Top B2B Sales KPIs for 2025: Metrics, Benchmarks & Tips

Key Takeaways

Understand the difference between sales KPIs and sales metrics—and why both matter for B2B performance.
Learn how to calculate and optimize essential KPIs such as lead conversion rate, win rate, sales cycle length, and pipeline coverage.
Benchmark your performance with updated 2024–2025 data on sales conversion, CAC, LTV, churn, and quota attainment.
Explore actionable strategies to improve B2B sales KPIs, including sales enablement, lead response automation, and upselling techniques.
See why data-driven sales teams consistently outperform and how to build a scalable, metric-focused GTM strategy.
Discover how outsourcing your sales development efforts to Martal Group can help improve your B2B sales KPIs and drive faster revenue growth.

Introduction

Are your B2B sales metrics telling the full story of your team’s performance? In 2025, data-driven sales leadership isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a necessity. By 2026, 65% of B2B sales organizations will outpace those running on gut instinct by using data-driven strategies(10). Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and metrics shine a spotlight on where your sales process thrives and where it falls short. Up to 70% of B2B sales reps missed their quota in 2024(2), underscoring how vital it is to track the right sales KPIs and metrics to hit targets. This comprehensive guide will break down sales metrics and KPIs every B2B tech, SaaS, AI, cybersecurity, or MSP leader should monitor—complete with definitions, formulas, 2024–2025 benchmarks, and best practices to optimize each. By the end, you’ll know exactly which KPIs for sales to focus on and how to improve them, and you’ll see why partnering with an expert like Martal Group can accelerate your success.

What Are B2B Sales KPIs and Metrics?

In B2B sales, KPIs are the top-priority metrics that align directly with your strategic goals. They quantify how effectively your team is achieving critical objectives (like converting B2B leads to customers or growing revenue). Sales metrics, on the other hand, can include a broader range of measurements—covering everything from daily call counts to quarterly revenue—that provide insight into your sales operations. In practice, we often use “sales metrics” and “sales KPIs” interchangeably, but the difference lies in focus: KPIs are the most important metrics that indicate performance against key goals, while metrics can be any measurable aspect of your process.

For example, “conversion rate” is a sales metric, but if it’s mission-critical for your strategy, it becomes a KPI. Typically, B2B sales KPIs fall into categories such as:

Activity KPIs: e.g. number of calls, emails, or meetings (measuring sales effort).
Conversion KPIs: e.g. lead-to-opportunity rate, win rate (measuring funnel efficiency).
Value KPIs: e.g. average deal size, total revenue (measuring financial outcomes).
Efficiency KPIs: e.g. sales cycle length, lead response time (measuring speed and process health).
Cost KPIs: e.g. customer acquisition cost (CAC) and cost per lead (CPL) (measuring cost-effectiveness).
Retention KPIs: e.g. churn rate, lifetime value (measuring customer loyalty and long-term value).
Performance KPIs: e.g. quota attainment (measuring sales team success against targets).

In short, KPIs for sales teams are the vital signs of your sales organization’s health. They help you make data-driven decisions about where to invest time and resources. By tracking the right KPIs, you can accurately forecast revenue, pinpoint bottlenecks in your sales funnel, and coach your team more effectively. In the following sections, we’ll explore sales KPIs examples that every B2B leader should know, complete with how to calculate them, why they matter, current benchmarks, and tips to improve each one.

Why Tracking Sales KPIs Is Critical in 2025

Maintaining a data-driven mindset with your sales KPIs and metrics is crucial for B2B tech and SaaS companies in 2025. First, tracking KPIs provides objective insight into your sales performance. It takes the guesswork out of questions like “Are our lead generation efforts effective?” or “Is our sales team closing deals efficiently?” For example, if you know your conversion rate from lead to customer is 3%, and your industry’s average is 5%, you have a clear signal that something needs improvement.

Second, KPIs for SDRs and other sales team members enable continuous improvement. When you monitor these metrics over time, you can spot trends and respond proactively. Is your sales cycle getting longer each quarter? That might indicate increasing complexity in deals or issues in the later sales stages—prompting you to refine your process before revenue suffers. On the flip side, seeing a KPI improve after a new initiative (like a training program or a new sales tool) gives you concrete evidence that the change is working.

Finally, well-chosen KPIs align your sales team with broader business goals. They ensure everyone is focused on what truly matters for growth—whether that’s increasing the number of deals won, improving profitability per client, or boosting customer retention. In fact, organizations that prioritize tracking KPIs often develop a culture of accountability and excellence. The data becomes a motivational tool: reps can see their progress and managers can celebrate wins or address issues with facts in hand.

Now, let’s dive into the top B2B sales KPIs and metrics you should be tracking. For each, we’ll cover definition, formula, why it matters, and how to use that KPI to optimize your sales performance.

Top B2B Sales KPIs

Below are the sales KPIs and metrics that B2B leaders in tech, SaaS, AI, cybersecurity, and related industries should monitor closely. These KPIs cover the entire sales funnel—from initial lead engagement to closing deals to retaining customers. Each KPI is accompanied by real-world benchmarks and best practices so you can gauge how you stack up and identify opportunities to improve.

1. Lead Conversion Rate (Lead-to-Customer Conversion)

Only 2–5% of B2B leads typically convert into paying customers.

What it is: Lead Conversion Rate measures the percentage of leads (potential customers) that ultimately convert into actual paying customers. It’s often viewed as an overall indicator of how effective your sales and marketing funnel is at turning interest into revenue. This sales metric essentially asks, “Out of all the leads we acquire, how many become clients?”

How to calculate it: The formula for lead conversion rate is straightforward:

Conversion Rate = (Number of leads that become customers ÷ Total number of leads) × 100%

For example, if you had 500 new leads in a quarter and 25 of them closed as new customers, your conversion rate is (25 ÷ 500) × 100% = 5% conversion.

Why it matters: This KPI is a broad barometer of your sales funnel health. A low conversion rate can signal misalignment in your lead qualification process, low-quality leads, ineffective sales pitches, or other issues in nurturing leads. A high conversion rate, on the other hand, indicates that you’re attracting the right prospects and successfully moving them through the sales process. For B2B tech and SaaS companies, improving conversion means more efficient use of marketing spend and sales effort – you get more revenue from the same number of leads. It also highlights the effectiveness of sales and marketing alignment; if marketing brings in highly qualified leads, sales is more likely to convert them.

Best Practices to Improve Conversion Rate: If your conversion rate is below your target or industry benchmark, it’s time to examine each stage of your sales funnel for leaks. Here’s how you can boost this KPI:

Refine Lead Qualification: Ensure your marketing team and BDRs are rigorously qualifying leads. Define clear ideal customer profiles and BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline) criteria. Focusing your sales reps on high-quality leads can dramatically increase close rates.
Improve Sales Enablement: Arm your sales team with strong collateral (case studies, ROI calculators, demos) that addresses common objections and highlights value. A well-prepared sales pitch that resonates with customer needs will naturally convert more prospects.
Personalize the Approach: B2B buyers respond better to personalized, consultative selling. Train reps to tailor their messaging to each stakeholder’s interests and pain points. For example, if you’re selling an AI cybersecurity solution, the CIO might care about technical efficacy while the CFO cares about cost savings—address both specifically.
Analyze and Optimize Funnel Stages: Break down conversion rate by stages (lead to appointment, demo to proposal, proposal to close). This can pinpoint where prospects drop off. Maybe your lead-to-demo rate is fine, but demo-to-proposal is low – indicating issues with the demo’s effectiveness. Use these insights to coach your team or tweak your process at that stage.

2. Lead Response Time

Responding within 5 minutes makes a lead 9x more likely to convert.

What it is: Lead Response Time measures how quickly your sales team responds to an incoming lead or inquiry. Essentially, it’s the average time it takes from when a lead first raises their hand (by signing up on your website, filling out a demo request, contacting sales, etc.) to when a sales representative actually contacts them. This metric is a crucial part of your sales velocity and is closely tied to conversion success in the early stages of the funnel.

How to calculate it: Typically, you calculate an average lead response time over a given period. For example, if one lead submitted a form at 9:00 AM and got a call back at 9:30 AM (30-minute response) and another got a call 3 hours after inquiry, the average for those two would be 1 hour 45 minutes. Most CRM systems can track the timestamps automatically. Often, companies set an internal SLA (Service Level Agreement) for this – e.g., “We respond to all new leads within 1 hour.”

Why it matters: In B2B sales, speed matters more than many realize. When a prospective buyer expresses interest, responding quickly dramatically increases the chances of engaging them in a meaningful conversation. A fast response capitalizes on the prospect’s peak interest (when your solution is top-of-mind) and catches them before they move on to researching competitors. Conversely, if your team takes days to follow up, the lead may have gone cold or spoken to a competitor already. For businesses in tech and SaaS, where buyers often explore multiple options, being the first vendor to respond can set the tone for the entire relationship. It demonstrates reliability, professionalism, and eagerness to win their business. Moreover, prompt follow-up can improve your lead conversion rate – it’s often the first step to scheduling a demo or meeting, which pushes the lead further down the pipeline.

Best Practices to Improve Lead Response Time: If your lead response time isn’t meeting your goals, consider implementing the following:

Use Automation and Alerts: Set up your CRM or lead management system to instantly alert reps (via email, SMS, Slack, etc.) when a new lead comes in. Some companies use automated round-robin assignment to immediately designate a rep for each inbound lead. The moment a prospect submits a form, your team should know.
Implement a “Speed-to-Lead” Culture: Make responsiveness a priority in your sales culture. Train your reps on the importance of immediate follow-up. You can even gamify it—some organizations display a leaderboard for fastest response times or celebrate the first call connects of the day.
After-Hours Coverage: If you serve global markets or run online lead generation campaigns 24/7, you might get inquiries outside normal business hours. Consider strategies for after-hours lead response. This could be an on-call rotation for sales reps, an outsourced answering service, or AI chatbots on your site that can schedule meetings instantly. The key is not letting a lead sit idle overnight or through the weekend if you can help it.
Set Clear SLAs: Define a specific, measurable target for lead response (e.g., “90% of new leads are contacted within 1 hour”) and track it just like any other KPI. Review this in sales meetings. If there are bottlenecks (perhaps certain times of day response lags), adjust resources or schedules to close the gaps.

3. Sales Pipeline Coverage (Pipeline-to-Quota Ratio)

A healthy sales pipeline should maintain 3x to 4x coverage of your quota.

What it is: Sales Pipeline Coverage is a metric that compares the total value of opportunities in your sales pipeline to your sales target (quota) for a given period. It’s usually expressed as a ratio (e.g., 3:1 or 4:1). This KPI answers the question: “Do we have enough pipeline to hit our upcoming sales targets?” For example, if you have $1 million worth of qualified deals in play this quarter and your quota for the quarter is $500,000, your pipeline coverage is 2:1. Pipeline coverage is sometimes called pipeline-to-quota ratio or just “coverage ratio.”

How to calculate it: The formula is:

Pipeline Coverage Ratio = Total pipeline value ÷ Sales quota for the period

If the result is, say, 3, that’s often referred to as “3x pipeline coverage.” Sales leaders often calculate this at individual rep levels and team levels. For instance, each account executive might have their own quota and pipeline; you’d measure both their personal coverage and the aggregated coverage for the whole team.

Why it matters: This KPI is a leading indicator of whether you’re likely to achieve your targets. Because not every deal in your pipeline will close (you have a certain win rate, more on that later), you typically need a pipeline that is a multiple of your quota to ensure you hit the number. Monitoring pipeline coverage helps in forecasting: if your coverage is too low early in the quarter, you know you must drive more opportunities into the funnel or risk a shortfall. If coverage is high, you can forecast more confidently or even raise targets. It’s also a diagnostic tool – a consistently high coverage (like needing 6x pipeline to hit quota) might indicate a low win rate or poor pipeline quality. Conversely, if you find you can hit quota with only 2x coverage, maybe your win rates are excellent or your deals close faster. Sales KPIs and metrics like coverage link closely to team behavior: for example, if reps know they need 4x their quota in pipeline, they’ll focus not just on closing deals but also on continuously prospecting and filling the funnel. For B2B tech companies with long sales cycles and high-value deals, pipeline coverage is essential to avoid last-minute surprises. It ensures you’re not putting all your hopes on one or two big deals; instead, you have sufficient volume of opportunities to make the odds work in your favor.

Best Practices to Manage Pipeline Coverage: Hitting your sales target is much easier when you manage pipeline coverage actively:

Set Target Coverage Ratios: Use historical data to set a coverage target for your team (e.g., “Maintain at least 4x coverage at the start of each quarter”). If historically 25% of pipeline closes, 4x gives you a buffer. Ensure every rep knows their personal required pipeline number, not just their quota. This will encourage consistent prospecting.
Pipeline Reviews: Conduct regular pipeline reviews with your team. Look at both total value and deal quality. If coverage is lacking, strategize immediate pipeline-building activities (marketing campaigns, upsell/cross-sell into existing accounts, more prospecting). If coverage is on track, focus the review on deal strategies to boost win rate.
Monitor Early-Warning Indicators: Don’t just measure coverage at the end of a period. Track it throughout the quarter. For instance, by mid-quarter you might want to see a certain multiple relative to remaining quota. If you see pipeline coverage dipping or not growing as expected, it’s a red flag to intervene early—perhaps shift resources to business development efforts or adjust tactics.
Align with Marketing: Hitting pipeline coverage is not solely a sales responsibility; it’s often a joint effort with marketing. Share coverage goals with marketing teams so they understand the volume and quality of leads required. This alignment can ensure your demand generation efforts produce enough pipeline opportunities to feed the ratio you need.

4. Win Rate (Opportunity-to-Deal Conversion)

The average B2B win rate is approximately 20%, with top performers reaching 30% or more.

What it is: Win Rate is the percentage of sales opportunities that you successfully “win” (close as deals) out of the total opportunities pursued. This KPI is sometimes specifically called Opportunity Conversion Rate or Close Rate. Essentially, it tracks how effective your sales team is at closing deals once an opportunity is on the table. Typically, win rate is calculated for a given timeframe or for a set of opportunities that have reached an outcome (won or lost). For example, if your team had 100 sales opportunities in a quarter and won 30 of them, your win rate is 30%.

How to calculate it: The basic formula is:

Win Rate = (Number of deals won ÷ Number of opportunities) × 100%

It’s important to define “opportunity” for your organization. Most B2B companies consider an opportunity as a qualified prospect that has entered the sales pipeline (often post initial discovery or needs qualification, sometimes once a proposal or quote is issued). Make sure you’re consistent: include only closed opportunities in the calculation (excluding those still open). Some teams calculate separate win rates for different stages (e.g., from proposal to close) or for different segments (new business vs. renewals).

Why it matters: Win rate directly reflects sales effectiveness at the bottom of the funnel. A higher win rate means your team is better at persuading prospects and handling objections, or that they focus on well-qualified deals (or both). It can point to strengths or weaknesses in your sales process, negotiation, product-market fit, or competition handling. For instance, if your win rate is low, it might indicate your competitors are often beating you, your pricing is off, or your reps need better training in closing techniques. Win rate is also a lever for growth: increasing win rate, even by a few percentage points, can have a big impact on revenue without needing more leads or pipeline. It’s the conversion efficiency of the opportunities you already have. This KPI is particularly vital for B2B tech and SaaS companies because it’s usually more efficient to improve win rate (closing more of the existing pipeline) than to constantly spend on generating ever more pipeline. Moreover, win rate influences how much pipeline management you need (as we discussed earlier). If you can boost your win rate, you don’t need as large a pipeline to hit the same quota, easing pressure on marketing and outbound teams. In summary, win rate tells you how well your sales team turns opportunities into revenue – it’s a direct measure of sales execution quality and competitiveness.

Best Practices to Improve Win Rate: To lift your win rate, you need to improve how you qualify deals and how you close them. Consider these approaches:

Qualify Ruthlessly: It sounds counterintuitive, but winning more deals can start with pursuing fewer, better opportunities. Implement a solid qualification framework (MEDDICC, CHAMP, BANT, etc.) to ensure your team is focusing on deals with a real chance of closing. Dropping bad-fit prospects early will raise your win percentage (since those likely losses aren’t counted in the denominator anymore) and free up time to concentrate on winners.
Strengthen Sales Training: Invest in training around negotiation, objection handling, and closing techniques. Role-play common late-stage scenarios (e.g., competitor comparisons, pricing pushback). The better your reps navigate these conversations, the more deals they will win. If prospects often go dark after proposals, train reps on effective follow-up and value reinforcement. If deals are lost to “no decision,” work on creating urgency and demonstrating clear ROI to all stakeholders. Consider also your sales team structure as it can play an important role in how leads are moved through the pipeline.
Analyze Lost Deals: Make it a practice to review lost opportunities. Conduct win/loss interviews or at least internal post-mortems. Find out why deals are lost. Is it price? Missing features? Timing? Each insight is an opportunity to adjust strategy—maybe it’s providing more ROI evidence to justify price, or feeding product feedback to your development team, or refining your pitch against competitors. By systematically learning from losses, you can address the root causes and improve future outcomes.
Leverage Customer Proof: One way to boost win rate is to make a more compelling case during the proposal stage. Use strong social proof and case studies tailored to your prospect’s industry and pain points. For example, if you’re selling a cybersecurity solution to a finance company, show them a success story where you helped a similar finance client reduce breaches by X% and save $Y. When prospects concretely see the value and outcomes you deliver, they’ll be more inclined to choose you over others. This increases the likelihood that proposals turn into signed deals.

5. Sales Cycle Length (Average Time to Close)

The average B2B sales cycle lasts 69 days, based on recent benchmark data.

What it is: Sales Cycle Length is the average duration of time it takes to close a deal from the first contact with a lead until the deal is won (or lost). Usually measured in days (or months for very long cycles), it captures how long prospects stay in your sales pipeline. You might also hear this referred to as sales velocity (time aspect) or deal cycle time. B2B sales often have multi-step cycles (initial meeting → needs assessment → proposal → negotiation → close), and this KPI tracks the total elapsed time through those steps.

How to calculate it: Take all the deals closed in a given period (say, the last quarter or year). For each deal, measure the number of days from the first recorded interaction or opportunity creation date to the date of closing (win or loss). Then, calculate the average of those durations. It’s important to note whether you’re calculating for won deals, lost deals, or all deals; many teams focus on won deals for sales cycle length, since that indicates how long successful sales take. You can also segment by deal type (new customer vs. renewal) as they often have different cycle times.

Why it matters: Understanding your average sales cycle is crucial for planning, forecasting, and identifying inefficiencies. A shorter sales cycle means you’re closing deals faster, which can reduce costs (less time spent per deal) and increase the capacity of your team to handle more deals over time. A long cycle, which is common in enterprise B2B sales, means you must manage protracted communications, more follow-ups, and often more stakeholders, which can be resource-intensive. Tracking this KPI allows you to spot if your sales process is slowing down. For example, if your sales cycle was typically 60 days and it’s stretched to 90 days, something has changed—perhaps customers are more cautious, or maybe an extra approval step was introduced on their side, or your contracting process became a bottleneck. Knowing your cycle length also helps set proper expectations for revenue forecasting. If your cycle is 3 months on average, deals entering the pipeline now likely won’t convert this quarter but next; that insight helps align sales and executive expectations. Importantly, optimizing sales cycle length can improve cash flow and ROI on marketing spend—the faster a lead turns into a paying customer, the sooner you start recouping acquisition costs. Additionally, a shorter cycle often correlates with a better buying process; it may indicate clarity in your sales process and strong product-market fit driving quicker decisions.

Best Practices to Improve Sales Cycle Length: If you need to speed up your sales cycle without sacrificing deal quality, consider these tactics:

Identify Bottlenecks: Break down your sales process into stages and measure the average time in each. Is there a particular stage where deals stall? Perhaps prospects linger in the proposal stage waiting for legal approval, or initial demos aren’t happening until 3 weeks after lead generation. Pinpointing a delay allows you to address it specifically—maybe by streamlining contract reviews, or automating part of the follow-up process to schedule demos faster.
Use Timeline Selling: Set clear next steps and timelines with your prospects at each interaction. A best practice is to always secure a next meeting on the calendar before ending the current one. Creating mutual action plans (with target dates for each step, like technical review done by X date, procurement by Y date) can keep both your team and the buyer’s team accountable and moving forward. Essentially, you’re project-managing the sale to ensure momentum.
Improve Lead Nurturing & Education: A long sales cycle sometimes means prospects aren’t getting information they need to make decisions, causing delays. Provide helpful content at the right time – for instance, after a demo, send a concise business case or ROI summary they can share internally. Use drip campaigns or personal follow-ups to address common concerns quickly. Educating the buyer and all stakeholders (with webinars, whitepapers, or personalized workshops) can prevent the process from stalling due to internal doubts or lack of consensus.
Offer Incentives for Faster Decision: Sometimes you can ethically encourage a quicker close by offering an incentive tied to timing. For example, a time-bound discount or bonus feature for signing by quarter-end can motivate customers to move a bit faster (assuming they’re already in later stages and just need a nudge to wrap things up). Use this carefully – it should come across as adding value for acting, not as high-pressure sales. When done right, it can pull in deals that might otherwise drag into the next period.

6. Average Deal Size (Average Purchase Value)

In 2022, average B2B deal values dropped by 32% due to budget constraints and risk aversion.

What it is: Average Deal Size represents the average dollar value of a closed-won deal. It’s typically measured over a specific period or segmented by type of deal. For example, you might calculate the average initial contract value for new customers in a quarter, or the average deal size including expansions. In recurring revenue businesses (like SaaS), you might look at average Annual Contract Value (ACV) as your deal size metric. Essentially, it answers “on average, how much revenue do we get per deal?”

How to calculate it: Take the total value of all deals won in a given period and divide by the number of deals. For one-off sales, this could be a straightforward revenue per order. For subscription models, decide whether you measure by first-year contract value or total contract value. For instance, if in Q1 you closed 10 deals that together will bring $500,000 in first-year revenue, your average deal size is $50,000. Often, you’ll calculate separate averages for different product lines or customer segments, as these can vary widely (enterprise vs SMB, new business vs upsell).

Why it matters: Average deal size is a key lever in revenue growth. If you can increase deal sizes (through targeting bigger customers or selling more to each customer), you generate more revenue per win. It also affects sales strategy and resource allocation. Larger deals often require more time and effort (longer sales cycles, more stakeholders, possibly a dedicated account team), whereas smaller deals might be handled with a higher-volume, transactional approach. Knowing your average deal size helps in capacity planning—e.g., if your average deal is $50k and you have a $5M annual new business goal, you know roughly that 100 deals are needed (assuming no significant change in deal size). If you want to move the needle on revenue with the same number of deals, you’d aim to increase that average. Additionally, deal size trends can signal market changes. If you see your average deal size shrinking, it could mean customers are buying in smaller increments (perhaps opting for shorter-term contracts or fewer seats in SaaS), which might indicate budget scrutiny or a need for a land-and-expand strategy. Conversely, a growing average deal size could result from successfully moving upmarket or cross-selling more products in each deal. For B2B tech companies, tracking this KPI by segment is important: you might find your enterprise segment average deal is $200k while SMB is $10k, which would inform how you allocate sales reps and set quotas (enterprise reps will have fewer, bigger deals versus SMB reps closing many smaller ones).

Best Practices to Increase Average Deal Size: If one of your sales goals is to boost the average size of each deal, consider these strategies:

Upsell and Cross-sell: Encourage your sales team to sell more than the minimum. This might mean bundling additional modules of your software, pitching premium tiers, or adding complementary services. The key is to focus on solving broader problems for the customer. For instance, if you sell a cybersecurity software, can you also sell a training package or an extended support plan? Increasing the scope of each deal by cross-selling related products or upselling to a higher level solution will directly raise the deal’s value.
Target Higher-Value Customers: Adjust your ideal customer profile to include larger companies or those with bigger budgets. This might involve shifting marketing and outbound prospecting towards enterprise accounts or higher revenue bands. Larger customers generally mean larger deals (but remember they often also mean longer cycles and lower win rates, so plan accordingly). If you’ve historically sold to SMB but see an opportunity in mid-market or enterprise, dedicating a team or resources to that can gradually lift your average deal size as you land bigger contracts.
Show Strong ROI (to justify larger deals): One reason customers limit deal size is uncertainty about return on investment. By providing a compelling ROI analysis, you can often encourage customers to go for a larger deployment or longer contract. For example, if your solution saves $100k a year for a client, presenting that calculation can justify them investing $50k instead of $20k. Essentially, you’re de-risking a bigger purchase. Case studies of big wins and tangible outcomes help here.
Longer Term Contracts or Multi-Year Deals: If you operate on subscriptions or renewable contracts, incentivize multi-year commitments. While a 3-year contract might be recognized as revenue annually (if you’re on accrual accounting), the total contract value is higher than a one-year. Often, companies offer a discount for multi-year deals. If cash flow allows, getting that commitment not only secures retention but usually means a larger upfront deal (e.g., a single $270k 3-year deal instead of three $100k yearly deals negotiated each year). Just ensure you balance discounting so you’re not giving away too much to get the longer term.

7. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

The average CAC for B2B companies is $536, and $702 for SaaS companies.

What it is: Customer Acquisition Cost is the average cost incurred to acquire a new customer. It typically includes all sales and marketing expenses over a period divided by the number of new customers acquired in that period. CAC is a crucial efficiency metric that tells you how much investment is needed to win a customer. It answers, “What do we spend, on average, to sign up each new client?” In B2B, CAC often includes marketing campaign spend, sales team salaries/commissions (or a portion thereof), sales software costs, and sometimes onboarding costs for new customers.

How to calculate it: Add up all your sales and marketing expenses for a given timeframe (let’s say a quarter or year). This might include advertising costs, content marketing, trade show expenses, salesperson salaries and commissions, sales software, etc. Then, divide by the number of new customers acquired in that same timeframe. For example, if in one quarter you spent $200,000 on sales and marketing and acquired 50 new customers, your CAC is $4,000. Companies can calculate a blended CAC including all channels, or separate CAC by channel (e.g., CAC for leads from paid ads vs. CAC for leads from referrals). Note: Be careful to match the timeframe of spend and customer count – some use annual figures (total marketing/sales spend in a year divided by new customers that year).

Why it matters: CAC is directly tied to profitability and the scalability of your sales efforts. If your average sales metrics and KPIs show a CAC of $4,000 and your average deal brings in $3,000 in first-year revenue, that’s a warning sign—you’re spending more to acquire customers than you get back in a year (you’d rely on recurring years to recoup, which can be risky if customers don’t stick around). Ideally, CAC should be significantly lower than the revenue (and gross margin) that customer will generate. A lower CAC means you acquire customers more efficiently, which often implies a well-targeted marketing strategy, strong product-market fit that leads to organic referrals, or simply a high-performing sales team that closes quicker with fewer resources. Tracking CAC over time helps you ensure that as you scale up your sales and marketing, you’re not incurring skyrocketing costs for diminishing returns. For example, early on you might acquire customers cheaply via word-of-mouth, but as you try to grow, you start paying for ads and hiring more salespeople, which raises CAC. Monitoring this trend ensures you keep customer acquisition economics healthy. B2B tech and SaaS businesses pay especially close attention to CAC in relation to Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). That ratio (LTV:CAC) essentially measures return on acquisition investment. If CAC starts creeping up, your business might need to adjust pricing or targeting. Additionally, CAC by channel can inform you where to double down or pull back: maybe your CAC via inbound marketing is $1k per customer, but via cold outbound it’s $5k – that insight would influence your strategy. Overall, CAC is a KPI that connects sales and marketing activities to financial outcomes; it’s often scrutinized by CFOs and investors as a measure of how efficiently the company is buying revenue.

Best Practices to Manage and Lower CAC: To keep your customer acquisition cost in check (or to improve the ratio of value gained per cost), consider these approaches:

Optimize Marketing Channel Mix: Analyze which marketing channels yield the best cost-per-acquisition. Perhaps your PPC ads have gotten expensive, but your content marketing (SEO) brings in leads that close at a fraction of the cost. By reallocating budget to more cost-effective channels or refining targeting (so you spend money only reaching the most relevant audiences), you can lower overall CAC. Continuously test and measure campaigns – cut the ones with high CAC, scale the ones with low CAC.
Improve Sales Efficiency: Everything that speeds up your sales cycle or boosts your win rate (as discussed earlier) will also improve CAC. If your sales reps close deals faster or convert a higher percentage, the fixed costs of having those reps (salaries, etc.) are divided over more wins, effectively reducing cost per win. Providing better sales training, prospecting tools (like CRM enhancements or automation to reduce manual tasks), and clear ideal customer profiles can prevent reps from wasting time and resources on unlikely deals. A more efficient sales process = lower CAC.
Leverage Referrals and Word-of-Mouth: Referrals often come with a very low CAC (sometimes near zero marketing cost). Encourage customer referral programs or case studies that get customers talking about you. Satisfied B2B clients can be some of your best salespeople. If each customer brings in another without heavy marketing spend, your average CAC drops. For example, implementing a referral incentive or simply proactively asking happy clients for referrals can drive new business cheaply.
Align Sales and Marketing (Account-Based Approach): Especially in B2B, if marketing and sales work in tandem (for instance, through Account-Based Marketing, ABM), you can focus resources on high-probability targets and reduce waste. Instead of broad marketing that generates lots of unqualified leads (which sales then spend time sifting through), an ABM approach narrows the funnel at the top to only ideal accounts, meaning marketing spend is more concentrated and sales time is spent on likely wins. This can increase conversion and thus lower CAC. It’s like precision fishing versus casting a wide net in empty waters.

8. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV or LTV)

A healthy LTV to CAC ratio is 3:1 or higher, indicating efficient customer acquisition.

What it is: Customer Lifetime Value (CLV or LTV) is the total revenue (or profit) that a company expects to earn from a single customer account over the life of the relationship. In simpler terms, it’s how much a customer is worth to you from acquisition until they stop doing business with you. For subscription models, LTV takes into account recurring revenue and how long customers typically subscribe. For one-time purchase models, it may consider repeat purchases or the average lifespan of a customer before churn. Many B2B companies calculate LTV on a revenue basis, but some will subtract gross costs to get a profit-based LTV. It’s a forward-looking metric (often based on historical data averages), answering: “What is the projected total value of a typical customer?”

How to calculate it: The formula can range from simple to complex. A straightforward approach for SaaS:

LTV = Average Revenue Per Customer (per period) × Gross Margin × Average Customer Lifespan (in periods).
For example, if you charge $1,000/month for your SaaS (and that’s the average revenue), with a gross margin of 80%, and customers stay on average 24 months, then LTV = $1,000 × 0.8 × 24 = $19,200. Another common approach is LTV = ARPA (Average Revenue per Account per year) × Average number of years as customer. In non-subscription B2B, you might look at average purchase value and frequency and estimate how many purchases a customer makes before leaving. If each customer on average makes $50k purchases annually and stays 3 years, LTV is $150k. The key is to use historical churn rates or retention rates to inform average lifespan. For instance, if your annual churn is 25%, the average customer lifespan might be ~4 years (since 25% churn roughly implies 4-year average lifetime). It’s important to calculate LTV in a consistent way and update it if your customer behavior changes (like if retention improves).

Why it matters: LTV is the yin to CAC’s yang. On its own, knowing LTV tells you how much revenue you can expect from each customer, which is vital for business planning and valuation. But paired with CAC, it becomes a powerful strategic indicator. The LTV:CAC ratio shows the return on investment for acquiring customers. If LTV is much higher than CAC, you have a profitable model and possibly room to invest more in growth. If LTV is close to or less than CAC, you’re in trouble long-term (you’re not making money per customer). For B2B SaaS especially, investors and leaders look for an LTV:CAC of about 3:1 or better – meaning you get three dollars back for every dollar spent acquiring a customer(7). Lifetime value also helps guide customer success and retention efforts. For example, if you know a customer is worth $100k over 5 years, spending a bit extra on support or a business review to save that customer from churning is clearly worth it. It can also guide segmentation: if enterprise customers have an LTV of $500k and SMB customers $50k, that might influence how you allocate sales resources or whether you focus on upselling enterprise accounts (because retaining and expanding a high-LTV customer yields huge dividends). In summary, LTV is about the long game – it forces you to think beyond the initial sale and consider how keeping customers happy (and possibly expanding their account) drives value. When used alongside other sales KPIs, LTV ensures you’re not just winning deals, but winning the right deals that will pay off over time.

Best Practices to Increase LTV: Increasing LTV means either getting customers to stay longer, or spend more (or both). Here’s how you can achieve that:

Focus on Customer Success & Retention: The longer you keep a customer, the higher the LTV. Invest in onboarding, training, and support to ensure customers see value continuously. Proactively monitor usage and health; if a B2B customer isn’t fully utilizing your solution, they might churn – intervene with support or education. By reducing churn, you extend the average lifespan, which directly boosts LTV. Even moving average retention from 2 years to 3 years increases LTV by 50% for recurring revenue models.
Upsell/Cross-sell Strategically: Develop a plan for expanding each account. Perhaps after a successful first year, there’s an opportunity to sell additional modules, seats, or complementary products. Use your account managers or customer success team to identify needs and propose solutions that increase the account’s value. This not only grows revenue but often further entrench the customer with your product ecosystem, which can also improve retention (since they now rely on you for more). The key is to ensure any upsell genuinely adds value for the client – if it does, they’ll be willing to expand their investment.
Tiered Value and Price Increases: As your product or service delivers more value over time (through new features or demonstrated success), consider implementing value-based pricing or gentle price increases at renewal (if justified). Many SaaS companies have annual price escalators in contracts or raise prices for new functionality. If handled transparently, customers accept this, which raises the revenue per customer and thus LTV. Be careful: price hikes without added value can hurt retention. But if you can align price with value delivered, you can grow customer value responsibly.
Improve Product Stickiness: Work with your product team to ensure your solution becomes deeply ingrained in the customer’s daily operations. The more integral your product, the longer customers will stay (reducing churn). Features that encourage wider adoption in the client’s organization or make your product a central hub can increase switching costs (in a good way) – meaning customers are less likely to leave, driving up lifetime. For instance, a software that becomes the database of record for a client will be harder to rip out than one that’s used ad-hoc. This is more of a long-term strategy, but it’s fundamental: a great product that continually solves problems will naturally lead to high LTV.

9. Churn Rate (Customer Attrition Rate)

Established B2B companies should aim for an annual churn rate under 5%.

What it is: Churn Rate is the percentage of customers (or revenue) lost over a given period. In the context of B2B sales KPIs, we often talk about customer churn (how many customers cancel or don’t renew) or revenue churn (how much recurring revenue is lost, which accounts for contract downgrades or expansions as well). Churn is basically the opposite of retention. If you have 100 customers at the start of the year and 5 of them leave by the end, your annual customer churn rate is 5%. High churn means you’re losing customers quickly; low churn means most customers stick around. It’s especially crucial for subscription-based businesses.

How to calculate it: The simple formula for customer churn in a period is:

Churn Rate = (Number of customers lost in period ÷ Total customers at start of period) × 100%

If you had 500 customers and 25 left during Q1, that’s 5% quarterly churn. For revenue churn (often used in SaaS):

Revenue Churn = (Recurring revenue lost in period ÷ Total recurring revenue at start of period) × 100%

Often, companies calculate an annual churn rate if their contracts are annual. But if you have monthly subscriptions, monthly churn can be computed and then annualized (e.g., 1% monthly churn roughly implies about 11-12% annual churn due to compounding). It’s important to exclude new sales in churn calculation; churn focuses on what you lost from your existing pool. Many companies track both gross churn (just losses) and net churn (losses offset by upsells). In context here, we’ll keep it simple as the percent of customers lost annually, which is the classic churn rate.

Why it matters: Churn is a critical metric for sustainability. It’s generally much more expensive to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one, so a high churn rate can be a silent killer of growth – you end up pouring resources into a leaky bucket. For your sales KPIs, churn (or its inverse, retention rate) tells you how satisfied customers are, how good your product/market fit is, and how strong your ongoing customer engagement is. If churn is high, it might indicate issues such as: product not delivering expected value, poor onboarding, weak customer support, or strong competitive pressures enticing customers away. Sales leaders might think churn is more of a customer success or account management metric, but it profoundly affects how you plan sales. For example, if you have 20% annual churn, you have to replace one-fifth of your revenue every year with new sales just to stay even, which is a big ask. Lower churn means more of your new sales contribute to growth rather than just replacing lost business. Also, churn can inform targeting: if a certain customer segment has high churn (maybe small businesses churn more due to budget), you might decide to focus sales efforts on segments with better retention (maybe mid-market). In terms of benchmarks, churn rate combined with CAC gives the payback period; combined with LTV, it directly feeds that calculation (longer customer lifetimes mean higher LTV). Essentially, churn is a measure of how well you’re keeping the promises your sales and marketing made. A strong product and support will keep churn low, creating a virtuous cycle where each new sale adds on top of a stable base of recurring revenue.

Best Practices to Reduce Churn Rate: Fighting churn is a cross-functional effort (product, customer success, support, etc.), but here are key strategies from a sales perspective:

Onboard Customers Thoroughly: A lot of churn happens early in the customer lifecycle if they never properly adopt the product. Ensure a smooth handoff from sales to customer success with clear expectations set. Provide training, implementation help, and check-ins during the crucial first 90 days. A customer who sees value early is far less likely to churn. Sales can aid this by selling realistically (not overselling capabilities) and by educating the client during the sale about what onboarding will involve.
Monitor Customer Health Metrics: Use usage data or engagement metrics to identify if a customer is at risk. For example, if a SaaS client’s login activity or key feature usage drops off, that’s a warning. Your team (customer success or account managers) should reach out proactively to understand and fix issues. Similarly, periodic business reviews with clients can surface concerns or evolving needs so you can address them before they consider leaving.
Create Feedback Loops: Make sure there’s a system where reasons for churn are analyzed and fed back to relevant teams. If customers say pricing is too high, maybe sales can work on offering right-sized packages; if they are missing a feature, product team needs to know; if they had a support issue, customer support must improve. Tackling the root causes will organically reduce future churn. Sales leaders should be aware of common churn reasons to adjust targeting or messaging. For instance, if very small customers churn because they outgrow your solution quickly, you might target slightly larger customers who will have longer staying power.
Increase Customer Engagement: Keep delivering value over time. This could mean content like webinars, training updates, or new feature announcements that remind customers of what they’re getting. It also means regularly communicating results – e.g., “In the past year, our solution helped you achieve X (some KPI).” When customers recognize the ongoing value, they’re more likely to renew. Also, building relationships matters: even in B2B, people are loyal to companies and reps that take care of them. Account managers keeping in touch (not just at renewal time) goes a long way.
Offer Save Incentives: If you do get a notice of cancellation or a sense a customer is about to churn, have a “save” strategy. This might be offering a custom solution, a short-term discount, or an executive escalation to address their issues. Showing that you’re willing to go the extra mile can sometimes turn a churning customer into a retained one. Of course, you shouldn’t beg customers to stay if it’s not mutual fit, but often churn can be averted with timely intervention (e.g., negotiating contract terms, addressing unmet needs with additional service, etc.).

10. Quota Attainment (Sales Target Achievement)

In 2024, only about 30% of B2B reps hit their quota, reflecting a highly challenging sales environment.

What it is: Quota Attainment is the percentage of sales reps (or teams) that achieve or exceed their sales targets (quotas) in a given period, or alternatively, it can be measured as the percentage of quota achieved by an individual or team. In simpler terms, it answers “did we hit our sales goals, and how broadly across the team?” For a VP of Sales, one aspect is looking at what portion of the team made their individual number (e.g., 70% of reps hit quota this quarter). Another aspect is looking at overall attainment (e.g., the team collectively achieved 95% of the sales goal).

How to calculate it: For individual quota attainment: (Sales achieved by rep ÷ that rep’s quota) × 100%. If a rep has a $1,000,000 annual quota and they sold $1,100,000, their attainment is 110%. For team or company quota attainment, (Total sales ÷ Total quota) × 100% gives overall attainment. To get the percentage of reps hitting quota: (Number of reps who achieved ≥100% of quota ÷ Total number of reps) × 100%. Both metrics are useful. Often, sales orgs will report something like, “Our overall attainment was 105% of plan, with 60% of reps hitting quota.”

Why it matters: Quota attainment is the ultimate report card for a sales organization. It directly measures performance against expectations. If a high percentage of reps are meeting or beating their targets, it indicates that quotas were realistic and that the sales team executed well. If a low percentage of reps hit quota, you might have issues such as quotas being set too high, uneven territory distribution, insufficient leads, or simply underperformance and hiring mistakes. From a management perspective, quota attainment drives compensation and morale. Reps who consistently miss quota will get demoralized (and likely churn themselves, which is costly). If only a small fraction of the team is hitting quota, you may have a retention problem on your hands (no one wants to stay in a job where success seems unattainable). This KPI is also used to judge the effectiveness of sales strategies and support. For instance, if marketing isn’t generating enough pipeline, many reps might miss quota due to factors beyond their control. Or if training is inadequate, newer reps might lag. Quota attainment gives a high-level pulse: Are we achieving what we set out to do? Also, when planning next year’s sales targets or headcount, you’ll look at current attainment. If currently only 50% of reps hit quota, simply adding more reps might not directly double sales unless you fix the underlying issues. But if 80% are hitting, it suggests scalability and perhaps room to raise quotas or grow the team. Quota attainment also fosters healthy competition and recognition: celebrating those who hit 100%+, President’s Club awards for top performers, etc., which feeds into sales culture.

Best Practices to Improve Quota Attainment: Ensuring more reps meet or exceed their goals can be tackled from multiple angles:

Set Realistic, Data-Driven Quotas: Quota setting is part art, part science. Use historical data and input from the field to set quotas that are challenging but achievable. Consider ramp-up time for new reps (they might need lower quotas initially). If last year 50% of reps hit a $1M quota, think carefully before upping everyone to $1.5M without changes in strategy or resources. Align quotas with territory potential – a rep in a rich territory might have a higher quota than one in a smaller market. Realistic quotas improve motivation (reps see a path to success) and thus performance.
Provide Ongoing Training and Coaching: Reps will reach their numbers more often if you continuously develop their skills. Regular coaching sessions can help underperformers improve prospecting, pitching, or closing. Peer mentoring by your star performers can raise the game of mid-level performers. Equip your team with knowledge on product updates, competitor moves, and industry trends so they can sell effectively. A well-trained team will close more deals, directly boosting quota attainment percentages.
Ensure Sufficient Pipeline and Support: One common reason reps miss quota is lack of pipeline. Work with marketing on lead generation, and consider Sales Development Rep (SDR) and Business Development Rep (BDR) support to help fill calendars with meetings. If each rep isn’t getting enough at-bats (opportunities), even a great closer will fall short. Use metrics like pipeline coverage (discussed earlier) per rep to identify who might be struggling due to too few opportunities, and address it. Sometimes reallocating accounts or adding sales support in areas like proposal generation or demo staffing can free reps to spend more time selling and closing, helping them attain their numbers.
Incentivize and Recognize Success: The sales compensation plan is already an incentive to hit quota (accelerators, commission, etc.), but don’t underestimate the power of recognition. Celebrate those who hit 100% (or 200%!) publicly. Implement contests or SPIFFs that can give a mid-quarter boost. When reps see their colleagues succeed and get rewarded, it creates positive peer pressure. Additionally, analyze what your top performers are doing right – their approach can often be modeled or scaled. Perhaps they focus on a certain vertical or use a certain pitch; share those best practices across the team to lift overall attainment.
Adjust Course Mid-Period if Needed: Great sales leaders monitor pacing towards quota throughout the quarter/year. If you see many reps falling behind early, intervene. Maybe you temporarily lower quotas or create a special incentive on a particular product that’s in demand to help them catch up. Or perhaps re-balance territories mid-year if one region is way over-target and another under. The earlier you address a shortfall, the more you can do to close the gap. Waiting until the year ends to discover only 30% hit quota is too late – use your CRM reports and forecast calls to identify issues by mid-quarter, so you can provide support or recalibrate goals as necessary.

Quota attainment has proven challenging in recent years industry-wide – by some accounts, only about one-third of reps are consistently hitting quota (2). In fact, a recent analysis found fully ramped SaaS sales reps typically achieve around 50-60% of their quota on average(9)(meaning many quotas are set ambitiously high and overall average falls short). If this sounds familiar in your organization, it may be time to reassess expectations or provide additional resources. The goal should be to have a majority of your team hitting their numbers. Imagine the impact: if today only 40% of your team hits quota and you improve that to 70% next year through better support and realistic targets, your revenue will surge and you’ll have a much happier, motivated team. Quota attainment isn’t just a scorecard – it’s a catalyst for sales force morale and momentum. When most reps are winning, the culture of winning becomes contagious, leading to a positive cycle of success.

Conclusion: Turning Sales KPIs into Action and Growth

Tracking these B2B sales KPIs and metrics is not an academic exercise—it’s about driving real improvements in how your sales team performs. By now, you’ve seen how each KPI provides unique insight: from the efficiency of your funnel (Conversion Rate, Lead Response Time), to the health of your pipeline (Coverage and Win Rate), to the speed and value of your deals (Sales Cycle and Deal Size), to the economics of your sales engine (CAC and LTV), to the strength of your customer relationships (Churn and Retention), and ultimately the effectiveness of your sales execution (Quota Attainment). The true power of KPIs emerges when you connect the dots. For instance, if win rates are solid but quota attainment is low, perhaps the issue is insufficient pipeline (time to ramp up lead generation). Or if your CAC is rising, you might examine conversion rates and sales cycle to find inefficiencies. The metrics are interlinked, and together they create a comprehensive picture of where to focus your improvement efforts.

Remember, benchmarking against 2024–2025 data gives you context, but your own trends are just as important. Are your KPIs moving in the right direction? Did that new sales tool you implemented shorten the sales cycle? Is the new training program boosting win rates? Keep an eye on the trajectory, not just the snapshot. Also, ensure your KPIs are visible to your team. Dashboards, monthly reviews, and open discussions about these metrics will foster a data-driven culture. When reps understand how their daily activities influence KPIs (like how making that extra follow-up call could improve conversion rate and in turn their quota attainment), the abstract numbers become real motivators.

One overarching theme in optimizing KPIs is focusing on quality over quantity: better leads over more leads (improving conversion and CAC), better training over more reps (improving win rate and quota attainment), better customer success over just new sales (improving churn and LTV). As a sales leader, if you champion this quality-focused, metrics-guided approach, you’ll not only hit your targets—you’ll exceed them in a sustainable way.

Finally, it’s not just about internal efforts. Sometimes, partnering with experts can exponentially accelerate these improvements. That’s where we come in.

Ready to elevate your B2B sales KPIs to new heights? At Martal Group, we specialize in helping tech, SaaS, AI, cybersecurity, and MSP companies supercharge their sales performance. Whether you need to fill your pipeline with qualified leads, improve your conversion rates, or enter new markets without the overhead, Martal’s elite outsourced sales services can deliver. We’ve helped clients achieve faster sales cycles, higher win rates, and record-breaking revenues – all while optimizing costs and efficiency. Don’t settle for missing quotas or average results. Imagine what hitting 120% of plan each quarter would do for your business growth. It’s possible with the right strategy and the right partner.

Take the Next Step: Book a consultation with Martal Group today. Let’s discuss your sales KPIs, identify opportunities, and craft a tailored plan to drive improvement across the board. With Martal as your outsourced sales partner, you’ll gain a dedicated team focused on one thing – improving your KPIs and closing more deals. Contact us now to accelerate your sales success and turn these best practices into real outcomes. Your next quarter’s achievements can start now with a single conversation – let’s make it happen!

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