The Sales Manager Guide to Sales Dashboards

As a sales manager, you’ve likely experienced the chaos that comes with tracking numerous metrics and trying to piece together a cohesive story from fragmented data.

Imagine having a centralized dashboard that not only displays the key metrics your team needs but also drives action and accountability.

This guide will walk you through the essential parts of a sales dashboard, providing you with the insights you need to create a powerful tool that transforms data into actionable intelligence.

Contents

• Universal Components for Every Sales Org
• Industry-Specific Reports
• Less Common, But Highly Valuable Reports
• Using Reporting to Increase Efficiency and Accountability
• Final Thoughts

Picture this: You walk into your office, coffee in hand, and instead of sifting through multiple reports, you glance at a single dashboard that tells you everything you need to know about your sales team’s performance.

It’s not fantasy—it’s the reality for many successful sales organizations.

A well-designed sales dashboard provides clarity, enhances efficiency, and guarantees accountability. Let’s dive into the essential components that will turn your dashboards into indispensable assets.

Sales Performance Metrics

Sales performance metrics are the cornerstone of any sales dashboard.

Total Sales provides a straightforward measure of your team’s overall revenue generation. Sales Growth helps you understand how your sales are increasing or decreasing over time, highlighting trends and potential issues. Sales Target vs. Achieved offers a clear picture of how well your team is meeting its goals, enabling you to adjust strategies as needed. Average Deal Size gives insights into the value of each sale, which can help in assessing the quality of your sales pipeline.

Metrics: Total Sales, Sales Growth, Sales Target vs. Achieved, Average Deal Size

Calculations:

• Total Sales: Sum of all sales within a given period.
• Sales Growth: ((Current Period Sales – Previous Period Sales) / Previous Period Sales) * 100
• Sales Target vs. Achieved: (Achieved Sales / Sales Target) * 100
• Average Deal Size: Total Sales / Number of Deals

Best Display:

• Total Sales and Sales Growth: Line charts for trend analysis.
• Sales Target vs. Achieved: Gauge or bar charts for easy comparison.
• Average Deal Size: Pie charts or bar charts to compare across different periods or sales reps.

Common Time Horizons: Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly

Lead and Opportunity Metrics

These metrics are crucial for understanding how well your team is generating and converting leads.

Number of Leads measures your ability to attract potential customers (it might be marketing’s problem, but you definitely want to see this!). Conversion Rate indicates the efficiency of your sales process by showing how many leads turn into actual sales and can often provide insight into lead quality as well. Pipeline Value gives an estimate of the potential revenue from all active opportunities, helping you forecast future sales. Win Rate measures the effectiveness of your sales strategies by showing the percentage of opportunities that result in closed deals.

Metrics: Number of Leads, Conversion Rate, Pipeline Value, Win Rate

Calculations:

• Number of Leads: Count of new leads generated.
• Conversion Rate: (Number of Conversions / Number of Leads) * 100
• Pipeline Value: Sum of the potential revenue from all active opportunities.
• Win Rate: (Number of Closed-Won Deals / Total Opportunities) * 100

Best Display:

• Number of Leads and Conversion Rate: Funnel charts or bar charts.
• Pipeline Value and Win Rate: Stacked bar charts or line charts.

Common Time Horizons: Monthly, Quarterly

Activity Metrics

Activity metrics track the daily actions of your sales team, providing insights into their productivity and engagement. Calls and emails are just for representation. It could be LI messages or any other type of outreach.

Calls Made and Emails Sent indicate the level of outreach and follow-up with prospects. Meetings Scheduled and Demos Completed show the team’s efforts in moving leads through the sales funnel. Monitoring these activities helps ensure that your team is maintaining a steady pipeline and actively working to convert leads into customers.

Metrics: Calls Made, Emails Sent, Meetings Scheduled, Demos Completed

Calculations:

• Calls Made, Emails Sent, Meetings Scheduled, Demos Completed: Simple counts.

Best Display:

• Activity metrics are best displayed using bar charts or heat maps to show distribution and intensity over time.

Common Time Horizons: Daily, Weekly

SaaS

For SaaS companies, understanding recurring revenue and customer retention is critical.

MRR provides a consistent revenue metric that helps in forecasting and growth planning. Customer Churn Rate indicates the percentage of customers lost over a period, which is crucial for assessing customer satisfaction and product-market fit. CLV measures the total revenue expected from a customer over their entire relationship with your company, helping you understand the long-term value of your customer base.

Metrics: Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR), Customer Churn Rate, Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Calculations:

• MRR: Sum of all recurring revenue from subscriptions.
• Customer Churn Rate: (Number of Customers Lost / Total Customers at Start of Period) * 100
• CLV: Average Revenue per Customer * Average Customer Lifespan

Best Display:

• MRR and Customer Churn Rate: Line charts for trends.
• CLV: Bar charts or scatter plots.

Common Time Horizons: Monthly, Quarterly

Retail

Retail metrics focus on optimizing space and inventory while maintaining high customer satisfaction.

Sales per Square Foot measures the efficiency of your retail space in generating revenue. Inventory Turnover indicates how quickly inventory is sold and replaced, which is vital for managing stock levels and reducing holding costs. CSAT provides direct feedback from customers about their shopping experience, helping you improve service quality and customer loyalty.

Metrics: Sales per Square Foot, Inventory Turnover, Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)

Calculations:

• Sales per Square Foot: Total Sales / Total Retail Space
• Inventory Turnover: Cost of Goods Sold / Average Inventory
• CSAT: (Number of Satisfied Customers / Total Survey Responses) * 100

Best Display:

• Sales per Square Foot and Inventory Turnover: Bar charts or line charts.
• CSAT: Pie charts or bar charts.

Common Time Horizons: Monthly, Quarterly

E-commerce

E-commerce metrics are essential for optimizing the online shopping experience and marketing efficiency.

Cart Abandonment Rate measures the percentage of shoppers who add items to their cart but do not complete the purchase, highlighting areas for improving the checkout process. AOV tracks the average amount spent per order, providing insights into customer spending behavior. ROAS evaluates the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns by comparing the revenue generated to the amount spent on ads.

Metrics: Cart Abandonment Rate, Average Order Value (AOV), Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)

Calculations:

• Cart Abandonment Rate: (Number of Abandoned Carts / Number of Initiated Carts) * 100
• AOV: Total Revenue / Number of Orders
• ROAS: Revenue from Ads / Cost of Ads

Best Display:

• Cart Abandonment Rate and AOV: Bar charts or line charts.
• ROAS: Bar charts or pie charts.

Common Time Horizons: Weekly, Monthly

Sales Cycle Length

Sales Cycle Length measures the time it takes to close a deal from the initial contact. This metric helps identify inefficiencies and areas for process improvement.

A shorter sales cycle can indicate a more efficient sales process, while a longer cycle might highlight obstacles that need addressing. Tracking this by rep also provides insights into individual performance and training needs.

Metrics: Average Sales Cycle Length, Sales Cycle Length by Rep

Calculations:

• Average Sales Cycle Length: Sum of the time taken to close each deal / Number of deals
• Sales Cycle Length by Rep: Average time taken by each rep to close deals

Best Display:

• Sales Cycle Length: Line charts for overall trends.
• Sales Cycle Length by Rep: Bar charts or scatter plots.

Common Time Horizons: Monthly, Quarterly

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) measures the cost of acquiring a new customer. This metric is crucial for understanding the efficiency and effectiveness of your sales and marketing efforts.

Lowering CAC while maintaining or increasing customer quality can significantly impact profitability. Breaking down CAC by channel helps identify the most cost-effective acquisition strategies.

This is famously one of the most difficult metrics to measure well, especially in companies with longer sales cycles. It’s important to make sure you’re getting the full view and including all relevant costs to make this an effective measure.

Metrics: Total CAC, CAC by Channel

Calculations:

• Total CAC: Total Sales and Marketing Expenses / Number of New Customers Acquired
• CAC by Channel: Sales and Marketing Expenses per Channel / Number of New Customers Acquired per Channel

Best Display:

• Total CAC: Bar charts or line charts.
• CAC by Channel: Pie charts or bar charts.

Common Time Horizons: Monthly, Quarterly

Customer Health Score

Customer Health Score aggregates various factors such as product usage, customer satisfaction, and support interactions to provide a holistic view of customer well-being.

This metric is particularly useful for predicting churn and identifying at-risk customers, enabling proactive retention strategies.

Building weighted averages into this formula leaves a lot of room for error and subjectivity. It’s a good idea to consult with a variety of stakeholders and measure and compare each piece individually, ideally using something like a regression analysis to determine the correlations.

Metrics: Customer Health Score

Calculations:

• Customer Health Score: Weighted average of factors like product usage, CSAT scores, and support tickets.

Best Display:

• Customer Health Score is best displayed using a gauge chart or a heat map to show the distribution of scores across the customer base.

Common Time Horizons: Monthly, Quarterly

Sales Velocity

Sales Velocity measures how quickly revenue is generated. It takes into account the number of opportunities, deal value, win rate, and sales cycle length.

This metric is vital for understanding the efficiency and productivity of your sales team, allowing you to identify and remove bottlenecks.

Metrics: Sales Velocity

Calculations:

• Sales Velocity: (Number of Opportunities * Average Deal Size * Win Rate) / Average Sales Cycle Length

Best Display:

• Sales Velocity is best displayed using bar charts or line charts to show changes over time.

Common Time Horizons: Monthly, Quarterly

As a leader, one of your primary roles is to guide your team towards achieving their goals.

A well-structured sales dashboard is a powerful tool in this endeavor. By providing real-time insights and clear visualizations, you can:

1. Identify Trends and Patterns: Spotting trends early allows you to capitalize on positive developments and address issues before they escalate.
2. Set Clear Expectations: Use the dashboard to communicate targets and progress, ensuring everyone knows what is expected.
3. Enhance Accountability: Regularly review the dashboard with your team, celebrating successes and addressing underperformance. Many teams meet weekly to review pipeline metrics. It’s a good idea to include other revenue teams like marketing and CX on a less frequent basis as well.
4. Optimize Processes: Analyze the data to identify bottlenecks in your sales process and implement changes to improve efficiency.
5. Motivate Your Team: Transparent reporting fosters a sense of ownership and competition among team members.

Building an effective sales dashboard requires understanding your key metrics, selecting the right visualizations, and using the data to drive action.

Start with the basic universal components, tailor your dashboard with industry-specific reports, and don’t be afraid to incorporate uncommon but valuable metrics. Experimentation is key. Every business is unique and what matters a lot to one may not be especially useful to another. By iterating over time, you’ll quickly learn which metrics and reports give you and your team the most value.

Remember, the goal of your sales dashboard is not just to display data, but to provide actionable insights that lead to better performance across the org.

Need some help getting high-quality dashboards setup and integrated in your business? I’d love to help!