17 Sales OKR Examples To Build a High Performance Team
To hit your sales goals, you need a plan.
And that plan should have a clear objective and measure key results. In order words, OKRs for sales.
Whether you’re building pipeline through prospecting, training the team, or expanding overseas, we’ve covered you with these examples.
Read below for 17 examples of winning OKRs for sales teams.
Use them as inspiration to create your sales OKRs or borrow one or two to help you achieve your targets. Whichever route you take, ensure they are challenging yet attainable, relevant to your business, and motivating!
Why your sales team should use OKRs
Setting and achieving objectives is critical to success in any venture – personal and professional.
One of the most effective ways to track and improve sales performance is using OKRs. OKRs can help individuals and teams to focus on the most important tasks, measure progress, and identify areas for improvement.
What is an OKR?
OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results. It’s a goal-setting method used by teams and individuals to set ambitious and measurable goals.
This is especially true in sales, where consistent performance is essential to success.
Only 16% of knowledge workers say their company is effective at setting and communicating company goals. OKRs can help increase your sales team’s engagement in goal setting and help everyone aim for ambitious goals.
In sales, they can help your team by setting specific goals and measuring objectives to achieve, such as quota attainment or the number of qualified leads.
By breaking down objectives into specific and measurable goals, OKRs help sales teams focus their efforts and track progress. This can be particularly helpful when OKRs are aligned with the company’s overall strategy.
For example: setting an OKR to overachieve a sales team target for the end of the quarter. Although challenging, you can hit your goal by measuring the key results. Measure key results such as improving the win rate by 10%, increasing pipeline coverage to 3.5x, or increasing opportunities by 2x.
The benefits of using OKRs to track and improve sales performance
Sales teams need clear and definitive goals to guide them. By having sales OKRs, you’re guiding them with clear and ambitious goals that’ll challenge them. The trick is that your OKRs have to balance being difficult yet achievable.
According to a Harvard Business Review survey of over 700 sales managers and salespeople, 50% of high-performing sales organizations report having a closely monitored and enforced sales process.
Sales OKRs can provide focus, structure, and a clear goal for everyone to achieve.
Here are several benefits of having sales OKRs:
- Focus: OKRs give your sales team clear objectives and key results, which guide sales reps and managers on priority tasks.
- Alignment: They ensure everyone on the sales team aligns their efforts toward common goals, which builds teamwork.
- Measurable outcomes: OKRs provide specific, quantifiable key results to measure progress, making it easier to track achievements and identify areas for improvement.
- Speed: OKRs allow quick adjustments based on results and feedback, keeping the sales team adaptive.
- Increased performance: Setting challenging but achievable goals, OKRs motivate sales reps and teams to stretch their capabilities.
Additionally, because they are often used with incentive-based compensation, OKRs can also help motivate salespeople to reach their full potential.
17 sales OKR examples to use
1. Sales OKR example for recruitment
Objective: Build a world-class sales team.
Key Results:
- Hire 10 new Sales Development Reps by the end of March.
- Hire 5 new Account Executives by the end of March.
- Hire 3 new SDR Managers by the end of March.
2. Sales OKR example for training and development
Objective: Develop a best-in-class sales development team.
Key Results:
- Implement a new sales training platform and deliver 5 training sessions within the first 2 quarters.
- Complete weekly sales coaching.
- Interview and finalize the new sales trainer to be delivered next quarter.
- Listen to 5 sales calls per week and coach on areas of improvement.
3. Sales OKR example for improving discovery calls
Objective: Train our Account Executives to improve our discovery call.
Key Results:
- Successfully deliver discovery call training by X date as measured by 80%+ sales team training on how to use the new process.
- Deliver the new process for measuring conversion rate to the next stage progression.
- Improve data collection by mandating CRM fields to capture the right data during calls.
- Implement the discovery call worksheet, migrating to the new methodology by X date.
4. Sales OKR examples for measurement and reporting
Objective: Improve sales reporting and measurement.
Key Results:
- Implement a sales dashboard and business intelligence platform successfully delivered by XX date.
- Deliver a new sales management report, including conversion rate, win rate, and pipeline creation reports.
- Deliver weekly summary of sales metrics to sales management.
- Deliver weekly sales pipeline metrics summary report to sales management by xx date.
5. Sales OKR examples for new sales technology
Objective: Implement a new CRM and successfully onboard the entire sales team.
Key Results:
- Set up a walkthrough session of the new CRM by XX date.
- Create a new presentation and cheat sheets for sales reps by XX date.
- Achieve an adoption rate of 90% for the new CRM.
6. Sales OKR example for pipeline creation
Objective: Get to 3x new bookings pipeline by the end of the month.
Key Results:
- Generate $10M in pipeline from new prospects through outbound prospecting.
- Generate $4M in pipeline from expansion opportunity.
- Have 10 discovery calls per week for each sales rep.
7. Sales OKR example for growing territory sales
Objective: Grow our sales in the EMEA region.
Key Results:
- Generated 25 new qualified opportunities in strategic named accounts.
- Successfully onboard 10 new value-added resellers that focus on the EMEA region.
- Rollout SPIF for EMA region driving 80% rep quota attainment.
- Start hiring 5 new Account Executives based in EMEA.
8. Sales OKR example for growing sales through channel partners
Objective: Grow sales through channel partners.
Key Results:
- Onboard 20 new channel partners.
- Train all the newly onboarded channel partners.
- Monitor and support channel partners to close at least 5 deals this quarter.
- Build $5M in new pipeline through channel partners.
9. Sales OKR example for sales acceleration
Objective: Accelerate our sales cycle for enterprise customers by 25%.
Key Results:
- Reduce speed-to-lead for warm prospects down to a 1-hour response rate.
- Reduce the time from the initial discovery call to the demo by 10 days.
- Reduce the time from the demo to the pricing proposal by 15 days.
- Ensure all sales reps ask for the next step during each call.
10. Sales OKR example for growing quarterly sales
Objective: Hit quarterly revenue of $1,000,000.
Key Results:
- Increase the number of pipeline generation campaigns by 2x.
- Upsell new products to 20% of existing customers.
- Increase MQL to SAL conversion by 10%.
- Improve win rate by 5%.
11. Sales OKR examples for improving sales qualification
Objective: Introduce a new opportunity qualification process to improve sales forecast accuracy by 20%.
Key Results:
- Introduce the MEDDIC sales qualification process to the sales team.
- Train sales team on new methodology through 3 sessions.
- Add qualification questions to new fields in CRM.
- Establish a bi-weekly forecast meeting to review the qualifications of each opportunity.
Objective: Implement a social selling process to build new pipeline by the quarter’s end.
Key Results:
- Have sales reps share 3 pieces of content per week.
- Outreach to 10 new leads per day on LinkedIn.
- Generate over $150,000 in new pipeline through social selling techniques.
- Successfully train 3 SDRs on social selling practices.
13. Sales OKR example for increasing lead generation
Objective: Double our qualified leads generated by the end of the month.
Key Results:
- Create a database of 1,000 new prospects.
- Reach out to 1,000+ potential customers through outbound prospecting.
- Implement a new sales engagement platform to improve sales productivity by 25%.
- Achieve 75 sales activities per day.
14. Sales OKR example for improving cold emails
Objective: Increase the total pipeline generated through cold emails.
Key Results:
- Increase the number of emails sent every day to 30 from 50.
- Train the sales team on best practices for email personalization by the end of the month.
- Increase the responses received from 1% to 3% within one month.
- Reduce the average response time to 6 hours.
15. Sales OKR example for cold calling
Objective: Increase meetings booked rate from cold calls by 15%
Key Results:
- Implement 3 new cold calling open lines and scripts.
- Implement 1 call blitz session per month to increase call volume.
- Build a lead nurture sales sequence to warm up leads before cold calling.
- Increase the volume of total cold calls by 50% within the next 30 days.
16. Sales OKR examples for cross-selling and upsell
Objective: Expand 50% of our current base through upsell and cross-sell.
Key Results:
- Increase upsell and cross-sell revenue by 40%.
- Increase net dollar retention to 90%.
- Conduct consistent quarterly business reviews with customers.
- Establish a new process to engage decision-makers in other lines of business.
17. Sales OKR examples for selling new products
Objective: Expand 50% of our current base by selling new products.
Key Results:
- Increase new product expansion revenue by 25%
- Present new product demo to 50% of the customer base by the end of the quarter.
- Build new product presentations and product cheat sheets by the end of the month.
How to effectively set up sales OKRs
Whether you’re a startup or a Fortune 500 company, sales OKRs can be a great way to focus your team and measure progress. But how do you go about setting up OKRs? Here’s a quick guide:
- Define your goal: What are your company’s top priorities? What are your sales goals for the quarter or year? Your sales OKRs should be aligned with these broader objectives.
- Define key results: Identify specific, measurable outcomes for each goal you want your team to achieve. These could include targets for revenue, pipeline, lead generation, or any other metric important to your business.
- Assign ownership: Once you’ve defined your key results, it’s time to assign them to individuals or teams. Ensure everyone clearly understands their goals and is held accountable for their part in achieving them.
- Set a timeline: All good goals should have a deadline, and sales OKRs are no different. Determine when you want each key result achieved and ensure everyone knows the timeline.
- Track progress and revise as needed: Periodically check your team’s progress and see how they track against their goals. If necessary, make adjustments to ensure the goals remain achievable and relevant.
By following these steps, you can ensure that your team is focused on the right things and making steady progress toward achieving your company’s objectives.
Frequently asked questions
How to effectively track your sales OKRs?
To effectively track your sales OKRs, use a simple chart or spreadsheet where you can mark your progress every week. It’s like checking off items on a to-do list but for your big sales goals.
What is an OKR in sales?
An OKR in sales is like a special goal for the whole team. It includes what you want to achieve which is the objective, and how you’ll know you’re getting there, which are the key results.
What are OKRs for customer success?
OKRs for customer success can be about ensuring your customers are happy and getting the most out of your solution. This could mean goals like “Improve customer service response time to under 2 hours” or “Increase customer satisfaction scores by 15%.”
Do OKRs work in sales?
Yes, OKRs definitely work in sales when implemented effectively. By setting clear goals (the Objectives) and deciding how you’ll measure success (the Key Results), sales teams know exactly what they’re aiming for.
Final thoughts
Sales OKRs are a simple yet powerful way to keep your sales team on track and focused on the most important goals.
By setting up and tracking OKRs, you can enjoy greater clarity around individual and team goals. They also present a measurable way to identify areas for improvement. For sales reps, having goals can increase motivation and accountability among team members.
A more successful sales team overall. If you haven’t already started using OKRs in your business, now is the time to start!
