General Provisions
1.1. Purpose
This document establishes the structure of KPIs and the BD Plan for a Business Developer, the measurement procedure, and the accountability scale for non-performance. The actual numeric values are set in a monthly Order of the Chief Commercial Operations Officer (the "CCOO"; Section 2) and are not fixed in this document.
1.2. Scope
The document applies to all employees of the Commercial Department in the role of Business Developer (BD), including those acting in the role on a temporary basis.
1.3. Measurement Principles
- All metrics are pulled automatically from Zoho CRM based on data entered by the employee in line with the underlying Zoho Ecosystem Usage Regulation for the Sales Department.
- If CRM data does not match reality, the corresponding metric is treated as failed regardless of the employee’s actual performance.
- The measurement period depends on the metric (day / week / month). The final reckoning of the Plan and of violations is performed on the 1st business day of the following month.
1.4. Two Independent Accountability Tracks
- BD Plan — escalation by consecutive months of failure (Section 7.1).
- KPI / Underlying Regulation — escalation by the count of violations within a rolling window (Section 7.2).
1.5. What This Document Sets vs. What the Order Sets
- The document fixes the structure: what is measured, how, in which period, and with what consequences. Signed once.
- The Order sets the actual numeric values for each month: the individual BD Plan, the KPI quotas, the limits, and the parameters of the disciplinary scale.
Composition of the Monthly Order
The monthly Order from the CCOO sets, for each calendar month:
1. BD Plan
- Plan number of meetings booked per employee.
2. KPI Standards
- Concrete values for "Activity".
- Concrete intervals for "SLA" where the Order defines them.
- Limits for permissible deviations under "Pipeline Hygiene".
- Maximum permitted return rate (see 3.4).
3. Parameters of the Disciplinary Scale (Section 7.2)
- Length of the rolling window for the violations counter.
- Violation count thresholds for each of the 5 steps of the scale.
2.1. Publication Date
The Order is published in Zoho People no later than the 1st business day of the month it applies to.
2.2. Acknowledgement
Every Business Developer must acknowledge the Order (checkbox in Zoho People) within 2 business days of its publication.
2.3. Force of the Order
The Order has the same binding force as the present document.
KPI Standards Structure
3.1. “Activity” Group
| Metric | Period | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Closed tasks | day | Tasks closed with the Description field filled (Underlying Regulation 4.1). |
| New companies in BD pipeline | month | An Account for which the BD created a Deal in the BD Deal Layout. |
| New contacts | month | A Contact added by the BD to an Account in the BD’s pipeline. |
3.2. “Response SLA” Group
| Metric | SLA | Description |
|---|---|---|
| First outreach to a new company | set by the Order | The first touch on the client after a Deal is created in the BD pipeline. |
| Missed call callback | 15 minutes | Per Underlying Regulation 9.1.4. |
| Reply to a client on WhatsApp (via Zoho CRM) | 5 minutes | During working hours. |
| Reply to a client by Email | 4 hours | Per Underlying Regulation 9.3. |
| Logging activity result in CRM | 30 minutes | After completing a client activity. |
3.3. “Pipeline Hygiene” Group
| Metric | Period | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Overdue tasks | continuous | Overdue tasks must not exist at all. Each occurrence is a violation. |
| Open tasks at end of day | day | At end of day no overdue and no tasks scheduled for today may remain. |
| "Abandoned" Deals | day | An active Deal without an open task for the current or next business day is a violation (Underlying Regulation 4.5). |
| "Set Next Step" closed within 24 hours | day | Per Underlying Regulation 4.4. |
| Mandatory field completeness | per deal | All mandatory fields for the current Pipeline stage are filled to 100% on every active Deal. |
| Duplicates | per occurrence | Creating a duplicate Account / Contact / Deal is a violation. |
3.4. “Quality of Work” Group
| Metric | Period | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Briefing for the receiving party | per deal | Before the meeting is recorded as booked, the Deal contains: a company summary, ICP criteria, the client’s need, agreements from the meeting, and links to materials. |
| Documentation | per deal | The Attachments contain a completed questionnaire or its equivalent and screenshots of correspondence from non-integrated channels (if any). |
| Deal result write-up | per deal | Closed Won / Disqualified/Rejected — a summary in the Deal’s Description. |
| % of returns to BD | month | The share of meetings booked by the BD on which the Sales Manager / Partnerships Associate flagged the Deal as "Return to BD" within N days (set by the Order). The maximum permitted return rate is set by the Order; exceeding the limit in a month = 1 violation in the 7.2 counter. |
| Receiving-party score | month | Once a month the SM / PA scores the quality of handed-off leads on a 1–5 scale. An average below 3.0 is grounds for a conversation with the direct supervisor. |
3.5. Conversions (informational)
BD pipeline stages per Layout BD Deal Layout in Zoho CRM:
Conversions are tracked on the dashboards as pipeline diagnostics. Conversions are not subject to disciplinary action.
BD Plan Structure
4.1. Composition of the Plan
The monthly BD Plan is set in the Order and consists of a single metric — the plan number of meetings booked.
A "booked meeting" = a Deal in the BD pipeline moved to the Closed Won stage within the calendar month.
4.2. What Counts as Plan Achieved
The BD Plan is considered met for the month when the actual number of Closed Won deals in the BD pipeline is greater than or equal to the plan.
4.3. What Counts as Plan Overachieved (for Section 7.3)
The BD Plan is considered overachieved by 20% or more when the actual number of meetings booked exceeds the plan by 20% or more.
Source of Data and Calculation
5.1. Source
All metrics are pulled automatically from Zoho CRM Dashboards (BD KPI Monitor → Business Developer). Manual adjustments to the calculation are prohibited.
5.2. Transparency
- The BD has access to a personal real-time dashboard.
- A monthly report is sent to the employee in Cliq no later than the 3rd business day of the following month. The report covers: BD Plan status, violations status, current 7.2 counter position, % of returns.
5.3. Disputing the Calculation
A Zoho Desk ticket (type: KPI Dispute) within 5 business days of receiving the report. After 5 business days the calculation is considered accepted.
Relation to Bonus
The actual size of the bonus, the formula, and the conditions of payment are set by the individual agreement and are not fixed in this document. Withholding of the bonus is possible as one of the measures under Section 7.2.
Accountability
7.1. BD Plan Scale (by consecutive months)
| Step | Trigger | Measure |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | First month with a failed Plan | Written reprimand — placed in the employee’s record in Zoho People with a note on the gap to the plan number. |
| 2 | Second consecutive month with a failed Plan | Termination of the contractor agreement at the company’s initiative. |
A single full month with the Plan met resets the consecutive-failure counter.
7.2. KPI / Underlying Regulation Violations Scale (by count)
Every recorded violation is added to a rolling window. The length of the window and the count thresholds are set by the Order.
| Step | Trigger | Measure |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | First threshold reached | Verbal warning with a record. |
| 2 | Second threshold reached | Written reprimand. |
| 3 | Third threshold reached | Withholding of the current monthly bonus with a stated rationale. |
| 4 | Fourth threshold reached | Second written reprimand. |
| 5 | Fifth threshold reached | Termination of the contractor agreement. |
Recorded warnings and reprimands stay in the employee’s profile for 12 months.
7.3. Plan Overachievement as a Mitigating Factor
If the BD Plan is overachieved by 20% or more for the month (see 4.3), violations recorded in that month are not added to the 7.2 counter. At the same time:
- The recorded violations are flagged in the employee’s profile as "deferred".
- Should new violations be recorded over the next 90 days, the 7.2 escalation skips one step.
- A single full calendar month with no new violations and no deferred flags clears the deferred flags.
7.4. Right to Submit Explanations
Before each step from the second (Reprimand) onward, the employee is given 3 business days to submit a written explanation.
Final Provisions
8.1. Relation to the Underlying Regulation
The present Standards are an annex to the Zoho Ecosystem Usage Regulation for the Sales Department.
8.2. Acknowledgement
Every Business Developer confirms acknowledgement by ticking the corresponding checkbox in Zoho People. Until the acknowledgement is recorded, access to the BD CRM pipeline is not granted.
8.3. Amendments
- The structure (Sections 2–4), the measurement procedure (Section 5), and the accountability scale (Section 7) are reviewed as needed and republished with mandatory re-acknowledgement.
- The numeric values are changed by the monthly Order and do not require re-signing of the document.