Sales teams report weekly on their sales and sales opportunities. That’s not new. These reports come directly from their CRM package, which tracks customer data and the deals’ ins and outs. But are these reports any good? Using a roadmap, we’ll walk you through how to optimize your reports.
Reports are helpful for management, and you can also use this information to inform teams about work that is (possibly) coming up. That way, they can already keep their calendar free for this work. Which teams benefit from this information?
- Project Management -> often the first team to get to work after a deal
- Sales Support -> who makes quotations and ensures a smooth transfer to the rest of the organization
- Legal -> often has a role in negotiating contract terms
- Technical Sales -> are supportive in the sales process and create technical designs for customers
All these people have full schedules. If you want your sales opportunities, which involve a lot of work, to go through faster, there is an excellent opportunity in time management.
How do you build an intelligent report for these people? Here’s a step-by-step plan.
Step 1: Who
Investigate which people collaborate on a sales opportunity or immediately after the deal. We also call these people stakeholders of the sales opportunity. When you know who collaborates on a sales opportunity, you also understand who provides and possibly needs information to do their job optimally.
Step 2: Time
Ask them how much work they spend on average on a sales opportunity. And how far ahead their schedule is packed. This way, you will gain insight into the time spent and the importance of understanding the sales opportunity. This information is needed to build a good report.
Step 3: Impact
Select the parts of the funnel that interest a specific group and set up reporting on that part of the funnel. Reporting is grafted on time and numbers. So, for example, in 1 month, we expect X number of customer orders. Then show a visual representation and table (customer name, description, deal size, and expected close date).
If your CRM allows it, split the reporting into most likely (weighted) and maximum (the total unweighted funnel).
Step 4: Regularity
Have your CRM package send this report every week or month simultaneously. You set this up in almost all CRM packages when formatting the quotation. Also, type in a brief explanation and ask the manager of the stakeholder group who should receive the report.
Conclusion
You gained insight into who, time, influence, and regularity using four steps. With this information, you can build your smart report. Most CRM packages give you the ability to build these reports yourself.
Tadaa! Now you have an intelligent reporting flow that helps streamline upcoming work.
Not quite sure or unfamiliar with the capabilities of your CRM package? Contact a Sales Strategist at Stryfes for a fresh outside perspective.
Want to read more about good quotations? Here are a few articles:
