The Numbers That Actually Predict Growth

Measuring to distinguish between brand health and personnel performance

The beverage industry deserves better metrics. Of course, it gets only what it’s willing to settle for. Too often that simply amounts to a tally of PODs and a snapshot of velocity

The real “gold” is in behavioral data. This is the stuff that reveals insights into brand health and personnel performance.

Here are some of the metrics that matter in 2026 for sales reps, distributors, and suppliers.

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𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝘀

💰 TTM Revenue per Account: (Dollars). Measures revenue over the trailing 12 months (and whether that is up or down). Unlike a lifetime "lifespan" metric, this tells you who your current "whales" are—preventing you from over-servicing accounts that are yesterday’s heroes, but today’s zeros.

📱 Sales Call Conversion: (Ratio). Measures successful orders vs. total visits or points of contact. Tells you if you’re about to close an account or are just wasting time.

⏱️ Time-to-Reorder Per Account: (Days). Measures the gap between orders placed specifically through the rep. Tells you if you’re owning the relationship or if the account is bypassing you for the order board. This is an often overlooked performance metric.¹

👻 "Ghost" Account Rate: (Percentage). Measures the percentage of "active" accounts that haven't placed an order in 60-90 days. This is an early warning system for churn. Many reps focus on new PODs while their "back door" is wide open. This metric predicts revenue decline before it hits the monthly P&L.

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𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀

🍷 SKUs/Producer: (Ratio). Measures portfolio depth per partner. It reveals if you are over-extended with a single supplier. A high ratio (when married with a low velocity) warns that you are likely warehousing "dead stock" rather than moving a productive range.

🗓️ Invoice Cycle: (Days). Measures time between automatic or organic retailer orders. This brand health metric tells you if the liquid is actually pulling through the shelf without needing a rep to “push” it. Unlike “Turns” (warehouse flow), this measures retailer loyalty and shelf velocity.²

🏪 Average # Brands per Account: (Ratio). Measures portfolio breadth per door. Tells you how “sticky” your relationship is with that buyer. The more brands you have in one door, the harder you are to replace.

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𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗿𝘀

💵 Promo Spend per New POD: (Dollars). Measures cost to gain one new independent door. Tells you if your incentives are actually ROI-positive.

🍾 Rep Activation Rate: (Percentage). Measures the number of distributor reps selling your brand over total reps. Tells you if the whole team is engaged or just a few specialists.

📦 Advertising & Promotion (A&P) per Case: (Dollars). Measures marketing spend vs. volume. Tells you if you are buying growth or building organic brand equity.

👟 Velocity per Door Type: (Ratio). This it measures the difference in sales speed between “High-Image/Influencer” accounts and “Standard” retail. It tells you if your marketing is actually creating Cultural Capital. If you have 250 PODs but your velocity is only high in discount liquor stores, you aren’t brand-building.

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The data is only as powerful as we demand it is.

What metrics are you looking at this year?

1. Time-to-Reorder acts as a “loyalty and attention” sensor for the relationship between the parties involved.

Here is the breakdown of why that distinction is so vital for a sales reps and managers to track:

• The “Order Board” Leakage: If the Invoice Cycle (how often the account needs product) is 7 days, but the Time-to-Reorder (how often they order from the rep) is 21 days, that account is “leaking.” The retailer is bypassing the rep and using the portal, the office call-in line, or—worst of all—buying from a different distributor’s rep who actually showed up.

• The Defensive Play: A shortening Time-to-Reorder means your rep is successfully “owning the relationship.” They are there right when the need arises, preventing the buyer from looking elsewhere.

• The Offensive Play: If a rep can get the Time-to-Reorder to be shorter than the natural Invoice Cycle, they are likely “upselling” or expanding the portfolio, capturing more of the account’s total spend before the retailer even realizes they need more.

2. While similar sounding, an account’s invoice cycle is different from a rep’s time-to-reorder. Time-to-Reorder tells you if your people are working; Invoice Cycle tells you if your product is working. When these two get out of sync, you aren't just losing sales—you're losing the door.