Why Talk Time is the Worst KPI for Measuring Sales Performance (Ask Jeb)

Here's a question that'll make your head spin: What do you do when your top performer is crushing quota but not hitting a required talk time KPI? That's the question posed by Josh Robich and Josh Nelson from Nashville. Josh Nelson ranked 18th out of 130 reps in his first full year at a new company, but he was consistently falling short of the company's sacred talk time metric of 3 hours per day, averaging only 2.5 hours instead. Meanwhile, his company is obsessed with using talk time as its primary KPI to measure sales effectiveness. If you're shaking your head right now, you're not alone. Obsessing over the talk time KPI rather than actual sales outcomes is one of the most backward approaches to sales management I see today, and it's costing companies their best talent. The Moneyball Problem: When Metrics Become Religion Remember the movie Moneyball? Billy Beane revolutionized baseball by focusing on on-base percentage instead of traditional stats that looked impressive but didn't correlate with winning games. He found a metric that predicted success. Talk time is the opposite of Moneyball. It's a vanity metric that makes leaders feel like they're managing performance when all they are really doing is measuring noise. Here's the brutal truth: Talk time means absolutely nothing if it doesn't drive revenue. It means nothing if the conversations are shallow, non-productive, or a poor buying experience. You can have reps talking for 4 hours a day who are dead last on your ranking report, while someone like Josh is closing deals left and right with only 2.5 hours of phone time. Which one would you rather have on your team? Why Talk Time Is a Lazy Leader's Crutch The reason companies fixate on vanity metrics like talk time is because it's easy. It requires zero investment in actual coaching, observation, or skill development. Think about it: It's much easier to look at a dashboard and say, "You need to talk more," than it is to actually listen to calls, analyze technique, and provide meaningful feedback on discovery questions, objection handling, or closing skills. But here's what happens when you manage this way: You drive away your best performers and enable your worst ones. Your top performers get frustrated because they're being penalized for efficiency. Your bottom performers get comfortable because they can hit their talk time numbers while producing nothing of value. What Actually Matters: KPIs That Move the Needle Instead of obsessing over how long reps are talking, and other vanity KPIs, smart sales leaders focus on outcome-driven metrics that actually correlate with sales performance and closing deals. First-Time Appointments How many new conversations is each rep having? In sales, FTAs are your Moneyball. If a rep isn’t setting enough first-time appointments, they are sub-optimizing their sales potential. Next Step Conversion Rates What percentage of first-time appointments convert to second appointments? This tells you everything about relationship building, discovery skills, and value articulation. If Josh is converting at a higher rate with less talk time, he's simply more effective per conversation. Show Rates How many scheduled appointments actually happen? This reveals qualification skills, the ability to create urgency and commitment, and the quality of prospecting conversations. Pipeline Velocity How quickly are deals moving through your sales process? This shows you who's truly building momentum versus who's just having long conversations that stall deals in the pipeline. Revenue Per Hour The ultimate sales efficiency KPI is who is generating the most revenue per hour of phone time. Stop Obsessing Over the KPI and Start Coaching When you shift your focus to outcome metrics, everything changes. Instead of telling reps to "talk more," you can provide specific, actionable coaching: For the rep who has great first-time appointment numbers but poor conversion rates: Focus on discovery questions, relationship building, and value articulation. For the rep with high talk time but low revenue: They're probably becoming friends instead of salespeople. Coach them on advancing the sale and creating urgency. For the efficient closer like Josh: Analyze their process and see where small improvements could yield massive results. Maybe 10 more minutes per call to deepen discovery could move them from 18th to No. 1. The Process Makes the Difference Here's what I loved about Josh's situation: His mentor noted that Josh "literally follows the script" and holds up the paper saying, "It says it right here, so I do it." That's the power of a repeatable, proven process. While other reps with more talk time were struggling because they didn't follow the system, Josh was winning because he had the discipline to execute consistently. This is pure Fanatical Prospecting in action: Success isn't about working harder or longer—it's about working the system with precision and discipline. The Balance Between Quality and Quantity Don't misunderstand me—quality conversations absolutely matter. You don't want reps burning through leads with transactional, 2-minute calls. But you also can't let "quality" become an excuse for inefficiency. The sweet spot is having enough conversations to fill your pipeline while making each conversation count. Use talk time as one data point among many, not as your primary success metric. If someone has extremely low talk time (say, 1 hour per day) and poor conversion rates, they're probably rushing through calls. If someone has extremely high talk time but poor results, they're probably avoiding the hard parts of selling—like asking for the appointment or creating urgency. Your Action Plan: Making the Shift If you're a sales leader: Audit your current metrics. What are you measuring, and does it correlate with revenue? Implement outcome-based KPIs. Track first-time appointments, conversion rates, and show rates alongside talk time. Invest in call coaching. Listen to your reps' calls and provide specific feedback on technique, not just effort. Stop penalizing efficiency. If someone is hitting their numbers with less talk time, study their process instead of criticizing their hours. If you're a sales rep: Self-coach relentlessly. Track your own ratios and identify where small improvements could yield big results. Follow your process religiously. Like Josh, have the discipline to execute your proven system consistently. Focus on effectiveness, not activity. Your job isn't to clock hours—it's to move deals forward with purpose. The Bottom Line Stop being a slave to lazy metrics. Talk time might feel like objective measurement, but it's actually just noise disguised as data. The best sales organizations measure what matters: conversations that convert, relationships that advance, and revenue that compounds. That's how you build a championship sales team. That's how you develop elite performers. And that's how you stop losing your best people to companies that understand what really drives results. Learn how to boost performance and retain top talent with practical strength-based coaching strategies.