ABCABC CompanyRevScoreboard · the ten things
ABC Company is fictional. Figures come from a real sales organization; every name has been changed.
06 of 10 · The Diagnostic

Activity Mix

Every logged touch, classified, per seller, next to outcomes.

1The question

What does a week of selling actually consist of here?

2Why it matters

Effort is invisible in most CRMs, so it gets argued about in adjectives: “working hard,” “not hustling.” Classified and counted, the conversation changes.

Just as important is what the classification shows about logging itself: the touches that never get recorded. That decides what any weekly standard can honestly measure.

What the research says

Across studies from 1982–2008, five sub-categories showed significant relationships with sales performance: selling-related knowledge (β = .28), adaptiveness (.27), role ambiguity (−.25), cognitive aptitude (.23) and work engagement (.23). None of the five is a count of activities.

Verbeke, Dietz & Verwaal (2011), Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 39(3), 407–428 · doi.org/10.1007/s11747-010-0211-8

The first meta-analysis (116 articles, 1,653 associations) ranked the determinants of performance: role variables, then skill, motivation, personal factors, aptitude, and organizational factors.

Churchill, Ford, Hartley & Walker (1985), Journal of Marketing Research 22(2), 103–118 · doi.org/10.1177/002224378502200201

Count it and people will log it. That's why verified touches are kept apart from logged ones.

Campbell (1979), Evaluation and Program Planning 2(1), 67–90 · doi.org/10.1016/0149-7189(79)90048-X
AEvidence grade A. Proven across many studies: a meta-analysis or a finding replicated again and again. The grade rests on what predicts performance. The taxonomy and the verified-versus-logged rule are our engineering.
What it doesn't settle. The research doesn't say more calls produce more sales. An activity floor is defensible as a standard for effort, not as a proven driver of revenue.

3What to collect, every time

Input A number the CRM can't give you: the plan, quotas, working weeks, spend.Field Does the field exist, is it required, and who fills it in?Definition Your own definition of a thing we then compute against.Prediction Your answer now, in writing, checked against the record later.
Definition
What counts as a touch: call, email, meeting, noteOne company's “call” is another's voicemail.
Field
Which touches are captured automatically and which are typedAutomatic can be verified; typed can only be counted.
Field
Email and calendar sync: everyone, or only opt-ins?Uneven sync is corrected before anyone is compared.
Definition
What makes a conversation real and two-wayA recorded call, a prospect's reply, a confirmed meeting.
Prediction
How many quiet days means a deal is going cold?Placed next to your own 75th percentile.

4How it's computed

  1. Classify every activity into one taxonomy.
  2. Count by seller and type for the window.
  3. Separate system-verified touches from rep-logged ones. If nothing can be verified, the verified share is “not computable.”
  4. Read the mix next to outcomes, never as a score by itself.

5What ABC's record shows

What a month of selling consisted of

Team activity log, July 1–23, 2026 (by last-modified date; the log carries no activity date)
Activities logged
268
goal 33 per seller per month
Open deals, no activity
35%
Quiet 30+ days
20%
75th percentile quiet: 43 days
System-verified share
—
not computable
By type
Broker
121
Re-engaged prior pitch
59
Drop In / Cold Call
30
Channel
23
Networking
15
Current Client
13
Former Client
7
By seller
SellerTotalBrokerRe-engaged prior pitchDrop In / Cold CallChannel
Oakley Delacroix4438204
Cove Abernathy3922277
Marlo Eberhardt299517
Greer Quintero28212140
Onyx Gutierrez267900
Tatum Ingram2515801
Kai Nakamura2220011
Casey Montague205051
Cyd Northcote1913020
Val Rasmussen1610102
One seller's month was almost all broker activity; another's was mostly re-engaging old pitches. Same title, different jobs. That's what this view exists to show.
Verified versus logged: not computable. Not computable: the export carries no recorded-call or prospect-reply field. Email count is blank on every deal.

6What a sales leader does Monday

  • Agree on the taxonomy in one meeting and publish it.
  • Turn on email and calendar sync for every seller.
  • Pick one verified source (call recording or reply tracking) and wire it to the deal.

7The founder version

Building your first CRM? Do this now, so you can answer the question in a year.

  • Connect your email and calendar to the CRM before you have a team.
  • Log every real conversation against the deal, not just the contact.