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KPIs by industry: thirty-one desks, ten measures each, with the formula and the export behind it

A hub for the industry KPI pages on this site. For each of thirty-one industries and functions, from wholesale distribution and foodservice to commercial banking, law firms, freight, pharma, SaaS and sports, one page lists the ten measures that matter, each with its formula, the export it comes from and what it tells you, plus the three measures most teams in that industry miss, the figures to drop, the identity behind each table and who should own what. This page lists them all with the measure each industry most often overlooks.

The short answerThe measures that matter differ by industry because the unit of business differs: a drop to a kitchen, a lane for a shipper, a matter for a client, a seat in a contract, a right sold to a sponsor. This hub lists thirty-one industry pages. Each gives ten measures with formulas and the export each comes from, the three that industry most often misses, what to stop reporting, the identity that makes each table checkable, and an owner for each measure. Across all thirty-one the same pattern holds: most teams report revenue and activity, and miss the measures that compare each customer with its own history and with similar customers.

Every industry has its own unit of business and its own blind spot. These pages take each in turn: ten measures, each with a formula and a source.

Distribution, merchants and consumer goods

Industry The measure most often missed Page
Wholesale distributors Contribution per customer after cost to serve Sales KPIs for wholesale distributors
Industrial distributors Lost lines: orders a stock-out turned away Sales KPIs for industrial distributors
Foodservice distributors A dropped delivery day Sales KPIs for foodservice distributors
Builders' merchants and construction supply Category share by trade Sales KPIs for builders' merchants
CPG and consumer brands Promotional net lift, after the dip Sales KPIs for CPG brands

Financial services

Industry The measure most often missed Page
Asset managers Flows that turned before assets fell Distribution KPIs for asset managers
Commercial banking Deposit flight by relationship Relationship KPIs for commercial banking
Financial services, multi-product Coverage of the single customer view Customer KPIs for financial services
Insurance brokers Placement share: lines placed elsewhere Sales KPIs for insurance brokers
Investment banking Pitch to mandate conversion Coverage KPIs for investment banking
Sales and trading desks Size-weighted hit ratio Client KPIs for sales and trading desks
Wealth managers Net new assets with the market taken out Client KPIs for wealth managers

Professional firms and functions

Industry The measure most often missed Page
Law firms Practice area gaps per client Client KPIs for law firms
Consulting and professional services Utilisation read beside realisation Commercial KPIs for consulting firms
Tax and accounting firms Fee per client against the norm for its size Practice KPIs for accounting firms
Compliance teams Obligations with no control mapped KPIs for compliance teams
Procurement teams Savings realised against savings claimed KPIs for procurement teams
Customer service teams Silence from accounts that normally make contact KPIs for customer service teams

Logistics, supply and manufacturing

Industry The measure most often missed Page
Freight brokers and 3PLs Margin per load by shipper and lane Sales KPIs for freight brokers
Freight forwarders and shipping lines Detention and demurrage absorbed Commercial KPIs for forwarders
Supply chain teams Lead time variability KPIs for supply chain teams
Industrial manufacturers Aftermarket attach on the installed base Sales KPIs for industrial manufacturers
Oilfield services Coverage weighted by current activity Sales KPIs for oilfield services

Healthcare, technology, education, hospitality and sports

Industry The measure most often missed Page
Healthcare suppliers Tier earned against tier priced Sales KPIs for healthcare suppliers
Pharma sales teams Reach among accounts that can prescribe Commercial KPIs for pharma
SaaS sales teams Net revenue retention by cohort Customer base KPIs for SaaS
B2B telecoms Estate currency Sales KPIs for B2B telecoms
Education providers Utilisation against seats bought, by contracting entity Sales KPIs for education providers
Hotel groups Corporate production against commitment Sales KPIs for hotel groups
Sports clubs and rights holders Delivery ratio per partner Commercial KPIs for sports

Any industry

For Page
B2B sales teams, whatever they sell Sales KPIs for B2B sales teams

What all thirty-one have in common

The customer against its own history. A kitchen that dropped a delivery day, a client whose balances are leaving, an intermediary whose flows turned, an account gone silent in the ticket queue. Each is found by comparing the customer with itself, never with an average.

The customer against similar customers. A builder buying no aggregates, a bank client holding one product where peers hold five, a fleet buying a quarter of the parts similar fleets buy. The norm comes from the business's own well-developed customers of the same kind.

Value beside count. Retention, conversion, coverage and hit ratio all read differently by value, and the value figure is the one that reaches the accounts.

A master file that decides everything. Trades for a merchant, facilities for a healthcare supplier, operators for oilfield services, contracting entities for education, the estate for telecoms, households for wealth. On every page one mapping has to be right before the other nine measures mean anything.

An identity on every table. Parts equal the whole, checked before the table is shown.

What nearly every industry should stop reporting

Figure Why
Activity counts: calls, meetings, quotes issued Effort without direction
Counts of customers, accounts or policies A small one and a large one counted alike
This month against last month Mostly the calendar
A single blended rate The average hides the rows that need acting on
Totals that move with the market or with price Assets, premium, revenue in a rate spike

Where to go next

The benchmark pages say what a good figure looks like, the worked examples compute each measure on ten rows, the Excel guides build them in a spreadsheet, the role pages list the questions each leader asks, and the templates put the measures into the weekly and monthly rhythm. Covirage computes each industry's ten from the exports that industry already produces, files only, with the definitions stated and the identities checked.

Questions people ask

Why ten measures per industry?

Enough to cover the existing base, new business and the way the team is organised; few enough that each can have an owner and a review cadence. Most teams report thirty or forty numbers and act on five. Ten, each passing the test of who would do what if it moved, is a workable set.

What do the industries have in common?

Four ideas recur on every page. Compare each customer with its own history to find what has changed. Compare it with similar customers to find what it could buy. Compute by value as well as by count. And check every table with an identity before anyone reads it.

My industry is not listed. Where should I start?

With the page for B2B sales teams, which is industry-neutral, and then the page for the industry whose unit of business most resembles yours: repeat orders, contracts and renewals, projects and matters, or flows and balances. The measures transfer once the unit is matched.