Performance matters. And in any endeavor where humans compete, scores will be kept.

With paychecks and bonuses tied to performance, the sales team naturally attracts competitive people. When assessing your team, learning how to measure sales closing percentage reveals consistent closers — and those who need to step up their game.

If you want to improve your team’s sales closing percentage you need to track the closing rate of individual sales reps. Applying data analysis to those metrics will pinpoint team members who are underperforming.

Offer additional training to those team members, and they’ll have the tools to improve their closing rate. With data, training — and a bit of healthy competition — your entire team’s closing rate will soar.

What you’ll learn:

• What is a sales closing percentage?
• How is the sales closing percentage calculated?
• How to measure the sales closing percentage
• Why it’s important to track your sales closing percentage
• How to improve sales closing percentage

What is a sales closing percentage?

A closing percentage is the number of leads that end in a decision to buy (closed won) or not (closed lost). It’s used to assess sales performance and identify areas, groups, or individuals that need improvement. This information can then help determine how to address those problems.

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How is the sales closing percentage calculated?

(Number of opportunities ÷ Number of deals closed) × 100 = Sales Closing Percentage

Learning how to measure sales closing performance is a simple process. Your sales closing percentage is the number of opportunities created, divided by the number of deals that closed. The result of this calculation is multiplied by one hundred to get a percentage.

For example, on an individual level, if you add 100 opportunities to the pipeline and 40 of these opportunities close, your closing percentage is 40%.

100 opportunities ÷ 40 deals closed = 0.40

0.40 × 100 = 40% closing ratio

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How to measure the sales closing percentage

If you want to understand how your sales team is doing, you need to understand what your sales closing percentage reveals. This cold, hard math indicates the effectiveness of your sales strategy and the efficiency of your agents’ ability to get clients to sign on.

For example, if your team generates 15 sales from 60 qualified prospects, that’s a 25% closing ratio. Compare that rate against others in your industry, and you’ll have a better idea about whether your team is leading the pack — or falling behind it.

You can measure an individual rep’s sales closing percentage or apply the metric globally. Applying this data in your CRM, you can compare previous sales periods and target areas of sales performance that need improvement.

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Why it’s important to track your sales closing percentage

Tracking and analyzing the closing percentage of your team — or the individuals on it — can reveal areas that need improvement. Armed with this knowledge, you can offer individual training or incentives to your team.

With data tracked over time, you will be in a better position to accurately forecast sales patterns, which will help you strategically prepare for slow periods. This kind of leadership will build confidence in underperforming team members, boost team morale, and improve your company’s bottom line.

Here are some key metrics to measure.

• Effectiveness of sales strategy: A sales strategy that’s effective locally may not work when applied globally. By comparing your closed-lost deals to the number of opportunities pursued, you can make adjustments to improve performance, no matter what region you’re selling in.
• Impact of time-bound sales: Compare new opportunities created with closed-won and closed-lost data over a specific period of time, whether it’s a week, a quarter, or a year. With this data, you can see who the top closers are and who could benefit from additional coaching.
• Performance against industry benchmarks: It’s helpful to know how you stack up against the competition. Compare your team and individual sales reps against the top 20% in your industry. Use this data to motivate your team with improved selling strategies. Incentive programs will encourage individual sales reps to match — or surpass — your industry’s top performers.

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How to improve sales closing percentage

If your team is consistently underperforming with its sales closing percentage, you have to take immediate steps to remedy the situation. Use every tool in your arsenal, from improved training to getting an assist from AI.

Here are some proven strategies.

• Improve your onboarding process: If your reps are struggling to move opportunities through the sales process, adjusting your day-one training can help. For instance, if your data shows that many reps aren’t hooking leads in the discovery call phase, you can focus on successful tactics in that onboarding session and provide additional coaching so that more of their deals advance past that initial phase.
• Align with marketing: Talk about closed-lost outcomes with your marketing team. If you determine that opportunities from a particular channel are lower quality because they haven’t produced any closed-won deals, share this data with your team. This provides transparency and helps to motivate your team.
• Make it automatic: Set up your CRM to automate workflows and sales processes. With this new free time, your team can focus on building relationships and perfecting sales techniques.
• Get analytical: Accurately forecast and understand deal trends with sales analytics. Once you understand these pipeline insights, you’ll predict business outcomes with confidence, close faster, and grow revenue.
• Identify coachable moments: Boost individual or group performance to fill skill gaps that are highlighted by data analysis. For example, if a rep’s opportunities are flagged as closed-lost at the same stage of the sales process, conversation intelligence insights might reveal a weak closing strategy. Once identified, you can tailor a coaching plan to help the rep improve and close more deals in the future.
• Switch up your strategy: When all else fails, try a new sales strategy. Use AI-gathered data to determine where adjustments are needed, zero in on a specific stage underperforming in the sales cycle, and try a different approach.

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Measure and optimize to boost your sales performance

The sales closing percentage is a valuable tool for measuring performance. With this metric, you can identify what is working and what needs improvement. You can then make data-driven decisions to coach teams, improve strategies, and increase your closing percentage.

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