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The benchmark pages: what is a good number for sixteen measures, and why the answer is a table

A hub for the benchmark questions on this site: what is a good share of wallet, customer concentration, pipeline coverage, win rate, forecast accuracy, dormancy rate, account coverage, net revenue retention, renewal rate, seat utilisation, quote conversion, OTIF, cost to serve, spend under management, realisation and hit ratio. Each page gives the ranges people quote, says what those ranges assume, and sets out the three measurable things that decide the right figure for one business. This page lists them with the short answer to each.

The short answerEvery benchmark question has the same honest answer: the ranges people quote are real, each assumes a definition, and the figure that matters is your own base against its own history under a stated rule. This hub lists the benchmark pages on this site, sixteen measures from share of wallet to hit ratio, with the commonly quoted range, the assumption inside it, and the link to the page that gives the three things to measure and the table to compute. Use the range for a sense of scale and the table for the decision.

Someone asks whether the number is good. These pages answer for sixteen measures, and each answer has the same shape: a range, what the range assumes, three things to measure, one table.

Revenue and customer base

Measure Commonly quoted What it assumes Page
Share of wallet 20 to 40 percent A denominator nobody states What is a good share of wallet?
Customer concentration Top ten under 50 percent; none over 10 A lender's rule, not an operating one What is a good customer concentration?
Net revenue retention 100 to 120 percent Segment, and what counts as expansion What is a good net revenue retention?
Renewal rate 85 to 95 percent Count, not value; late renewals counted What is a good renewal rate?
Dormancy rate 10 to 25 percent of accounts A fixed threshold What is a good dormancy rate?
Seat utilisation 70 to 85 percent Login counted as use What is a good seat utilisation rate?

Sales execution and forecast

Measure Commonly quoted What it assumes Page
Account coverage 60 to 75 percent a quarter One window for every tier; any log is a touch What is a good account coverage rate?
Pipeline coverage 3x A 33 percent win rate and a short cycle What is a good pipeline coverage ratio?
Win rate 20 to 30 percent A stage nobody states What is a good win rate?
Forecast accuracy Within 10 percent A horizon nobody states What is a good forecast accuracy?
Quote conversion 25 to 50 percent A loose join of quotes to orders What is a good quote conversion rate?
Hit ratio, trading desk 20 to 40 percent Voice and electronic blended What is a good hit ratio on a trading desk?

Operations, procurement and professional firms

Measure Commonly quoted What it assumes Page
OTIF 95 to 98 percent The customer's rule, or the supplier's What is a good OTIF rate?
Cost to serve 8 to 15 percent of revenue Allocation by revenue What is a good cost to serve?
Spend under management 60 to 85 percent Category-level self-report What is a good spend under management?
Realisation 85 to 95 percent Which realisation; which rate card What is a good realisation rate?

The three moves, on every page

State the definition. The stage, the window, the touch, the join, the active rule, the rate card. Most of the spread inside any published range is companies measuring different things under one name.

Count and value. Win rate, renewal rate, coverage, dormancy, quote conversion and hit ratio all read differently by value, and the value figure is the one finance feels.

The row against its own history. The rep, the client, the supplier, the customer, the cohort. The average is the last thing to move and the rows are where the action is.

Where benchmarks go wrong

The second digit. Twenty-two against a benchmark of twenty-five, with different stages.

The target borrowed. A component maker chasing a distributor's concentration.

The average defended. A healthy blended figure over one collapsing cohort.

The survey believed. Self-reported figures as the bar for computed ones.

Where to go next

The norm and benchmark page sets out when an outside figure is allowed. The KPI definitions page has the formula behind every measure here, and the worked examples compute each on ten rows by hand. Covirage produces every table on these pages from the exports a business already has, with the definitions stated and the identities checked.

Questions people ask

Are external benchmarks useless?

No. They tell you the scale: a win rate of 4 percent from qualified opportunity is outside any normal range and worth asking about. They stop being useful at the second digit, because definitions differ between every company that reported into them. The norm and benchmark page on this site sets out when an outside figure is allowed.

What do all sixteen pages have in common?

The same three moves. State the definition, because most of the spread in any benchmark is definitional. Compute by count and by value, because the two disagree where it matters. Compare per account, rep, client or supplier against its own history, because the average hides the rows that need acting on.

Which page first?

The measure someone has just asked you about. If nobody has, start with account coverage, since most of the other measures move only when someone is talking to the accounts.