74 — Sales Metrics
Status: CANONICAL · Commercial OS
Owner: Founder (sales) → AE #1's manager
Last verified: 2026-07-21
Definitions defer to 72 Revenue Metrics where shared.
Purpose
The sales measurement system: stage instrumentation, the weekly pipeline discipline, and the honest funnel math that tells us whether the motion is repeatable — the question that gates hiring and fundraising (36 §4, 50 §2).
Target audience: Founder-seller; AE #1; investors (diligence view).
1. Stage Instrumentation (CRM mirrors [36 §2] exactly)
Every stage transition logs its exit-criteria facts — a deal moves when facts exist, not when optimism does:
| Transition | Target | Red flag |
|---|---|---|
| S0 → S1 (ICP ≥ 9 → discovery held) | ≥ 60% of pursued | Low: targeting problem (33) |
| S1 → S2 (discovery → demo attended) | ≥ 60% | Low: discovery outputs weak (38 KPIs) |
| S2 → S3 (demo → POV signed) | ≥ 40–50% | Low: demo or POV-offer problem (39) |
| S3 → S4 (POV → commit) | ≥ 60% | Low: success criteria or activation problem — check with 75 |
| S4 → Won (commit → signature) | ≥ 80% | Low: procurement friction (43) or economic-buyer gap |
| S1 → Won (end-to-end) | ≥ 20% | The repeatability headline |
Velocity: S1→Won ≤ 90 days · POV never > 30 days without written reason (37 Play 4) · S4 ≤ 3 weeks · any deal at 2× stage-typical duration gets a downgrade-or-revive decision.
2. The Weekly Pipeline Review (Monday, 30 min — the founder's sales hygiene 37)
Fixed agenda: (1) coverage vs. ≥ 3x target · (2) stage-aging exceptions with decisions · (3) MEDDICC gaps on S3+ deals (two red letters at S3 = no Commit entry 36 §3) · (4) single-threaded S2+ deals flagged (34 choreography) · (5) this week's three most-important deal actions, named.
Hygiene rules: every deal carries ICP score, personas engaged, competitor + card used, source (content/outbound/network/event — feeds [73]/[63] attribution) · loss reasons coded (category-misread / competitor-[name] / no-decision / price / security / timing) within a week of loss · win/loss notes feed the Friday ritual and monthly readout (71 §3).
3. The Funnel Math (the model the metrics must prove)
Working backward from 77 plan 2027 targets (~25 new customers in the year):
25 wins ÷ 20% S1→Won = 125 discoveries ≈ 2.4/week
125 discoveries ÷ 60% booking ≈ 210 qualified conversations
← sourced: content 60% ([73]) + outbound/network/events 40%
Capacity check: 2.4 discoveries + ~1.6 demos + POV load ≈ founder's 15 selling hrs/wk — tight but real.
The math says: protect selling hours ruthlessly ([50 §5]) and hire AE #1 on plan, not on hope.
This block is the repeatability dashboard: when actuals hold these ratios for two consecutive quarters, the motion is provably repeatable — AE #1 hires against it (36 §4).
4. Founder-Sales Specific Metrics (pre-AE)
Selling-hours actual vs. 15/wk plan (monthly audit — the leakage metric) · recap-email same-day rate 100% · discovery 8-outputs completion 100% (38) · demo checklist compliance 100% (39 §3) · POV weekly-review completion 100%. These process metrics are the early sales metrics: at n<20 deals, conversion percentages are noise; process compliance is signal.
KPIs (the scoreboard): S1→Won ≥ 20% · POV win ≥ 60% · cycle ≤ 90 days · coverage ≥ 3x · multi-threaded ≥ 80% · loss-reason coding 100% · repeatability ratios held 2 consecutive quarters (the gate).
Related: 72 Revenue · 36 Methodology · 37 Playbook · 77 Annual Plan