Sales Performance Management That Drives Predictable Growth

Sales teams are experiencing tougher quotas, longer sales cycles, multi-stakeholder deals, and economic pressure like never before.

 

According to a 2024 Compensation Trends Report by QuotaPath, 91% of sales teams failed to hit sales quota expectations last year and research from Dentsu shows sales cycle lengths have increased a staggering 16% between 2021 and 2024, citing larger buying committees, increased buyer caution, and more solutions available. 

 

These issues can create havoc for businesses, from sales representatives burnout to executives losing faith in sales leadership. But it’s not all doom and gloom: sales performance management can right the course, get teams on the same page, and help create the right motivations to enhance long-term sales performance.

 

Think of sales performance management as a framework that connects process, data, and people to drive predictable revenue. As you continue reading, we’ll discuss what it really means, how to implement it in the age of AI, and how video can take your team to the next level. 

What is sales performance management?

 

Sales performance management (SPM) is the practice of tracking, managing, and improving sales teams abilities. While every team may be doing these things at some level, sales performance management takes things up a notch by really understanding and connecting the dots between team inputs and outputs.

 

It often involves specific components including goal setting, territory planning, quota management, sales compensation, sales coaching, and sales funnel analytics.

Traditional sales performance management software usually involves extracting insights from CRMs, compensation calculations, and business intelligence tools. While tools can provide insights into key performance metrics, it’s not exclusively about measurement. Leaders should focus on rep productivity, predictability, and growth. 

With the advancement of artificial intelligence, sales leaders are able to use it to process vast amounts of historical sales data for smarter sales forecasting, enhance sales training and coaching with personalized recommendations, and help design smarter compensation plans that motivate teams more while keeping things fair.

 

Why sales performance management matters now

Is your team hitting their numbers consistently? Are sales cycles increasing but you’re not totally sure why? Have you had a higher team member turnover rate than normal?

 

At the end of the day, we’re not just employees, but people. And people are feeling burnt out. 

 

According to a Gartner survey from 2022, almost  90% of sales employees experience burnout. We’re pretty confident that number has increased in 2025 (just look at all that’s happening in the world!). With burnout and an overall much harder selling environment, you might be struggling with: 

 

• Declining quota rates
• Longer sales cycles
• Larger buying committees 
• Inaccurate sales forecasting 

 

So if metrics are down, morale is also probably at an all time low. But it’s not all bad news!

 

Sales performance management, when done right, can help get teams back on track to hit their numbers and feel good about the work they’re doing. By getting into the weeds with your team, identifying opportunities to improve and tracking implemented solutions, you can begin to right the ship together. 

 

And you’ll soon set sail on a path towards data-driven decision making to enhance and optimize high performance and sales processes, increased productivity, and consistently hitting revenue targets.

 

The core components of sales performance management

 

Sales performance management really involves two distinct pieces that work together: the process and the specific parts. 

 

The process of sales performance management involves: 

 

1. Defining responsibilities, expectations, and goals that align with both sales and overall business objectives
2. Continuously tracking and managing the sales organization’s performance 
3. Recognizing and rewarding team members for their contributions
4. Evaluating performance against objectives 
5. Predicting outcomes and performance trends to establish expectations for the next sales cycle

 

The three specific parts of sales performance management that can be optimized include: 

Sales planning

Sales planning may differ depending on the size of your organization, but generally involves establishing sales territories, assigning quotas, and allocating and aligning sales resources to ensure coverage across priority markets. Planning ensures reps aren’t competing for the same accounts and that targets are realistic given capacity.

Sales incentives

Well-designed compensation plans motivate reps to prioritize the right deals and behavior, whereas poorly structured incentives often lead to misaligned activity, inflated forecasts, or short-term deal-chasing at the expense of long-term pipeline health.

Sales insights

Data alone won’t improve performance. High-quality sales managers and leaders embed regular coaching, onboarding, and training. Managers need visibility not only into what’s being sold, but how your salespeople are engaging buyers and whether activities are building trust.

 

Where traditional sales performance management falls short

Even the best intentioned sales leaders may find their performance management efforts missing the mark. But don’t worry, by knowing what pits you might fall in, you can hopefully avoid them.

 

• Data-heavy but engagement blind spots: CRMs and dashboards track activities and revenue outcomes, but they rarely show how reps engage buyers and if the efforts are working..
• Coaching gaps: Managers struggle to diagnose why deals stall. Without visibility into rep communication quality, like proposals, demos, follow-ups, coaching becomes reactive and inconsistent.
• Forecasting fragility: Forecasts often rely on lagging indicators rather than leading engagement signals, which can lead to inflated confidence.
• Rep productivity drag: Administrative updates, scattered systems, and manual follow-ups drain selling time. 
• Misaligned incentives: Compensation plans and commission structures may drive short-term deal pushing or sandbagging, but without visibility into engagement and pipeline health, leaders can’t adjust plans quickly enough.

 

How to set up a sales performance management system for success

While the process and key components of sales performance management haven’t changed, the way in which top leaders engage has, especially with the rise of artificial intelligence. As you read these steps for implementing (or streamlining) a sales performance management system, keep in mind how the latest tools and technology can help.

Step 1: Define goals and KPIs

When was the last time you took a good look at what your sales goals and KPIs are… and why? Of course tracking top line revenue growth is table stakes, but you may find that the other sales metrics you’re tracking aren’t actually important. 

 

As you go through this exercise, you also want to make sure you’re aligned with marketing and other revenue teams for optimal results.

Step 2: Get sales team buy-in

Securing support from both frontline sales reps and leadership is critical, as it creates a shared sense of ownership and accountability. For the wider sales team, this means clearly communicating the value — showing how the process helps them hit targets, access better tools, and receive fair, transparent performance evaluations. 

For leadership, the focus should be on how this process drives consistency, scalability, and measurable improvements in revenue outcomes. By engaging both groups early, you lay the foundation for smoother adoption and long-term success.

 

Step 3: Integrate data sources into CRM

Have you taken a look at the data flowing in and out of your CRM recently? More importantly, have you looked at the quality of that data? Without accurate data, from B2B company/contact data or lead tracking and engagement data, you’re setting yourself up for failure. 

 

In today’s digital world, most platforms play nicely with each other via large integration libraries, especially if you’ve been thoughtful with building out your sales tech stack. But there are also tools like Zapier that can help connect disparate data and systems.

Step 4: Implement tracking for advanced analytics and reporting

Think of this step as putting a GPS on your sales engine. Now you’ll know if you’re headed toward quota attainment or veering off-course.

The key here is to lock in on the KPIs that actually matter, not just the ones that look shiny on a dashboard. Are you tracking activity that drives pipeline growth? Conversions that fuel revenue? Retention rates that keep customers (and commissions) flowing? 

Step 5: Set up ongoing training

The framework of a sales performance management process should not be viewed as a set and forget strategy. It thrives on consistent adoption, refinement, and reinforcement.

Ongoing training keeps your sales team sharp, ensures new hires get up to speed quickly, and helps everyone adapt as tools, markets, and strategies evolve.

More importantly, it signals to the team that success isn’t about a one-time rollout, but about building lasting habits and skills. Think of it as regular tune-ups for your sales engine.

 

Step 6: Analyze reports and metrics

Now that you have the data you need… you need to actually use it! It also shouldn’t just sit in a dashboard. Data only works if it is used to make decisions. 

Ask yourself: how will the information be used, and what kind of impact can you actually expect? Are the reports revealing trends that help leadership fine-tune strategy? Are they spotlighting coaching opportunities for reps? Or are they showing where your pipeline needs a serious boost? 

Done right, this step turns reporting from a rearview mirror into a forward-facing roadmap.

Step 7: Incentivize for results

Numbers and reports are great, but nothing motivates a sales team quite like the promise of recognition and a little friendly rivalry. 

This is your chance to layer in gamification, rewards programs, and creative perks that make hitting sales targets feel less like work and more like leveling up.

Whether it is leaderboards that spark healthy competition, incentive programs for crushing stretch goals, or experiences that money cannot buy, the goal is to align incentives with the behaviors and outcomes that matter most. 

 

The new layer: video + AI in sales performance management

Now that you’ve got the basics of effective sales performance management, it’s time to think about how to level up. That’s where the power of artificial intelligence and video sales tools come in. 

 

Use cases of video in sales performance management

• Sales leaders (CROs, VPs): Better forecasting and pipeline predictability with buyer engagement signals.
• SDR/BDR managers: Higher meeting-booked rates, rep performance benchmarking.
• For AEs: Shortened cycles, better objection handling with recorded demos/proposals.
• For enablement/coaching: Standardize best practices with video libraries and AI-suggested scripts.

 

How?

• Asynchronous engagement: Video keeps deals moving when buyers don’t want live calls or have large buying committees. 
• Scalable personalization with AI: AI Avatars and AI generated scripts enable teams to easily create video content, saving time and ensuring consistent messaging.
• Automated engagement: With Video Agent, teams can set up trigger-based video creation, automating the process of sending personalized videos after prospects perform certain actions in your sales process.
• Performance visibility: Video analytics show which videos drive real engagement, helping managers coach reps and forecast more accurately.

CRM integration: Video engagement data rolls into Salesforce, HubSpot, and other sales tools, to improve sales performance management dashboards.

 

For a deeper dive into how to measure and apply AI in your sales motion, see Vidyard’s AI Sales Tools Playbook or our AI Resource Hub.

 

Optimize your sales cycle with Vidyard

 

Hopefully you realize the importance of sales performance management in today’s fast-changing sales environment. What worked yesterday will not work tomorrow, and that rings true for the tools, sales strategies, and processes you’re using.

 

But the good news is that by really thinking about how and why you’re tracking, managing, and improving sales teams abilities, you have a better chance of sales success. While there is no singular step or process that will totally overhaul your team, we’ve seen the power of video drive real results for our 100,000+ customers around the world.

 

Don’t just take our word for it: read some of our case studies, like ReviewThatPlace that has seen a 400% increase in open-to-meetings rate or how Pavilion has seen an 8x ROI using Vidyard.

 

 

Sales performance management FAQ

What KPIs should sales leaders track beyond calls/emails?

Counting calls and emails might sales activities, but it does not prove impact. Sales leaders should focus on KPIs like conversion rates between pipeline stages, deal velocity, and average deal size to highlight quality over volume. Metrics such as customer lifetime value, retention, and satisfaction also reveal whether reps are building relationships that last.

 

In other words, it is better to track the size and health of the fish you catch than how many times you cast the line.

 

What engagement metrics should feed into sales performance management dashboards?

 

Similar to the above, we believe engagement metrics should spotlight how well reps are connecting, not just how often. 

 

Think meeting-to-opportunity conversion rates, prospect response rates, and time-to-follow-up rather than raw outreach counts. Customer-facing signals like satisfaction scores, renewal likelihood, and net promoter scores should also be a focus.

 

Together, these metrics show if reps are building meaningful engagement that drives revenue instead of just filling the activity log.

 

What KPIs matter most when measuring sales performance with AI?

 

When layering AI into sales performance management, the most valuable KPIs go beyond basic activity counts and focus on impact, efficiency, and predictive accuracy. 

 

Leaders should track win rate uplift and pipeline conversion rates to see if AI implementations actually improve outcomes. Deal velocity and forecast accuracy highlight whether AI is helping reps move opportunities faster and with more confidence. 

 

On the efficiency side, time spent selling vs. admin work show if automation is freeing up rep capacity while improving prospect interactions. Ultimately, the KPIs that matter most prove whether AI is not just generating insights, but actively accelerating revenue growth and reducing wasted effort.

 

How do I align marketing and sales teams within a sales performance management framework?

 

Aligning marketing and sales starts with agreeing on what “good” looks like. 

 

Shared KPIs, like lead quality, conversion rates, and revenue contribution, create a single source of truth instead of finger-pointing and blaming.

 

Regular feedback loops can also ensure marketing knows which leads turn into closed deals, and sales understands how to nurture the demand that marketing generates. When both teams are measured on outcomes rather than siloed business goals, the sales performance management framework becomes the bridge that keeps everyone rowing in the same direction.

 

How long does it usually take to see ROI after implementing sales performance management?

 

Many companies start seeing ROI from sales performance management within 6 to 12 months, though the exact timeline depends on adoption speed, data quality, and system integration. 

 

Quick wins like reduced commission errors and streamlined reporting often appear in the first few months, while revenue gains and stronger pipeline metrics typically take longer to materialize.

Can asynchronous video reduce sales cycle length in enterprise deals?

 

Yes! Asynchronous video has real potential to shorten enterprise sales cycles, especially when used strategically such as in initial outreach, as new decision-makers join the buying committee, and to explain complex product features. 

 

Take a look at how Superside used personalized video in their enterprise ABM strategy, resulting in 4x reply rates and 50% more new opportunities added in just a few months.

 

How can video-enabled sales performance management support your ROI goals?

 

Using personalized video in sales performance management increases visibility into prospect engagement and clearer visibility into team efforts.