To gain a deeper understanding of their customers, sales representatives are required to work with data, analyze their behavior, and monitor their sales performance. Sales dashboards are an essential tool in this process.

Utilizing data in modern sales management allows sales managers and business executives to gain valuable insights into customer behavior and trends, empowering them to make informed decisions based on data.

Imagine having to manually generate hundreds of leads every week, while also qualifying and following up with them, all while managing your existing customer base. This scenario is a recipe for burnout and is unlikely to yield positive results.

This guide provides a comprehensive overview of sales dashboards, including their definition, significance, steps for creating one, and useful tips. Additionally, we will offer various examples of sales dashboards to help you streamline your work effectively.

What Is a Sales Dashboard?

A sales dashboard is a useful tool that centralizes sales KPIs and enables C-level executives and managers to monitor them effectively. It also helps sales teams achieve their goals by providing detailed analyses of sales performance, cycle lengths, and sales funnels.

To succeed in the competitive sales industry, sales departments need to have ownership of their pipelines, access to data, and accurate information in real time. Modern sales dashboards simplify sales management by providing a daily or strategic-level overview of team performance, sales opportunities, closed deals, and other essential sales KPIs. Sales representatives, managers, and VPs have a lot of tasks to navigate while increasing revenue and profits, making it crucial to swiftly and accurately forecast and compare data.

Sales dashboards provide a complete 360° overview of sales information, allowing you to visualize your progress in real-time and share the information with clients or stakeholders. With professional sales analytics software, sales dashboards empower you to take full control and reap the benefits of real-time data overview.

Why are Sales Dashboards important?

Sales dashboards are crucial because time is of the essence for salespeople. They need quick access to information that provides a comprehensive view of their deals and allows them to dive deeper into any data point without spending too much time or effort. For example, if a sales team is using CRM to manage their data, although CRM tools contain the necessary information for salespeople to close deals, account details are often buried across multiple screens, making it challenging to gain a complete understanding of an account.

Sales dashboards enable salespeople to focus their time on selling instead of administrative tasks or searching for data. Sales analytics teams face the challenging task of cleaning up and analyzing CRM data, and exporting data from CRM sources is a manual and time-consuming process. Ad hoc analysis of an account becomes almost impossible, and exported data from CRM tools typically has a limited scope of information, becomes static and outdated, and is left unviewed in a spreadsheet.

Centralized, self-service dashboards created by sales analytics teams are essential. They allow everyone to use the same data, making reports a single source of truth. Using single sources of truth across departments means that critical decisions are made with data rather than intuition. Everyone in the organization speaks the same language and works towards common sales KPIs.

Reports connected to live data sources with clean and validated sales data allow organizations to be more agile, pivot quickly, and effectively work opportunities to hit quotas. Accurate sales forecasts can be produced by analysts, territories can be planned more strategically by leaders, and salespeople can have an accurate picture of where they stand against their goals. This way, everyone in the organization is better prepared and never caught off-guard.

Sales Dashboard Examples

Explore these seven sales kpi dashboard samples to motivate your sales teams, increase their performance, and make data-driven decisions. Use them as templates, sources of inspiration, and initial models to adapt to your specific business requirements.

Note: All the sales dashboard examples shown in this article are created by FineReport, a powerful Dashboard Software that has been honorably mentioned by Gartner Magic Quadrant for ABI Platforms in 2023. You can download FineReport for free and have a try!

1. National Sales Dashboard

The National Sales Dashboard is a comprehensive sales performance dashboard designed to provide insights and analysis on sales performance across an organization.

• Intended audience: The National Sales Dashboard is designed for sales managers, executives, and other stakeholders who need to monitor sales performance across different regions and teams.
• Focus metrics: The dashboard provides a holistic view of sales performance by tracking key metrics such as revenue, sales by city, and sale by state. The dashboard also allows users to drill down into each metric to get more granular insights and identify specific trends or issues.
• When to use: The dashboard is particularly useful for organizations with geographically dispersed sales teams or complex sales cycles, as it provides a centralized view of sales activity across different regions and stages of the sales process.

2. Sales Command Room Dashboard

Sales Command Room Dashboard is a sales KPI dashboard designed to provide real-time insights and analytics to sales teams.

• Intended audience: Sales managers and executives who need to monitor and analyze sales performance in real-time.
• Focus metrics: Sales revenue, including total sales, monthly sales, and year-to-date sales. Sales performance, including average sales per representative, win/loss ratio, and sales pipeline analysis.
• When to use: Use this dashboard to monitor sales performance, identify trends, and adjust sales strategies quickly in response to market changes. It is particularly useful in high-pressure situations where timely, accurate data is essential for making critical decisions.

3. Sales General Manager Dashboard

This sales performance dashboard is specifically designed for sales managers who want to have a clear overview of their sales team’s performance and make informed decisions based on the data. It offers a range of metrics that enable sales managers to track performance against targets, monitor the progress of deals, and identify areas for improvement.

• Intended audience: Sales managers who want to have a comprehensive view of their sales team’s performance.
• Focus metrics: Sales performance against targets, deal progress, lead conversion rates, sales cycle time, win/loss rates, and revenue generation.
• When to use: It is particularly useful for sales managers who want to track progress on a regular basis, set targets, and forecast future sales.

4. Multi-dimensional Sales Dashboard

The Multi-dimensional Sales KPI Dashboard provides sales analysts with a multi-dimensional view of sales performance across various dimensions such as general, time, region, subsidiary, and product.

• Intended audience: This multi-dimensional sales dashboard is designed for sales analysts and managers who need a detailed and customizable view of sales performance. It serves as a valuable tool for analyzing and monitoring sales data across different dimensions.
• Focus metrics: The dashboard provides insights into various key metrics, including overall sales performance, sales trends over time, regional sales distribution, subsidiary performance, and product sales analysis.
• When to use: Utilize this dashboard when you need to analyze sales performance from multiple perspectives. It is particularly useful for conducting in-depth sales analysis, identifying growth opportunities, evaluating regional or subsidiary performance, and assessing the performance of different product lines. Whether you’re preparing sales reports, making strategic decisions, or conducting performance reviews, this multi-dimensional sales dashboard can provide valuable insights to drive your sales strategy and achieve better results.

How to Create a Sales Dashboard？

1. Decide which sales metrics to track

If you have specific targets or objectives you want to achieve, a dashboard can help you track your progress toward those goals. Start by identifying the sales metrics that matter most to your team. Consider the metrics you already review regularly, and ask yourself which ones are the most important. Are there key performance indicators (KPIs) that your team uses to measure success? Do you have multiple sales teams with different metrics?

There are several categories of sales metrics to choose from, including activity, pipeline, lead generation, outreach, conversion, channel, productivity, and training metrics. If you’re not sure where to start, consult a sales metrics guide to help determine which metrics are most important to your sales organization.

2. Determine how the dashboard will be used

There is no one-size-fits-all sales dashboard, so you must determine how your team will use it. Will the dashboard help individual reps track their progress toward monthly quotas, or will it be used by sales managers to see which reps are performing the best for the quarter? Consider the following factors:

• Who will use the dashboard? Sales reps, managers, VPs, or executives?
• How often will they use it? Daily, weekly, or monthly?
• What information do they want to see? Which metrics, visualizations, and calculations are important to them?

Also, consider where your team will view the dashboard. For example, if you have an outside sales team who frequently travels, consider making a mobile-friendly version of the dashboard so they can access it from a mobile phone, tablet, or computer.

For example, FineReport‘s mobile BI functionality allows users to perform data analysis and access information on both tablets and smartphones. It provides a seamless experience across different mobile devices, ensuring that users can easily view and interact with their business intelligence data on the go. Whether on a tablet or a smartphone, users can leverage the power of FineReport’s mobile BI to stay informed, make data-driven decisions, and stay productive anytime, anywhere.

3. Choose a sales dashboard provider

There are many dashboard softwares in the market, I would recommend FineReport if you are looking for software to implement business dashboards like sales dashboards. 

It offers a wide range of features and capabilities that empower users to create, customize, and visualize their data in a meaningful way. With FineReport, you can easily connect to various data sources, design interactive dashboards with a drag-and-drop interface, and utilize advanced visualization options to present your sales data effectively. It also provides powerful data analysis tools, collaboration features, and mobile support, ensuring that you can access and share your sales dashboards conveniently across different devices. Whether you need to track sales performance, analyze key metrics, or make data-driven decisions, FineReport is a reliable and comprehensive solution for creating impactful sales dashboards.

4. Connect data to the dashboard

FineReport allows you to connect to a wide range of data sources, including database tables, SQL sets, Excel, built-in data sets, and more. By connecting your data sources to FineReport, you can quickly import data into your sales dashboard and start analyzing it.

Also, FineReport’s automated reporting system can directly connect the reporting platform to various kinds of databases. FineReport builds a data center with database support, and all sales data can be centralized into the system, managed through business data packages, and updated in real-time according to the fields in the database.

This means that when you need to create a daily sales report, you can directly extract the data from the database. Additionally, FineReport can integrate with other systems such as OA or ERP systems, making it easier to find and extract data for report creation at any time.

5. Develop sales reports for the dashboard

When creating reports, you have a broad range of charts to choose from to visualize your data. Depending on the data you’re adding to your dashboard, you can use charts for:

• Comparing values (e.g., comparing sales from two different regions). This can be shown using bar charts, column charts, line graphs, pie graphs, or scatter plots.

• Composition (e.g., total sales broken down by sales rep). You can show where your sales are coming from using a pie chart, stacked bar chart, stacked column chart, area chart, or waterfall chart.

• Trends (e.g., month-over-month revenue growth). Display trends using a line chart, dual-axis line chart, or column chart.

FineReport supports more than 50 chart styles, covering basically all basic and high-level charts on the market, and also has excellent dynamic effects and a powerful interactive experience. Various features can be set according to the needs during use, and can also be self-adjusted and displayed on the mobile terminal and large LED screen.

Remember that the best visualizations are those that are clear and actionable. Your dashboard users should be able to understand and read the charts at a glance without having to view the full report.

Once the dashboard and reports are finished, share them with your team. FineReport allows you to collaborate with team members and stakeholders by sharing your digital marketing reports and dashboards. You can also set up user permissions to control who can view and edit your reports.

Don’t be afraid to go back to the drawing board if some reports don’t fulfill the needs of your sales team.

Sales Dashboard Tips

After learning about the steps to create a sales dashboard, it is also crucial to keep in mind some useful tips to consider when designing it. These tips include:

1. Maintain Consistency Consistency is critical when building your sales dashboard. With the various functions the dashboard can perform, it is essential to remain consistent in generating features that help track the right values every month. Consider consistency in the following areas:

• Naming structures for your metrics, KPIs, and teams.
• Icons and visual elements.
• Date, time, and other text-based formats.
• Choice of color.

2. Use a Clean Layout Since a dashboard visually represents metrics, KPIs, and other important functions, it is crucial to choose a simple, clean, and functional layout that makes it easy for everyone to view and track their activities. Avoid making the interface too busy or too colorful. If necessary, organize elements in grids to present the data better.
3. Embrace Minimalism Try to keep the number of data sets to a minimum. Don’t overdo it, so it is easy for every user to understand the data better. As a rule of thumb, include a maximum of 6 to 10 data points to avoid confusing team members with too much data.
4. Visualize Properly To achieve efficiency and functionality in a dashboard, it is vital to visualize accurately so that others can analyze the data and metrics properly. There are several ways to visualize on dashboards, such as:

• Line charts: to visualize trends and compare values.
• Pie charts: to allocate numbers or percentages to values or metrics.
• Bar charts: to present differences or growth rates of metrics or KPIs.
• Pivot tables: to lay out exact numbers across categories and values.
• Indicators: to provide snapshots of the performance of a metric.

Conclusion

Throughout this article, we have explored the importance of Sales Dashboards and provided examples to illustrate their versatility and impact on sales strategies. We have also discussed the step-by-step process of creating a Sales Dashboard, highlighting the key considerations and best practices.

To fully leverage the benefits of Sales Dashboards, it is crucial to choose the right software solution. In this regard, I highly recommend FineReport as an excellent choice for implementing Sales Dashboards. With its user-friendly interface, robust features, and mobile BI capabilities, FineReport enables businesses to create dynamic and interactive dashboards that can be accessed and analyzed on various devices, including tablets and smartphones.

By utilizing FineReport, sales teams can seamlessly monitor their performance, identify trends, and gain valuable insights to make informed decisions. With its comprehensive suite of tools and customizable features, FineReport empowers businesses to design Sales Dashboards tailored to their specific needs and goals.

Incorporating FineReport into your sales strategy can revolutionize the way you manage and optimize your sales performance. Its intuitive interface, advanced analytics capabilities, and seamless mobile experience make it an ideal solution for businesses looking to stay ahead in today’s competitive market.

So, if you’re in search of a reliable and powerful software solution to create professional Sales Dashboards, I highly recommend considering FineReport. Explore its features, unleash the full potential of your sales data, and drive your business to new heights of success.

Make informed decisions, track your sales performance effectively, and unlock the true potential of Sales Dashboards with FineReport.

Feel free to make an appointment for a live demo with our product experts. We will be more clear about your needs and see how FineReport can help you and your organization transform data into value.