Ever wondered what distinguishes average sales teams from those consistently achieving impressive results?
The key lies in two main factors: a data-driven sales strategy and effective sales dashboards.
Statistics indicate that companies utilizing data-driven approaches are more successful than those relying on intuition alone. But what defines a data-driven company? It's an organization that gathers data from various departments, consolidates it, disseminates it, and then leverages it to guide business decisions and boost revenue. The most successful data-driven companies are those that present their critical metrics through a sales KPI dashboard.
Continue reading to discover how to create a powerful sales KPI dashboard that will inspire your sales team, realign your group’s efforts, and help you exceed your goals!
What does it mean to visualize data?
Have you heard of "big data"? Many medium-to-large companies gather vast amounts of data from various systems and sources. Unfortunately, this data often remains underutilized, simply existing in these systems without being leveraged. This not only incurs costs for system licensing, maintenance, and storage but also results in missed opportunities and reduced revenue.
When companies visualize their collected data, complex information is transformed into engaging visuals that are easier to understand and act upon. Data visualization provides actionable insights, simplifies tracking of KPIs, actual performance, and other crucial data points, enabling better-informed decisions.
Data visualization typically involves displaying metrics on dashboards or in reports. This approach is especially common in customer experience, marketing, and sales departments. Dashboards are generally visual and interactive, providing a real-time summary of data, whereas reports are more tabular, static, and detailed. Both tools are valuable in data-driven organizations: dashboards offer an overview of performance, while reports are useful for in-depth analysis.
Given that improvement is impossible without insight, it’s no wonder that companies that use data visualization often see higher employee motivation and productivity. With more efficient access to information, salespeople can concentrate on driving sales and achieving results.
Why is it important to visualize data?
While sales KPIs offer valuable insights into your team's performance, their true value comes from how you utilize this information. The short answer is that visual data is easier to interpret than text-based data.
Leverage the competitive nature of salespeople to your advantage! Make KPI measurements and individual performance transparent. Dashboards are particularly useful for translating complex data into understandable formats for non-technical employees or those who prefer not to sift through lengthy reports.
If your sales reps are unaware of their KPI standings, they rely on instinct rather than data. This lack of awareness can hinder their ability to excel and negatively impact your company’s sales results.
When sales reps can visualize their KPI data, they can swiftly pinpoint their strengths and areas for improvement, leading them to take appropriate actions. Seeing their performance compared to quotas and peers motivates them to enhance their pipeline and exceed targets.
On a team level, visualizing data can boost accuracy. Reps are less likely to underreport their progress when they know their performance is visible to others. To align efforts with company goals, choose a key KPI, host a sales contest, and showcase progress on a data dashboard.
For managers, sales dashboards can reveal obstacles to success by making it easier to identify why your team or specific employees may not be meeting their goals. By visualizing the entire sales pipeline and customer value, you can quickly spot where deals are stalling, where efforts may be lacking, or where new opportunities exist.
Six steps to build a high-impact sales KPI dashboard
Creating a sales KPI dashboard might seem overwhelming if you're new to the process, but it’s more straightforward than it appears. Follow these six steps to begin visualizing any type of data, and starting with a sales KPI dashboard is an excellent choice!
Step 1: Define your primary goal
Before you jump in, clarify the primary objective you want to accomplish. Be as specific as possible, such as aiming to boost outbound sales by 10% this quarter. Many organizations begin by focusing on detailed operational sales activities and then work backward. Instead, you should start by setting sales goals that align with your broader business strategy.
Step 2: Define your sales KPIs
What will it take to achieve your goal? You might focus on specific sales activities, such as the number of outbound calls or demos scheduled, or you could use performance metrics like pipeline value, hit rate, or win rate. Alternatively, you could define a mix of both activities and quotas to guide you toward success.
If you're unsure which sales KPIs to monitor, consider exploring these 21 essential sales KPIs for leaders. They are categorized into top-level, tactical, and operational KPIs, complete with examples and formulas for easy calculation, tailored for your convenience.
Step 3: Define your data sources and data fields
Remember all that data you’ve gathered that might be scattered across various systems? Now is the time to unlock its potential and enjoy the benefits! Identify which data you want to incorporate into your sales dashboard and determine where it’s located.
Begin by pinpointing which data is crucial for creating actionable KPIs. If you're unsure what data fields to include, think of them as the column headings in an Excel spreadsheet: customer name, industry, and deal stage are a few examples to get you started.
If your company uses a system like Aircall, you’ll likely find valuable sales or customer service data there, such as the number and duration of calls made. Handling complex data from multiple sources? Consider investing in software that allows you to centralize data from your preferred telephony, sales, and marketing systems!
Step 4: Decide how to display the data
The way you present your data can significantly impact the success of your sales KPI dashboard. How you visualize your data is just as crucial as the data you choose to display. Here are three of the most common dashboard visuals and tips for using them effectively:
1. Leaderboards
Leaderboards are ideal for motivating sales reps to pull out all the stops. Here, you can display your sales KPIs and how each rep is progressing toward their goals. For teams in multiple locations, you can display sales KPIs per location to stoke a little friendly competition between offices.
2. Speedometers
This is an engaging method for showcasing real-time performance while encouraging your sales reps to improve key metrics. When agents can see a tangible target on-screen, they can immediately observe the effects of their efforts, making them more likely to exert that extra effort to exceed their goals!
3. Bar charts
While they might not be the most thrilling, bar charts are highly effective for comparing qualitative sales KPI data, especially across different categories. If you want to compare your MRR for this month with last month’s or even the past six months, bar charts are a great tool for that!
Step 5: Decide on live or static data
The easiest and most efficient option is to use an automated "set and forget" system, which continuously pulls and visualizes your data in real-time sales KPI dashboards. This live data allows you to make informed decisions based on current insights, helping you address issues before a minor problem escalates into a significant sales decline—or worse.
Alternatively, you can manually create and update dashboards. While this method requires significant time and effort to keep data current and regularly shared, it is sufficient if you’re focusing solely on historical data. Choose the system that best aligns with your needs and business objectives.
Step 6: Share your dashboards across multiple platforms
Having invested time, effort, and resources into creating your high-impact sales KPI dashboard, it’s crucial to ensure that your employees actually use it. To maximize engagement, make the dashboard easily accessible on both mobile devices and desktops. You might also consider displaying it on TV screens in common areas to keep everyone motivated.
Transparency drives data-driven success, so ensure that everyone is aware of their performance and is motivated to exceed their peers!
Three best practices for building a high-impact sales KPI dashboard
While working through the six-step process to create your initial sales KPI dashboard, remember these three key best practices:
1. Design for your end users’ needs
As you develop your sales KPI dashboard, it’s crucial to keep in mind who will be using it and what you aim to achieve. Ensure that only information relevant to these users and business objectives is included.
For instance, a dashboard intended for the CEO should highlight high-level strategic issues such as profit and loss, and budget versus actual performance. Conversely, a Chief Sales Officer's dashboard should focus more on tactical aspects like activity rates, forecasting, growth, and trends. Meanwhile, a dashboard for sales representatives should emphasize operational KPIs, such as individual performance compared to peers and progress toward sales goals.
2. Provide context
Providing context is essential, especially when presenting information related to sales or profits. This context might include year-over-year or month-over-month comparisons to help stakeholders recognize trends. Each sales dashboard you design should feature information that offers actionable insights, supporting informed, data-driven business decisions.
3. Keep it simple
The primary goal of data dashboards is to enhance information accessibility. Avoid undermining this goal by presenting data in a difficult-to-read format. For instance, if your sales KPI dashboard will be shown on flat screens, steer clear of displaying small or overly detailed data. Similarly, don’t overcrowd your dashboards—focus on the most crucial data and highlight it for the relevant audience. While content is important, readability is equally vital. Ensure your data dashboard is clear and easy for its intended users to interpret.
