Equipping your team with slide decks and CRM access is great, but sales enablement is much more than that. It’s all about empowering your reps to sell more effectively—and you can’t improve what you don’t measure.
That’s why sales enablement metrics are so important.
When you track the right KPIs (key performance indicators), you gain a more data-driven view into how your enablement efforts are working. Are your reps closing more deals? Are proposals converting?
In this article, we’ll talk about what sales enablement metrics are, why they’re essential to your sales performance, how often you need to be reviewing them, and the 10 essential metrics you need to track in order to gain valuable insight. Plus, we’ll cover which tools (including PandaDoc) will help you get the job done.
Let’s dive in!
What are sales enablement metrics?
Sales enablement metrics are data points that show the performance and impact of your sales enablement strategy. They can help you see what tools, content, training, and processes are actually working to drive revenue and improve rep performance.
These metrics give sales and enablement leaders a way to align enablement efforts with revenue goals, since they are typically tied to business outcomes like deal velocity, win rates, rep ramp time, etc.
Why are sales enablement KPIs important?
If you don’t have clear KPIs, it’s easy for sales enablement to become a catch-all function with no accountability. That’s why tying initiatives to real business results help you:
- Prove the ROI of your enablement programs
- See what’s working and what’s not
- Justify budget and resource allocation
- Align sales, marketing, and operations around shared goals
- Optimize training, content, and tools
How often should sales enablement metrics be reviewed?
This depends on the metric, but here are a few examples:
- Weekly or bi-weekly: This is for activity-based KPIs, including quota attainment, time to first sale, or sales cycle length.
- Monthly or quarterly: This timeline is best for broader trends like churn rate, win rate, or average deal size.
- Quarterly or annually: These check-ins are great for focusing on strategic indicators like customer lifetime value (CLV) or enablement program ROI.
Consistency is the most important part of reviewing metrics. Keeping up with regular reviews will help you catch red flags early on while staying agile in your enablement strategy.
How can sales enablement metrics improve overall sales performance?
Measuring the right sales enablement success metrics will set the foundation for continuous improvement.
Here are a few examples of how tracking metrics can drive performance:
- Shorten sales cycles: Metrics help you identify and remove bottlenecks in your process to speed up the entire sales cycle.
- Improve content effectiveness: Seeing what materials actually help will help close deals because content is more relevant to delivering outcomes.
- Enhance onboarding: When you can track time to first sale, you’ll be able to adjust training accordingly based on accurate timelines.
- Drive rep accountability: Tying training and tools to quota attainment and win rates will keep high visibility on performance, thereby improving accountability.
The goal is to have your metrics build a feedback loop so you can stop guessing and start optimizing.
The best sales enablement tools to measure success
You know by now why sales enablement metrics are important and what they can do for you—but how can you measure them for success?
The right tech stack will help you capture and analyze these metrics effectively, from CRMs to sales readiness platforms and analytics tools.
Here are a few tools that stand out:
- CRM platforms: CRMs like Salesforce, HubSpot, or Pipedrive can help you track rep activity, pipeline movement, and deal outcomes. Bonus, all three of these platforms natively integrate with PandaDoc CPQ to help you speed up sales cycles and close deals faster.
- Sales content platforms: Platforms like Seismic or Highspot can help you measure content usage and engagement.
- Document automation tools: Document workflow automation, like PandaDoc, lets you create, send, and track sales proposals with instant insights into how recipients interact with your documents.
Understanding how prospects engage during the sales process gives your team a clear advantage, which is where sales enablement tools come in. When you can see how long a prospect spends on each page of a proposal, for example, your reps will gain valuable insight that will prompt them to follow up more strategically and close deals faster. Plus, the right software can help reduce manual labor, giving your reps important time back to focus on selling.
That’s what happened with our client, Remofirst. They saved 15 minutes per proposal using PandaDoc, all while reducing errors and smoothing out contract management for their reps and customers.
“PandaDoc has changed how we approach contracts, not just in terms of efficiency, but in the quality of the decisions we’re able to make. We can actually spot trends and adjust our strategy based on what the numbers are telling us. That kind of visibility is priceless for a volume-driven business like ours.”
– Christopher Ginty, Director of Revenue Operations at RemoFirst
Explore how you can build a successful sales enablement strategy here.
What are the key sales enablement metrics to track?
Here are 10 essential sales enablement metrics and what they tell you about performance:
1. Monthly recurring revenue (MRR)
MRR is a metric that tracks predictable revenue growth, helping you measure how well your enablement efforts contribute to upselling, cross-selling, and customer retention.
2. Customer lifetime value (CLV)
CLV shows the total value a customer has to your business over the course of their relationship with you. By implementing enablement efforts that improve customer onboarding, engagement, and support can directly increase CLV.
3. Churn rate
Churn rate shows you how well your sales process or post-sale handoff are working. A high churn rate could indicate issues with either or both of these. Enablement teams can be proactive in addressing these issues by aligning messaging and improving customer education.
4. Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
CAC helps you assess how efficient your sales process is. When enablement is effective, your reps successfully close deals faster and more consistently, lowering CAC.
5. Win rate
Win rate is the percentage of opportunities that turn into closed-won deals. A solid sales enablement strategy will boost win rates by making sure reps are prepared and have the resources they need.
6. Average deal size
This metric is important to understand, because larger deal sizes typically mean your targeting and selling more effectively. Enablement teams can improve deal size by giving training on solution selling and how to handle objections.
7. Sales cycle length
When you have shorter sales cycles, your processes are likely streamlined and your reps are well-equipped. Sales enablement efforts aim to reduce friction and empower reps to close deals faster, improving sales cycle length.
8. Quota attainment
This metric is the percentage of a sales target achieved by reps within a specific period. Essentially, it shows how many reps are meeting or exceeding their targets. When your enablement strategy is effective, you’ll likely see this number increase over time.
9. Time to first sale
This metric measures how long it takes new reps to close their first deal. Ideally, you want to shorten this number, as it will prove that onboarding and ramp-up processes are working effectively.
10. Proposal engagement metrics
Knowing how prospects are interacting with your sales documents will shape better follow-ups. With PandaDoc, for example, you’ll see if a prospect viewed a pricing page multiple times. This could indicate potential hesitations or interest in the deal.
Make metrics your enablement superpower
Remember that sales enablement isn’t something you do once and expect success. It’s an ongoing strategy that lives or dies by how well it’s measured. When you focus on the right sales enablement metrics, however, you can stop guessing and start moving towards revenue growth.
PandaDoc can help you send smarter proposals, track engagement, and close deals with the confidence of real data.
Ready to see how? Request a free demo today.