Telemarketing has been around for decades. But its latest incarnation is data-driven, with top-performing sales organizations tracking specific KPIs to understand how well their techniques are working. These insights enable sales leaders to make informed decisions, finetune their processes, and achieve predictable revenue quarter after quarter.
This article outlines the eleven telemarketing KPIs you should be tracking if you want to
make data-informed decisions that can improve your team’s skills, make their jobs easier, pinpoint areas in need of improvement, and optimize operational efficiency.
11 Telemarketing KPIs to Track in 2024
KPI tracking doesn’t mean setting impossible goals that create unnecessary stress and anxiety for your team. On the contrary, it removes ambiguity and provides actionable insights managers can use to help create a better workplace.
These eleven telemarketing KPIs will help you to identify potential issues related to lead generation, sales activities, and other potential stumbling blocks – and enable you to establish and communicate measurable targets to keep your team focused on efficient selling.
1. Average Talk Time (ATT)
ATT measures the average amount of time your agents spend talking on the phone to each prospect. Measured individually and compared teamwide, this KPI can provide insights into the effectiveness of each agent’s sales pitch. Agents who spend a lot of time on the phone without converting might benefit from some coaching or training. Conversely, if you see other agents hitting their targets with lower ATTs, you might want to take a closer look at how they pitch and perhaps have them share some tips and tactics with the rest of the team.
If your ATT seems high overall, it could be an issue with your script. Talk isn’t cheap when time is money, so make sure that your script is to the point and empowers your agents to guide their conversations by saying the right things at the right times. This is the formula to calculate ATT:
Average Talk Time = Total Talk Time / Total Number of Calls
2. Sales Revenue
As you’ve probably guessed, this KPI measures your team’s ability to generate revenue for the company. This can be measured individually or as a team at whatever interval you choose. Friendly competition is an effective force that can help boost motivation. To achieve the best performance against this KPI, leverage your team’s inherent drive to compete by using real-time dashboards to visualize the sales revenue generated by each agent – or use instant notifications to let everyone know when one of their colleagues has made a sale. Agents are more likely to outperform their targets when they can see how their peers are performing.
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3. Average Handling Time (AHT)
AHT is an important metric for assessing your team’s efficiency. It measures the average amount of time it takes your agents to handle a call from start to finish – including dialing, navigating phone menus, hold time, talk time, and post-call administrative work. Minimizing AHT can have a noticeable impact on revenue by enabling your agents to attempt contact with more prospects in less time. You can calculate your team's AHT by following this formula:
Average Handing Time = (Total Talk Time + Total Hold Time + Follow-up Time) / Total Number of Calls
4. Average Wrap-Up Time (AWT)
AWT is the average amount of time it takes your agents to wrap up a call – this includes things like updating the CRM and other post-call administrative work. Although this KPI is often overlooked, it’s an important one to keep an eye on because every minute spent on administrative work is a minute that your agents aren’t actively trying to sell. This KPI is best tracked individually and teamwide to ascertain whether some agents are stalling between calls or whether there are process improvements that could reduce AWT and increase active selling time. This is the formula to calculate the average wrap time:
AWT = Total After-Call Work Time / Total Number of Calls
5. Calls Per Agent
To generate revenue, your agents need to be talking to people. Telemarketing is largely a numbers game, so you’ll want to ensure that your team’s call volume is steady over time. On average, an agent who’s fully allocated to cold-calling can make around 50 calls per day. However, the number of calls your team is making only tells part of the story. For a more nuanced perspective, you might also want to track these three complementary metrics.
- Call Pickup Rate – Pickup rate is important because it helps to validate the quality of your call list by tracking how many calls resulted in a live person picking up the phone – a key goal of telemarketers.
- No answer/unreachable (fail rate) – This basic metric shows how many contacts were actually made via 1:1 contact or voicemail vs. calls that were “bad numbers” or resulted in no answer. This can help you determine the quality of your call list.
Response type – Tracking all responses can help determine if your script could use further development and whether you need to improve the quality of your call list.
Measuring these metrics per individual agent and as a team can provide useful insights into your organization’s phone processes and the strengths and weaknesses of each team member.
6. Conversion Rate
This telemarketing KPI tracks how many leads become customers – or how many calls result in a sale. It’s one of the most accurate indicators of the overall effectiveness of your processes because from your call list to your script to how well your agents handle objections – all of these factors contribute to whether or not your team is closing deals. Low conversion rates translate into lost revenue, so it’s crucial to pinpoint where your approach is lacking – and take immediate steps to improve. This is the formula to calculate the Conversion Rate:
Conversion Rate = (Number of Conversions / Total Number of Calls) * 100
7. First Call Close (FCC)
FCC is the holy grail of telemarketing agents everywhere – it measures the number of sales that were made during the agent’s first call with the customer. While this isn’t possible in all contexts, if you work with a product or service where an FCC isn’t completely out of the question, increasing the frequency of FCCs can amplify your team’s efficiency and revenue. Take a close look at all attributes of past FCCs, look for patterns and common denominators, and then optimize your processes around those factors. Once you’ve identified the ideal customer profile and devised a proven script, the first call close should become less elusive over time – or at least it will give your agents something to strive for. This is the formula to calculate FCC:
FCC = (Number of First Call Closes / Total Number of Calls) * 100
8. Agent Occupancy Rate
Occupancy rate measures how much time agents spend on calls and call-related tasks compared to all of their available time. It’s a crucial KPI for measuring operational efficiency because it shows the percentage of agents’ time that’s directly used on sales-related activities. A high occupancy rate indicates optimal efficiency. However, occupancy rates that are too high could lead to burnout, quiet quitting, and high turnover. Here is how you can calculate Agent Occupancy Rate:Agent Occupancy Rate = (Total Logged-in Time - Total Idle Time) / Total Logged-in Time * 100
9. Pause Time
Pause time provides a good counterpoint to your agent occupancy rate. Pause time tracks the time between calls, and it’s an important metric for identifying motivation issues and ensuring agents’ well-being at work. Too much pause time can indicate high levels of stress and agents mentally checking out – or quiet quitting. Hyper-focusing on improving efficiency can have the opposite effect. Managers often find that encouraging adequate pause time between calls actually improves performance, which translates into better results than simply focusing on efficiency. As with many things, balance is key – so keep an eye on the overall picture.
10. Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)
Acquiring new customers can be expensive, and these costs directly affect your company’s profitability, but do you know how much it costs to acquire a new customer? This KPI can help you track telemarketing ROI and identify places that could be streamlined. Keeping a close eye on customer acquisition costs can help you identify potential areas of investment like training, coaching, and sales enablement resources that could help save the company money in the long run. This is the formula to calculate CPA:
CPA = Total Marketing and Sales Costs / Number of Customers Acquired
11. Sales Growth
All of these telemarketing KPIs should add up to sales growth, which measures your team’s ability to increase revenue over time. Sales growth is directly tied to revenue and profitability – and it can provide valuable ammunition to help managers make the case for funding new systems, training opportunities, more staff, and other investments in their team’s future productivity. Here is how you can calculate sales growth:
Sales Growth = ((Sales in Current Period - Sales in Previous Period) / Sales in Previous Period) * 100
Personalize Telemarketing Performance with Plecto’s Dynamic Dashboards
These eleven telemarketing KPIs can help you take a more data-informed approach to your day-to-day operations. But to get the most benefit, it’s essential to share the data and act on the insights it provides.
Giving each agent access to the right information in an easy-to-understand format will empower your team to track their results, optimize their efforts, and focus their attention on the activities that bring the best results. Plecto’s dynamic dashboards are easy to set up, and they enable agents to switch between individual and team views to see how they’re performing against the team’s averages.
Plecto integrates with most major sales-tracking software and offers almost unlimited options for customizing your KPIs, data visualization, and performance agreements. Plecto also includes built-in performance-driving features like leaderboards, contests, and instant notifications to spark friendly competition and keep your agents motivated to sell.
Sign up for a free 14-day trial and see how Plecto can help your telemarketing team reach their goals.
