OKR Examples

Company Level OKR

Objective: Increase profitability by 42% every quarter for FY 2017-18

Key results:

1. Monthly revenue growing at a CAGR of 20% every quarter
2. Number of customers increased by 35% every quarter
3. 55% region of the nation covered by Q4

Discussion:

Most companies, irrespective of which industry segment they belong to, will have this objective among their top 3 objectives. Though the numbers may vary according to each one. If you look at the first KR, it will simply calculate the sales occured for a particular period and give an approximate figure of revenue that the company will achieve every quarter. There on its a matter of calculating the profitability.

The second and third KR on the other hand are the reasons the company’s sales are bound to increase. In short, it is only after these 2 KRs are achieved that the first KR can be measured.

In conclusion, At company level, various teams work together so each one contributes as per its function. So while the KRs may appear unconnected at first glance, they may have an impact on each other and subsequently the objective.

Team Level OKRs

Objective 1: Increase sales funnel by 35% by Q4 2017-18

Key results:

1. Number of salespersons increased by 2.5 times by Q2 2017-18
2. Monthly 12000 active prospects in sales funnel
3. Daily 30 lead conversions
4. Reduce the number of leads lost by 15%

Discussion:

The objective here may be common for most companies but the KRs may not necessarily be same. For example, not everyone goes on a ‘Salesperson hiring spree’ to increase sales. Some rather prefer to increase the efficiency of the sales process than increase further costs. Apart from the first KR, the remaining three do provide a way to determine if the team has achieved its achieved

Objective 2: Increase nationwide reach of product by 35% by Q4 2017-18

Key results:

1. Distribution channel expanded to become 2nd largest in the nation
2. Sales expanded to 1 new state every month
3. Ecommerce website created to expand reach of product

Discussion:

For this particular objective, the Sales team alone cannot hope to increase the reach of their product throughout the nation. While they may have to take up the actual ground work, they have to collaborate with the Marketing Team to make sure that every channel, actual and digital, is tapped into. Only then will they be able to cover more ground, in a lesser amount of time. The third KR is an example of how the 2 teams can collaborate.  

Objective 3: Improve distribution network by 35% by Q4 2017-18

Key results:

1. Incentives for distributors on exceeding sales by 10% every month
2. Commission rate increased by 8%
3. Easy on-boarding of distributors led to addition of 25 new distributors every month

Objective 4: Improve inbound leads processing by 35% by Q4 2017-18

Key results:

1. All website enquires answered within 12 hours
2. 70% signups given product demos within first 24 hours
3. Ensure Landing Page has minimum questions to fill to avoid customer losing interest

Discussion:

This is another instance where 2 different teams need to work together. The 3rd KR does not involve the sales team and is primarily the responsibility of the marketing team. Marketing teams lead the inbound efforts and get prospects to the website. It is then the sales teams’ responsibility to make sure appropriate action is taken to handle these prospects.

Objective 5: Improve efficiency of Salespersons

Key results:

1. 2 Training sessions conducted per month to handle each stage of customer lifecycle
2. Conversion rate increased by 40% overall
3. Positive feedback from 85% customers about efficiency of salespersons

Discussion:

There could almost be an universal acceptance to this objective. Companies are forever looking for ways to improve the efficiency if salespersons to get maximum ROI.

Unlike the 2nd and 3rd KR, the first one is facilitated by the HR department in consultation with the Sales Head or Manager. These sessions could be conducted by external authorities as well as experts from within the organisation.

Objective 6: Increase efficiency of the sales analytics process by 35% Q4 2017-18

Key results:

1. Daily update of CRM to reflect new prospects, MQL to SQL conversion led to 90% reduction in errors
2. Every salesperson assigned 60 unique prospects daily
3. Automate all sales activity to be reflected in CRM

Discussion:

Although this objective is listed under the Sales OKR examples, the KRs reflect that the Sales team is not directly involved in the process. These KRs need to be set for the IT Department of the company.

The second KR is simply a task while the third KR needs to be drafted in more detail as it does not clearly say/refer to ‘all sales activity’.

Their achievement is known to facilitate smooth functioning of the sales analytics process and help the sales teams manage some of their tasks in a more efficient manner.

Individual Level OKRs

Objective 1: Increase prospect to lead conversion by 20% by Q3 2017-18

Key results:

1. Target 2000 MQLs per salesperson per month
2. Daily 40 positive reachouts per salesperson
3. Daily 2 lead conversions per salesperson

Discussion:

Verbiage can make all the difference between a good and bad KR. While OKRs operate on the 60%-70% grading principle, the first KR does dilute the goal to an extent. It could be better rephrased as ‘Achieve 2000 MQLs per salesperson per month’.

In the second KR, the word positive makes sure that the KR adds some value to the objective. Otherwise the salesperson could simply attempt 40 reachouts in a day and yet not reach his goal since not all of them were positive.  

Objective 2: Get insights from customers for previous quarters sales

Key results:

1. Customers value feature X of product over others
2. Company Product ranked in the top 3 among competitors
3. 65% of customers request for additional feature Y to make it a comprehensive product

Objective 3: Get insights from prospects by Q4 2017-18

Key results:

1. 15% of website traffic received through weekly newsletter
2. 20% of total demos scheduled through newsletter CTA
3. 15% click through on average for every newsletter

Discussion:

There is no substantial link between the objective and its KRs even though the latter are providing valuable information about the effectiveness of the company’s weekly newsletters campaigns. The objective needs to be modified to, ‘Get insights into effectiveness of company’s weekly newsletter by Q4 2017-18’. Then the above mentioned KRs would actually make sense.

Objective 4: Increase efforts on cross-selling by Q4 2017-18

Key results:

1. 2 related products promoted to every customer
2. 60% customers identified who need related products
3. Revenue from cross selling increased by 35%

Discussion:

It is difficult to measure efforts so that objective needs to better phrased. It could be written as ‘Increase revenue by re-engaging with existing customers’. By changing the objective, you now have the individual consider alternatives to re-engage with existing customers which earlier would have been limited to only cross-selling. It further increases chances of getting more revenue from them.  

Objective 5: Maximize sales efforts for every region by 35%

Key results:

1. Identify 100 prospects in one region every week
2. Set meetings and demos for 15 prospects every week
3. Convert 2 prospects to leads every week

Objective 6: Increase customer retention by 50% Q4 2017-18

Key results:

1. Address all complaints within 24 hours and resolve them within 48 hours
2. Seek regular feedback after product sale to understand whether it is satisfying needs
3. Delight customers with extension of license period or additional feature

Discussion:

Customer retention is one of the most important criterion for a company to achieve sustainable growth. The first KR is straightforward and doesn’t need to change. The second KR is a task at this moment and can be modified by adding ‘Feedback after sale takes place reveals 85% customers are satisfied with product’. Thus making it easier to identify what the remaining 15% is not happy about.

The third KR does not have enough information and is quite vague. Every customer may not have the same needs that delight them when fulfilled. It could be more appropriate to write, ‘Remaining 15% customers problems addressed by providing relevant solutions’

Objective 7: Increase quality of prospects identification process

Key results:

1. 90% prospects moved on to next stage in the cycle
2. 70% of remaining prospects converted to leads
3. 25% leads converted to regular customers

Objective 8: Participate in 5 trade events in 2017-18

Key results:

1. Give product demos to 20 prospects per day
2. Set meetings with 4 prospects
3. Get contact information of at least 60 prospects per day