Motivation-driven Performance Metrics

Most sales activity is just expensive theater. Your rep shows you their CRM activity: 100 calls, 50 emails, 20 LinkedIn messages. You think: 'Wow, they're really grinding!' Reality check: They're hitting 30% of quota. Here's what's happening: Motion without progress. Reps who are 'busy' all day but producing zero results. They mistake activity for achievement. Meanwhile, my top performers make 20 strategic touches and crush their numbers. What's the difference? Strategy. Low performers spray and pray: → Cold calling random lists → Sending generic email blasts → Connecting with anyone on LinkedIn → Attending every networking event → Responding to every RFP High performers are surgical: → Research before every call → Personalize every message → Target specific decision makers → Focus on qualified opportunities → Disqualify fast and move on It's not about doing MORE. It's about doing BETTER. But here's the problem: Most sales managers reward activity, not outcomes. They celebrate the rep who made 100 calls, not the one who closed 2 deals with 10 calls. They praise the person who sent 500 emails, not the one who got 5 meetings from targeted outreach. This creates activity theater. Reps learn to look busy instead of being productive. I learned this lesson running a $195M P&L. The metrics that mattered weren't calls or emails. They were: → Qualified opportunities created → Meetings with decision makers → Progression through sales stages → Pipeline velocity and conversion Stop measuring dials. Start measuring dollars. Stop rewarding motion. Start demanding results. Your reps will optimize for whatever you measure. Make sure you're measuring what actually drives revenue.

I Spent 10 Years Chasing Recognition And Ignoring the Metrics That Actually Mattered Most professionals chase comfort zones and perfectionist standards, but here's what actually drives meaningful progress: Redefining Your Success Framework: Growth Over Comfort ↳ Comfort zones are productivity killers ↳ Real progress happens in discomfort ↳ Challenge yourself weekly, not yearly Contribution Over Recognition ↳ Recognition follows contribution, not vice versa ↳ Focus on impact you create for others ↳ Value delivered always returns multiplied Progress Over Perfection ↳ Perfect is the enemy of done ↳ 80% completed beats 100% planned ↳ Iteration beats procrastination every time The Measurable Approach: Set Progress Metrics: ↳ Skills developed per quarter ↳ Problems solved for your team ↳ Revenue or value generated monthly Track Growth Indicators: ↳ New challenges accepted ↳ Feedback loops established ↳ Comfort zone expansions documented Monitor Contribution Impact: ↳ Processes improved or created ↳ Knowledge shared or transferred ↳ People helped or mentored Here’s What’s Really Going On: Success isn't about arriving somewhere perfect. It's about consistently moving forward while lifting others up. True success isn’t found in applause. It’s built in the quiet, measurable moments where growth, contribution, and momentum meet. Track that, and you’ll never need permission to feel proud again. 🔔 Follow Mike Hays for more leadership strategies

KPI = Key Performance Indicator? That’s the textbook definition. But in real life? In real organisations? In real teams? KPIs work very differently. Too often, KPIs are used as: ❌ control mechanisms ❌ reporting tools for senior management ❌ instruments of pressure ❌ post-mortems to explain why targets weren’t met And when that happens, people don’t engage with KPIs. They defend themselves against them. What if we reframed KPIs entirely? 👇 KPI should really stand for: KEEP PEOPLE INFORMED People can’t perform if they don’t understand what’s happening. Good KPIs create clarity: • Where are we today? • What’s changing? • What should I pay attention to? Information reduces anxiety. Silence creates rumours. --- KEEP PEOPLE INVOLVED The moment KPIs are “something management looks at”, you lose half their value. The best KPIs are: • discussed in team meetings • co-owned, not imposed • used as conversation starters Involvement creates accountability without coercion. --- KEEP PEOPLE INTERESTED If a KPI is boring, generic, or disconnected from daily reality, it will be ignored. Great KPIs: • are linked to real work • tell a story over time • show cause and effect • evolve when reality changes Interest drives attention. Attention drives performance. --- KEEP PEOPLE INSPIRED This is the most forgotten part. KPIs should answer one key question: 👉 Why does this matter? When people see how their actions move the needle, KPIs become motivating, not threatening. Inspired people don’t need to be pushed. They pull performance themselves. --- The uncomfortable truth: 📊 KPIs don’t change behaviour. 👥 Leaders do. KPIs are neutral. How managers use them makes all the difference. If your KPIs create fear → you’ll get compliance. If your KPIs create meaning → you’ll get commitment. And commitment always beats compliance. So the real question leaders should be asking themselves today is how to keep their people informed, involved, interested and inspired. _ _ _ Follow Robertson Hunter Stewart for more on leadership and management. ♻️ Share to inspire others.

Over my 13+ year career in Customer Success, if I’ve learned anything, it’s this: People do what you pay them to do. If you want your CSMs focused on activity, pay them for activity. If you want them focused on outcomes, comp them on outcomes. If revenue is the goal, then revenue needs to be part of the comp plan. Yet too often, I see teams being told to do one thing… and paid to do another. That’s not a misalignment. That’s a failure in leadership. Compensation drives behavior. Maybe not for everyone, but for a lot of people. Across 5 different companies, I’ve designed 5 different comp models. Same goal every time: motivate and reward. But every model looked different, because every team had different priorities. I've tried: ▶️ Bonuses tied to team performance ▶️ Single-metric variable comp ▶️ Multi-component sliding scales ▶️ SPIFFs instead of formal variables There’s no one-size-fits-all model in CS. But there is one universal truth: You have to be crystal clear on what you're trying to achieve and put your money where your goals are. Thinking about reworking your comp plan? Now’s the time to start shaping your Q4 proposals or FY 2026 model. Here are 5 questions to get you started: 1️⃣ What behavior do you want to incentivize? 2️⃣ Are your goals individual, team-based, or hybrid? 3️⃣ What metrics actually reflect CSM impact? 4️⃣ Can you measure those metrics fairly and consistently? 5️⃣ Will your model reward the right outcomes not just the easiest ones? It’s not just about paying people. It’s about paying attention. Your comp plan is one of the loudest signals you send your team. It tells them what matters. It shapes their decisions. It defines your priorities, whether you like it or not. So if you're not intentional with it, you're leaving performance (and morale) up to chance. Let me say it louder for the folks in the back: Compensation is strategy. And it’s time we start treating it that way. What’s the biggest comp challenge you’ve faced in Customer Success?

I used to rely on “feeling” like I was making progress in my career. I learnt it the hard way that this was a big mistake, and here is why: 👇 🔥 You cannot improve what you cannot measure. Period! 🔥 Early in my career, I’d walk into performance reviews with vague statements like “I worked really hard this year” and “I made a big impact.” Then I realized the professionals who advanced fastest weren’t necessarily the “hardest” workers - they were the best measurers, and improved what needed to be improved as a result. 🚀 How High Performers Measure Progress: ↳ “I increased team productivity by 23% through process optimization” ↳ “I generated $2.4M in pipeline from my networking efforts” ↳ “I reduced customer churn by 15% in my territory” ↳ “I mentored 6 junior employees, 4 of whom got promoted” 👏 The Career Metrics That Actually Matter: ↳ Revenue Impact: How did your work directly contribute to the bottom line? ↳ Efficiency Gains: What processes did you improve and by how much? ↳ Team Development: How many people did you help grow or promote? ↳ Problem Solving: What specific challenges did you solve and what was the measurable outcome? 🙌 Why Measurement Transforms Careers: ↳ Clarity: You know exactly where you’re winning and where you’re losing ↳ Confidence: You can articulate your value with precision during reviews ↳ Course Correction: You can adjust tactics quickly when metrics decline ↳ Credibility: Leaders trust people who speak in data, not feelings ↳ Promotion Readiness: You always have concrete examples of your impact How do you measure progress? Share below 👇 — ↻  ✰ Share to inspire change ✰ ＋ ✰ Follow me for more if you found this useful ✰

There is a point in most transformations where you can feel things starting to move. Energy builds, new behaviours emerge, and there is a sense that the organisation is shifting, but whether that momentum sustains rarely comes down to strategy or even execution. It comes down to something far less visible: how the organisation is being measured. The Finance pillar within the Transformation Leaders Body of Knowledge (TLBoK) plays a far more active role in transformation than most programmes acknowledge. Not as reporting or control, but as a system that shapes behaviour. What gets measured, funded, and rewarded defines what the organisation will actually do, regardless of what has been communicated. One consistent pattern in more mature transformation environments is that KPIs are not treated as fixed. They are deliberately redesigned as the transformation progresses. Because introducing new processes or operating models is not enough on its own, those ways of working need to be viable inside the system and that viability is determined by the measurement framework. Performance metrics are not passive indicators of success. They influence decision-making, shape trade-offs, and signal what “good” looks like across the organisation. When those metrics remain anchored in the legacy model, the organisation does not resist the transformation; it adapts around it (if your lucky). This is where the tension quietly builds. You see process change without a real behavioural shift. New operating models constrained by old cost logic. Strategic intent diluted by incentives that still reflect the past. Not because people are unwilling, but because the system has not been fully redesigned to support the future state. In stronger transformation environments, KPI evolution is treated as part of the architecture. Early on, metrics are used to create visibility and expose constraints. As the transformation progresses, they begin to reinforce new behaviours and build capability. Later, they anchor value realisation, scalability, and resilience. Measurement moves with the transformation, not behind it. This is often where programmes lose integrity without realising it. Not in the ambition or the effort, but in the gap between what the organisation says it wants and what it continues to measure. That gap is where drift begins. This is why the Finance pillar is not positioned as oversight. It sits inside the execution architecture, alongside value logic, incentives, and governance design, because transformation does not happen through intent alone. It happens through the systems that make certain behaviours possible and others impossible. If behavioural change is slower than expected, it is rarely a communication issue. It is usually a sign that the organisation is still being structurally rewarded for the past. Do you have examples of this that you are prepared to share?