.

As England (remarkably) beat the current world number one Test side he’s the top English run scorer (260 in the first four Tests).

This may have echoes of sabermetrics.

Or the recent cultural meme of Moneyball, given the new broom’s (unhealthy) obsession with American ‘sports’.

In any case, this application is vindicated.

Which led me to think of sales managers.

I sense that the figures I see around salesroom walls are often restricted to simple absolutes:

Total sales, margin dollars, units shifted.

It is rare that every single sales team member is selling into the exact same patch with the exact same bag.

So how about throwing in a weighted measure to mix things up?

It may well get the troops thinking…

Yes, you may encounter moans about the weighting methodology.

But you might just promote a way to achieve longer motivation across a wider span of your sellers.

Simple ways to get going can include promoting new tallies. New client wins for tigers, new product placements for farmers.

Or you could divide revenue by deal length. Sales won where a specific pitch or to a particular role occurred. Ratios, add-ons, margin improvement. Competitive displacements, specific sectors of note. Or a true favourite of mine, clients gained when all your process elements came into play.