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Factors To Consider For Creating Better Sales Report

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November 9, 2021
UPDATED: 
November 18, 2021
Factors To Consider For Creating Better Sales Report

Sales reports are a vital part of a company’s growth as they are meant to convey all relevant information about the team’s progress. If created right, the report would allow the company to not only assess their progress but also help them identify key areas to work on and map out future strategies.

We brought in the marketing experts for some pointers on how to improve our sales reports. 

Include KPIs

A standard sales report should include the KPIs (key performance indicators), number of goods sold, net sales (this is a dollar figure, whereas sales volume is simply the number of sales made), profits, and customer acquisition costs. According to your needs, you may also want to include sales growth, regional sales, new opportunities, team performance, and percentage of KPI change compared to the previous report. 

Matt Brown is the Founder of Bonsai

Company Alignment

There are various departments and teams that affect sales success, depending on the size and structure of your firm. Each of these groups must be in sync in order to assure accurate sales reporting. These aren't just sales teams; synergy between sales and marketing is also crucial.

Consider it this way: a lead enters your sales funnel at the top and goes through some variation of the buyer's journey before becoming a customer. To guarantee uniformity across the board, any team or department that has an impact on this process must work closely together. Here's how you could go about doing it:

  • Strategize with your leadership team

Begin by meeting with your executive team to establish organizational alignment. Discuss the company's main aims and objectives, as well as the forms of reports that each team member would like to see. The goal is to bring all of the department heads on board. Starting with this dialogue at the top will ensure that every department is consulted and taken into account when reporting adjustments are made.

  • Standardize your metrics

Before you can start reporting, you'll need to decide on a few key factors, including company-wide goals, KPIs, and the sales metrics that will be utilized to assess success. Here's where you should get particular. Any uncertainty or confusion will eventually lead to inaccuracy. Using the same goals and KPIs across teams and departments makes standardizing workflows easier and provides better insight into a company's success and failures.

  • Examine your findings

Your job isn't done even after you've agreed on goals and KPIs. Unfortunately, reporting accuracy isn't a duty that can be set and forgotten. Instead, you'll need to meet with the same leadership team to go over the results, iron out any inconsistencies, and improve the reporting process.

Gerrid Smith, Founder of Corporate Investigation Consulting

Establish Your Goal!

One of the first things that a salesperson must keep in mind before making a report is his goal and purpose behind doing so. There are numerous types of sales reports - the seasonality reports, profitability, sales done in a month, etc. To make a relevant report, one must know why the report is actually required - for example; he might be asked to make a sales report about the number of sales closed in a month. 

The basic purpose behind this report is to give an idea of the percentage of sales closed and those which failed. If the person making the report is not aware of this, he will just input numbers of sales rather than also comparing it with the open leads, which would not be fruitful! 

Use Infographics

No one likes to read up on long paragraphs and numbers which don't make sense to them. To make a better sales report, always make use of charts, tables, visuals, and pictures that can attract the interest of the audience and also make it easier for their comprehension. I usually keep very little text and numbers on my sales report, preferring to show the data through pie charts and graphs wherever it is possible!

  1. Provide A Strong Conclusion/Recommendation

Often when making a sales report, people forget or ignore this part. I do know making a sales report in itself is tedious and time-consuming, and no one likes to sit and infer conclusions from the data when done. However, the crux of the sales report must be mentioned in the end - along with a brief summary and your own recommendations as to how the situation may be improved! This not only shows that you have gone through the sales report in detail but also reflects your sincerity and maturity in decision-making!

Damian Enderle, Sales Manager Adult Diapers 365

Data Quality

Prospect and customer data, in particular, is crucial to the success of your outreach and follow-up activities in sales. It would be hard for your company to discover potential buyers, design messaging to connect with them, and finally convert them into paying customers without this information. 

Low-quality data may stymie practically any important business activity, whether you're creating reports with insufficient or inconsistent data or reaching out to your next prospect. Consider the following figures:

  • 62 percent of businesses rely on marketing data that is up to 40% off the mark.
  • Critical mistakes can be found in up to 25% of B2B database contacts 
  • Inaccurate data causes 40% of corporate aims to fail.
  • Verifying a record as entered costs $1, $10 to scrub and cleanse it afterward, and $100 if nothing is done.

CRM data and the data that is commonly utilized to build sales reports are now vastly different. What role does a prospect phone number have in determining a team's ability to meet quota? Consider this: most sales enablement platforms include features like sales intelligence, pipeline management, workflow automation, document management, and more. 

However, in order for that functionality to work, these solutions need complete and accurate CRM data. After all, one or more of a contact's data points trigger things like lead scoring, lead routing, and automated follow-up. 

Because of this, it's critical to put internal data health first. Whether you do a manual database audit or hire a professional contact data supplier, it's critical to examine and update your CRM data on a regular basis before it starts to deteriorate. And make no mistake: your information will deteriorate. Even the most modest estimates claim that B2B data degrades at a rate of at least 30% every year.

Lauren Cook-McKay, Director of Marketing & Content Divorce Answers

Get Rid of the Waste

You've probably had that situation where you're reading a report or seeing it presented in a conference, and all you can think is, Why am I being told that? Yes, that's another 5 minutes of your life (and potential selling time) gone forever. 

Now that you're in charge of the report, spend a little to double-check that everything included is useful and in context. Whether you're speaking in front of a conference room full of colleagues (more likely a Zoom meeting in 2021) or that report is only for the CEO's eyes, it has to be a productive use of their time. 

We'll use an example to demonstrate the relevance rule. You want to enhance your physical presence in the Midwest of the United States and persuade a variety of people, including sales managers, senior executives, and recruiting managers, that more employees and investment are the solution. 

By implementing a territory management software solution, you may focus on the most important facts, display regional dashboards that support your argument, and present value-rich competitor analyses. Overall, a well-written sales report will elicit attention and buy-in rather than stifle yawns. To attain this objective, we recommend using several 'c' words while putting together a sales report: clarity, cohesiveness, conciseness, comprehensibility, but never contradictory or condescending.  

Tanner Arnold, President & CEO of Revelation Machinery

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