Never underestimate the power of a sales report. With them, managers can monitor the team’s performance and pinpoint areas for improving the sales process. On top of that, you can plan strategies, forecast business and get a better overall picture of your sales setups. With that in mind, we’re looking at the power of sales reporting and how it can help your startups.
What is sales reporting, and why is it important?
Sales reporting allows you to keep track of information during each sales process step. From analysing data to predict where the company can be successful to monitoring performance, sales reporting tools offer insights into every facet of your sales strategy, operations and analysis.
Businesses that place importance on sales reporting have a better overview of how everything works. They can see what’s happening with sales volumes, look at alternative steps in the funnel and track the effectiveness of sales reps. It’s essentially a deep dive into your entire sales operation.
What should be in a sales report?
It can be challenging to know where to start when leaning into sales reporting, especially since so many metrics are on offer. However, it’s good to start with some basic numbers by first focusing on your company’s growth demands. These may include the number of prospects, size of deals, close rate, sales length and cost per lead. Reviewing these metrics can help you build out your sales strategy and aim for specific goals.
Different types of sales reports
Sales reporting lets you customise a set of metrics to cater to the businesses’ needs. You can pay attention to specific processes, gaining more insight into particular setups. For example, you might pinpoint one aspect of your sales process, and a sales report allows you to dig a little deeper. Common sales reports include:
- All deals won – the number of deals successfully won over a specific period.
- All deals lost – check the number of deals lost over a certain period of time
- Won by sales reps – which deals are won by individual sales reps?
- Weighted sales forecast – assess your position, so you know how much money will actually be generated in the given period.
There are so many different layers to sales reporting, and it doesn’t just cover the points above. Essentially, you can gain information on any aspect of your sales, focusing on the team, the process or a bit of both.
Sales reporting can increase high performance
When focusing on sales reps, sales reporting can help promote a high sales performance culture. The reports play a pivotal role in determining what training reps need and which aspects of the sales process they should focus on.
A sales report can detect if a rep is only achieving 3% of their 10% target for, let’s say, increasing revenue from a current customer. With the sales report, you can identify this metric and implement the necessary actions to help the rep reach their 10% goal and avoid sales underperformance.
The importance of reporting
Successful sales reporting can help your startup achieve targets faster and begin scaling. A sales report provides a whole new dynamic and offers insights that can turbocharge your company’s output and increase sales.