# Pace on the turf, not a story

Knocks per hour is knocks divided by hours on the turf. Knockdesk is field sales software that computes that pace as knocks over active route hours, so a long clock in the lot does not look like a fast walk.

## A fast pace with no contacts is jogging past doors

Managers use knocks per hour to see whether the day moved. If the clock includes the lot, the number looks slow when the walk was fine, or fast when the rep never left the van. Pair pace with contact rate or you will reward a sprint that never talked.

**Route hours.** The walk. Knocks per hour should divide by this, not by time on the lot.

**Clocked hours.** The shift. Useful for attendance. A different metric than pace.

**Contact rate beside it.** High knocks per hour and a dead contact rate is coverage theater.

## Forty-eight knocks, four route hours, a pace you can recompute

Labeled example, not a customer day. A rep logs 48 knocks. Active route time is 240 minutes, which is 240 / 60 = 4 hours. Knocks per hour is 48 / 4 = 12. They were also clocked 6 hours, including the lot. If you divide 48 by 6 you get 8, and you have punished the walk for time that was not turf. Use 12 when you mean pace.

| Hours you use | Minutes | Knocks per hour |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Active route (correct for pace) | 240 minutes = 4 hours | 48 / 4 = 12 |
| Clocked shift (attendance, not pace) | 360 minutes = 6 hours | 48 / 6 = 8 |
| If 12 knocks were never logged | Still 4 route hours | 36 / 4 = 9. Missing pins, not slower feet. |

## Pace is not contact, and it is not a contest by itself

Contact rate is talks over knocks. Close rate is closes over the sits or conversations you name. A sales contest can score knocks per hour for a window. The formula does not change because a prize is attached.

**Contact rate.** Quality of the knock. Read it next to knocks per hour or you will crown the sprinter.

**Sales contest.** A scored game on a metric and a window. Pace is a common one. Still this formula.

**Utilization.** Active route minutes over clocked minutes. Related to the day, not the knock count.

## How Knockdesk tracks it

Knockdesk stores knocks per hour as total knocks divided by active route minutes over 60. Clocked In versus Knocking are shift states. There is no separate working-time versus knocking-time hours column. Full desk is on the pricing page.

## Keep going from this term

- [KPI terms in the glossary](/glossary): Knocks per hour, contact rate, and close rate on one hub.

- [Sales contest](/glossary/sales-contest): A scored window that often uses knocks per hour as the metric.

- [Field sales KPIs](/guides/field-sales-kpis): Pace, contact, coverage, and verified visits in the same week.

## FAQ

### What is knocks per hour?

Knocks per hour is knocks divided by hours on the turf. In Knockdesk those hours are active route time, not time in the lot.

### What is the formula?

Knocks / (active route minutes / 60). In the example, 48 knocks and 240 minutes is 48 / 4 = 12 knocks per hour.

### Should I divide by clocked hours?

Not if you mean pace. Clocked hours include the lot, break, and idle. That number is the shift, not the walk.

### Does a high knocks per hour mean a good day?

Only with contact rate. A sprint that never talks is still a sprint. Read both.

### Does Not Home count in the knock count?

Yes. Not Home is a knock. Dropping it makes knocks per hour look slower and coverage look unfinished.

### Where does Knockdesk show knocks per hour?

On capacity analytics, as knocks over active route hours. It is not a second knocking-time column next to Clocked In.