What is an OKR?

OKR is the initials for ‘Objectives’ and ‘Key Results’, a goal-setting method used by big companies like Google to help sales teams streamline their processes and deliver outcome-based success.

Want to set winning sales goals with OKRs but not sure how? 20 sales pros share their tried and tested tips on using sales OKRs successfully.

Is your sales team setting the right goals and tracking them?

For an organization to grow efficiently and successfully, it needs to set great goals and continuously measure them.

However, goal setting is a lot easier said than done. It needs a proper strategy and a solid process in place to yield successful results.

And that’s where OKRs come in.

When OKRs are implemented, sales teams need to answer two questions:

Objective: Where do I want to go?

Key Result: How will I know if I’m getting there?

So while your objectives need to be time-bound (so you can track its progress) and actionable, your key results need to be measurable and quantifiable.

Now, you may be wondering who should use OKRs? Managers and directors? Or executive leadership? Well, the answer is, to our surprise, everyone. This response definitely emphasizes the importance of setting OKRs for your company to hit your business (and sales) goals.

How Do You Set OKRs?

Goal setting can help improve employee engagement in a way that elevates performance and benefits organizations overall, according to McKinsey. We saw similar results in our recent survey, too.

When we asked professionals if setting OKRs correlate with their teams hitting sales goals, 91.3% of respondents said yes!

does setting OKRs correlate with your team hitting its sales goals?

So how do you set OKRs?

By following these 4 basic steps. You can add more steps as you go along.

1) Step 1 – Define your objectives.

What time-bound and actionable goals are you looking to achieve?

Do you want to $100k in Monthly Recurring Revenue? Reduce churn rate by 25%? Get 1000 new subscribers in June? Increase lead conversion rate from 10% to 20%?

2) Step 2 – Choose key results for each objective.

How will you fulfill those goals\objectives? What actions will you take to reach those objectives?

Choose 3 to 5 measurable key results for each of your objectives.

Objects and Key Results

Source: Betterworks.com

3) Step 3 – Communicate the objectives to your sales team.

Next, keep your team in the loop and discuss the objectives and key results with them. Encourage team members to take ownership of these goals for better success.

4) Step 4 – Track your progress.

This is why goals should be time-bound – so you can easily track their progress and determine whether you’re meeting your OKRs or not.

So constantly monitor your progress.

Editor’s Note: Don’t know how to start tracking your sales team activity? The HubSpot Sales Activity dashboard template tracks every stage of your sales funnel and watches for leaks. You can see the top of funnel activity for each rep.

How to Use OKRs to Set, Track, and Hit Your Quarterly Goals?

Setting OKRs can seem like a complex process when you’re just starting out. We asked 20 sales pros their best tips for setting great sales goals using OKRs, and here’s what they said.

Here are the 11 best tips for setting winning sales goals using OKRs:

1) Keep it simple.

2) But, also specific and measurable.

3) Focus on the target, not the tactic.

4) Don’t rush.

5) Cascade goals.

6) Go for difficult goals.

7) Create small targets.

8) Keep it systemized.

9) Give yourself time to meet goals.

10) Look at the bigger picture.

11) Involve all team members.

Read more here.