In today's world, salespeople have access to more data than ever before, but not all of it is relevant for making better decisions. We've learned that sifting through the noise requires sales dashboards to visualize actionable data, analyze performance, and inform key business decisions.
The purpose of this article is to explain what a sales dashboard is and why you might need one. After that, we'll share some of our favorite dashboard examples and share top tips for creating your own. Finally, we'll provide resources to help you build a successful sales dashboard.
Sales Dashboards are visual representations of your sales data. When you use a dashboard as a salesperson, you can view data from different time periods, and in some cases, you can even view real-time data.
Dashboards provide a snapshot of your team's performance based on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Our favorite metrics include quota attainment, conversion/win rate, average deal size, revenue, and pipeline leakage.
We have used KPIs like these to track a sales team's progress toward its goals and revenue targets, adjust compensation, and award bonuses. Additionally, KPIs can help sales leaders identify problems before they become colossal problems and inform many other crucial decisions.
What a sales dashboard can do for you
Sales dashboards provide quick access to comprehensive information about your deals without having to dig through endless old emails or tedious spreadsheets.
We can make smart, data-driven decisions with the help of a great sales KPI dashboard that streamlines all the information that's relevant to us.
You can also ensure that you are always viewing the latest, up-to-date data by using a sales performance dashboard. With sales dashboards, instead of relying on static spreadsheets or other documents that can quickly become outdated, everyone is aligned and able to respond in real-time.
A step-by-step guide to creating a sales dashboard
1. Decide which sales metrics you want to track
When creating a sales dashboard, the first thing we always do is determine which sales metrics we want to track. What are the specific goals or targets we're trying to reach? A dashboard can help us visualize our progress toward those goals.
To get started, ask yourself the following questions:
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What metrics do you regularly review with the entire company, in one-on-one meetings, and among your sales team?
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Do you consider some metrics more important than others?
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What are your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)?
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Do you have multiple sales teams within your organization?
In general, sales metrics fall into the following categories based on the context:
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Metrics related to activity sales.
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Pipeline sales metrics.
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Lead generation sales metrics.
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Metrics for sales outreach.
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Primary conversion sales metrics.
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Channel sales metrics.
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Sales productivity metrics.
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Metrics for rep hiring and onboarding.
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Sales process, tool, and training adoption metrics.
2. Define the purpose of the dashboard
The next step is to determine how the sales dashboard will be used. It's important to think about how my team will use the dashboard, since there's no one-size-fits-all sales dashboard.
Does the dashboard help sales reps track their progress toward their monthly quotas? Are sales managers going to use it to see the top-performing reps for the quarter? Other factors to consider include:
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Who will be using the dashboard? Sales reps, managers, VPs, or executives?
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How often will they use it? How often will they check the dashboard?
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What information will they want to see? Which metrics, visualizations, and calculations will they look at?
Be sure to take into account where and how your colleagues may want to view your dashboard. If you were designing a dashboard for outside sales reps on the go, you'd probably want it to be mobile-friendly so they could view it on their phone, tablet, or computer.
3. Choose a sales dashboard provider
If your team is already using a CRM, it probably comes with reporting dashboards. If you're not using a CRM, you can still create dashboards and reports using several standalone tools to sync or import your data.
The following are some of our favorite sales dashboard software providers:
By pulling data directly from HubSpot CRM, you can create customized reports and dashboards for your team. There is also the option of syncing data from a variety of apps and web services.
Your team will have a single source of truth with HubSpot because all of your data is collected in one place.
Geckoboard integrates directly with more than 90 different data sources, including Hubspot Sales, Salesforce, and Pipedrive. The no-code solution provided by Geckoboard eliminates the hassle of building live dashboards.
Geckoboard's drag-and-drop interface makes creating real-time KPI dashboards a breeze. The sharing options make it possible to share a dashboard via a link or set up automated notifications and reports on Slack.
3. RIB BI+ (Formerly datapine)
You can quickly create interactive dashboards for a wide range of industries and functions, including sales, using RIB BI+, an intuitive business intelligence and dashboard software. Having access to multiple data sources in real time through a centralized and user-friendly environment empowers me to make informed decisions.
RIB BI+ provides multiple sharing options, including automated email dashboards and embedded analytics to increase sales team collaboration.
With this software tool, you can create detailed sales dashboards by combining data from your CRM with data from other services.
Also, Kipfolio generates a leaderboard for sales teams so that top performers can be recognized and healthy competition can be fostered.
Easily track a wide range of key performance metrics with Zoho Analytics' 60+ reports and dashboards - and you can also create custom reports.
Using Zoho Analytics, you can create meaningful business reports using HubSpot CRM data and 100+ different data sources.
Within a Google Sheets spreadsheet, you can create dashboards that centralize your sales and marketing data. A gallery of dashboards built specifically for your data source integration is also available.
Coefficient's templates are unique in that you can power them with your live data. You don't need to copy/paste or import/export. To sync live data from your tech stack (including HubSpot), simply make a copy of the template and follow the prompts.
Using Slemma, you can choose from a gallery of dashboards based on your data source integration, allowing you to centralize your sales and marketing data.
Our go-to software solution when we need to create a dashboard to increase investor visibility. Your reports can be automatically generated, dashboards can be built, and you can drill down to see details.
The cool thing about this dashboard is that it is designed specifically for new companies to keep track of their many stakeholders.
Reports and dashboards created by TapClicks identify warning signs that can help you address sales challenges. As soon as a challenge arises, the software alerts you and your team so we can proactively find a solution.
4. Import data into the dashboard
Once you've selected a dashboard provider, you can integrate the data. Data can be easily synced between your dashboard and CRM if you choose a dashboard that integrates with it.
Based on data from customer database, you can generate sales reports using HubSpot CRM.
HubSpot's CRM allows you to create dashboards and reports that track sales performance, identify top-performing sales reps, and forecast sales.
The process tends to be more manual when you've worked with teams that used spreadsheets rather than a CRM to manage prospects and customers.
5. Generate reports for the sales dashboard
We can finally begin building reports after building a dashboard and integrate the data. Using charts to visualize your sales data is easy when building reports for a sales dashboard. As an example, you can use charts to:
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A comparison of values (for example, sales from two different territories). Comparisons can be displayed as bar charts, column charts, line graphs, pie graphs, or scatter plots.
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The composition of the sales (e.g., total sales broken down by sales rep). Using pie charts, stacked bar charts, stacked column charts, area charts, and waterfall charts, you are shown where sales are coming from.
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Trends (e.g., month-over-month revenue growth). We have illustrated trends using line charts, dual-axis line charts, and column charts.
It is important to remember that the best visualizations are easy to read and actionable.
Dashboards should allow users to quickly read and understand charts without having to click through full reports. When your dashboard and reports are ready, share them with your team - but don't be afraid to redraw a report if it doesn't meet your sales team's needs.
Examples of sales dashboards
When it comes to sales performance dashboards, every organization has its own unique requirements. For inspiration, here are some of our favorite sales dashboards:
1. Sales Conversion Rate Dashboard
Use HubSpot's free Sales Conversion and Close Rate Calculator to track progress throughout your entire sales pipeline. This interactive dashboard is a great tool for analyzing and setting goals by month and quarter, based on our experience. Additionally, we like that it lets you forecast metrics like lead-to-MQL, MQL-to-customer, and lead-to-customer.
2. Sales Rep Dashboard
If you want to help your sales reps track their individual performance, this dashboard is perfect for you. Additionally, this dashboard provides reports on key metrics, such as meetings booked, open opportunities, pipeline deals, forecasted revenue, and any other metrics your team uses.
3. Sales Manager Dashboard
In this dashboard, sales managers can see a summary of key performance metrics. A great feature of this dashboard is that it includes both today's stats and progress toward the sales team's new account and MRR goals each month.
4. Sales Leaderboard
With a sales leaderboard, you can see which salespeople are performing best and foster healthy competition among them. Dashboards for sales leaders typically include information on completed activities (e.g., calls, emails, and meetings), new accounts, and generated MRR.
5. Deal Performance Dashboard
Using a deal performance dashboard, members of your sales team can see how much revenue they're expecting to close based on the deal forecast. In addition, we like using reports to see how many deals are currently in each stage of the sales process, how many have closed, and how those numbers compare with my goals.
6. Sales Performance by Region
Where do you make the most sales? What products are customers buying? Using this dashboard, you can see which territories sell the most of each product type. Furthermore, you can also see a comparison between this month's MRR and the previous month's.
7. Sales Activities Dashboard
A sales activities dashboard is an excellent way for sales managers to see what their reps are doing on a daily basis. Additionally, this dashboard includes broader information, such as the average number of activities per deal won.
8. Performance Overview Sales Dashboard
The key performance metrics are front and center in this dashboard, which we really like. In this way, the most valuable information appears first when you load the dashboard, making it easy to read.
9. Time-Tracking Sales Dashboard
Is your sales team always on the move? The time-tracking dashboard helps you understand how much revenue sales reps are generating and where their time is spent.
10. Executive Sales Performance Dashboard
One of our favorite ways to keep track of a sales team's opportunities, bookings, and more is with this executive sales performance dashboard. This is a great option for executive sales managers seeking a quick, comprehensive view of their teams' performance in an easily accessible dashboard.
11. Sales KPI Dashboard
Would you like to review your performance on the KPIs that matter most to you? KPI dashboards like this one are a great way to gain insight into these critical metrics. Our favorite thing about this dashboard is that invoiced income is clearly displayed by month, with a clear, visual breakdown.
Sales Dashboard Tips
Are you feeling inspired to crunch some numbers and build your own sales reports? To help you create your sales dashboard, here are some top tips:
1. Maintain a clean layout
Data should not be distracted by too busy visuals (e.g., graphs and charts) or colors. Dashboard tools often automatically layout reports in a grid, which we've found to be a great way to keep the layout organized and clean.
When deciding where to place your charts, consider human psychology. In our experience, people tend to look at the top-left corner of a website first, so creating a flow from left to right is often helpful.
2. Provide calculations (when applicable)
It has saved us a lot of time over the years and made our reports clearer by including calculations in reports.
Teams shouldn't have to do mental math to determine month-over-month revenue growth, for instance. Instead, ensure the dashboard contains all the information I need at your fingertips by including these relevant calculations.
3. Make dashboard accessible
Last but not least, accessibility is a non-negotiable when it comes to sales dashboards. Always ensure that individuals can see which metrics and goals are important to leadership when designing dashboards for sales managers, vice presidents, or executives.
Transparency allows sales reps to zoom out and see the impact their numbers have on the company as a whole.
How do you create a great sales dashboard?
A great sales dashboard is both an art and a science. Adapting any templates or best practices to fit the unique needs and requirements of your team and business is critical with any tool. Adapting your dashboard in response to user feedback, new technologies, and other factors is also essential.
As a result, we always remember to consider the following key points when creating a dashboard:
Don't overcomplicate things
Overcomplicating should be avoided at all costs. The key to building a sales dashboard is simplicity.
For example, HubSpot's free Sales Metrics Calculator is one of our favorite tools for tracking sales. The Excel template provides key information such as average deal size, win-loss rate, and churn rate without overwhelming me with unnecessary data and charts.
Your sales reps or managers will need all the information and context they need to make informed, data-driven decisions. At the same time, it's important to maintain a balance between completeness and clarity, and avoid overly complex layouts and excessively detailed reports.
Be mindful of your users
You should also consider your audience. Who is the target audience for your dashboard? Junior sales reps? Managers? Executives? When creating a new sales dashboard, keep your users in mind. I've learned this the hard way.
Pro tip: As cofounder of marketing analytics firm Improvado, Ali Flynn explains, “The best sales dashboards fit users’ specific needs. A sales manager tracks team performance, while an analyst delves into sales metrics for insights. Relevance and effectiveness are guaranteed by customization."
Take a strategic approach to sharing
Last but not least, consider how you will share your sales dashboard. Should key stakeholders be offered the option of subscribing to regular updates? Are there any internal portals where the dashboard could be hosted?
Ultimately, a dashboard will only be useful if people use it, so it's important to plan how, when, and where you'll share it.
Reporting Done Right
In the end, creating an amazing sales dashboard requires no shortcuts. With the sales dashboard examples, along with the tips and tricks we've outlined in this article, you'll be well on your way to success.
A piece of advice we particularly love is to avoid overcomplicating things. As a dashboard creator, we know how tempting it can be to add more and more charts, thinking that you're making it better and better... only to discover that you've created an overcomplicated mess. A sales dashboard should be simple and effective. Don't put too much information on the page, use a clear layout, and when in doubt, keep it simple.