When sales feels chaotic, it's usually because we're "doing things" without a scoreboard. KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) fix that by turning revenue goals into the few activities that actually drive results—plus the behavioural discipline to keep going when we mostly don't win on the first try.

Q1) What are sales KPIs, and why do we need personal ones?

Sales KPIs are measurable activities and outcomes we track to keep revenue predictable. Companies sometimes hand us a dashboard, but plenty of roles don't come with clear KPIs—especially in smaller firms, new markets, or when we're building a territory from scratch. That's where personal KPIs matter: they give us "markers" for what we're doing and what we should be doing.

The key is recognising we cannot do everything. We can only do the most important things—consistently. So we choose a handful of KPIs that reflect how our sales actually works (industry, deal size, sales cycle, channel), and we track them like a pilot checks instruments: not for perfection, but for control.

Q2) Which KPIs actually move revenue (and which just make us feel organised)?

A useful rule: track both leading and lagging indicators.

• Lagging indicators: results (revenue, closed deals, average deal size). They're essential, but they tell us after the period is over.
• Leading indicators: the activities that cause results (qualified leads worked, buyer conversations, meetings booked, proposals sent, follow-ups completed).

The best personal KPIs are usually leading indicators that map to your funnel, like:

• How many qualified leads we work each week
• How many calls / outreach touches we make
• How many contacts turn into appointments
• How many appointments convert into agreed deals
• Our average value per appointment
• How many buyers become repeat buyers

If a KPI doesn't link to a funnel stage, it's probably a "busy metric."

Q3) How do we turn a big revenue target into weekly KPIs we can actually execute?

We reverse-engineer the number.

Start with the revenue target, then work backwards through the funnel using realistic ratios. Example logic (use your own numbers, then refine over time):

1. Target revenue per month
2. Average deal size → required closed deals
3. Closing ratio from meetings → required meetings
4. Meeting-set rate from conversations → required buyer conversations
5. Contact rate from outreach → required outreach attempts

This is exactly the discipline of breaking "big revenue targets down to activities," then setting targets for the ratios between steps.

And we'll fail plenty at first. That's not a moral issue—it's just a data issue. After a few weeks, we'll have our conversion stats, not someone else's.

Q4) What funnel ratios should we track—and what do we do when the ratios are ugly?

Sales is a chain. If one link is weak, the outcome collapses.

Track ratios between stages, for example:

• outreach attempts → conversations (contact rate)
• conversations → meetings (appointment rate)
• meetings → proposals
• proposals → closed deals (close rate)

Over time we build "reliable statistics" showing where we're strong and where we're leaking deals.

If conversations aren't becoming meetings, that's usually messaging, relevance, credibility, or timing. If meetings aren't closing, that's discovery quality, stakeholder mapping, objection handling, procurement friction, or lack of urgency.

The goal isn't to shame the numbers. The goal is to diagnose the system and improve one stage at a time—because a small lift in one ratio multiplies all the way down to revenue.

Q5) How do we set KPI targets without kidding ourselves (and without burning out)?

Use three levels:

• Comfortable range (you can hit this even on a rough week)
• Realistic stretch (hard but doable)
• Moonshot (for peak weeks, not every week)

Then we attach KPIs to time management. If the target is 200 quality touches a week, we schedule them like a workout plan—because hope is not a strategy.

Also: behaviour matters. Sales can be "a diabolical art" where we fail a lot, so we need "supreme discipline" to do the activities anyway.

That means tracking basics like follow-up completion, pipeline hygiene in the CRM, and daily prospecting blocks—because motivation comes and goes, but systems stay.

Q6) How do we adapt KPIs to reality (gatekeepers, Japan timing, and modern outreach)?

Reality includes gatekeepers, voicemail, and the classic "they'll call you back" fantasy. We can have a long call list and still get nowhere, so we vary timing and channels.

Practical KPI upgrades:

• Track attempts by time band (early morning, lunch, after 6pm) because contact rates change by industry and role.
• Track multichannel sequences (phone + email + LinkedIn + referral asks), not just "calls."
• In Japan, where trust and introductions often matter, track referral requests, warm intros, and second meetings as leading indicators—because relationship-building is a real part of the funnel, not "soft stuff."

Weekly review: keep, kill, adjust. If we're not moving the ratios, we don't need more hustle—we need smarter inputs.

About the Author (Credentials)

Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results.

Wrap-up

Personal sales KPIs are our antidote to vague effort. We pick the few activities that drive the funnel, set ranges, measure ratios, and improve the weakest link. When we know the numbers, we stop guessing—and we start managing sales like a system.