The Interview

Kluster's Take

Josephine spoke with Patrik Larm, Country Manager Germany at Scrive. He explains his thorough approach to metrics.

Patrik's 4 most important metrics are: opportunity creation, average sale cycle, win rates, and average revenue per account. He maintains a good mix of both leading and lagging indicators. Lagging indicators tell you something about the past. Leading indicators tell you about where you’re going to land. 

Patrik gets reps to start with a lower average revenue per account, then ramps this up over time. As they are able to take on more complex processes, the average revenue per account goes up. He monitors the average sales cycle, as it tends to be longer for more complex processes.

He explains that over time metrics are altered from activities to results. Patrik believes the best reps are interested in their customer’s operation. This results in them coming up with better solutions. Passion is key, there are a lot of differences between different markets. So you need to actually find out what kind of industry you could be successful in. Patrik does bi-weekly one-to-ones with all team members. With these, they go through personal development and metrics. He also holds group discussions once a week, to learn from each other. 

Setting up reports, deciding on metrics, then achieving a shared understanding are the most difficult parts. Patrik believes coaching is key. You should start with what’s really affecting your business and not try to do everything at once.