Everything you Need to know about Creating Sales Reports — ReconInsight (2024)

SALES ANALYTICS

Selling more of your goods and products is great, but assessing your sales metrics is essential if you want to improve your team’s performance and eventually increase your sales results.

Crafting a thorough sales report should be a skill that owners and managers understand and dominate. Thankfully, with the help of various sales reporting software within easy reach, it is definitely easier to analyze your business’ numbers, even for those that are new to the process.

If you are a startup who is just starting your own business or want to boost your sales, this is a guide to teach you everything you need to know about writing a sales report, why it is necessary, and some tips and techniques to start drafting your own analysis reports.

What is a sales report?

A sales report, also known as a sales analysis report, is a detailed record of the overall sales activities in a particular company. It shows the entire process and operation of selling the goods or services that the business offers - from the leads, the sales volume, the list of new accounts, and a summary of the costs and revenue for any given period of time.

Since the report shows a quantitative outline, it makes it possible for managers to use them to improve how they manage their people and products. The summarized data will then be used in ways that will benefit the company and increase its sales, retain customers and reps, and bring in new consumers.

Why should all businesses care about sales reports?

Sales reporting takes the guesswork out of your business decisions because it gives you a clear snapshot view of where your company stands at every step of your sales process. (1) This means that no matter the size of your company, detailed performance stats of each stage of your sales cycle will be extremely helpful in determining areas of focus, or improvement, to improve sales in any segment of the business.

One of the many reasons why sales reports are so helpful is because it is a great tool for salespeople to see where they may be losing sales prospects. Having access to this information helps them pinpoint potential areas of improvement. Since salespeople are the backbone to any company, giving them access to personalized performance data can absolutely bring a positive result to the entire team. According to Marta Segarra, sales reporting from a sales rep’s point of view is worthwhile because it summarizes and pinpoints exactly how many deals they have at each stage of the sales process. (2)

When done properly, sales data can help answer the following questions:

1. Who is your target market? What are their demographics?

2. What are the most effective marketing strategies you did?

3. In which territory do you have your top leads?

4. What is keeping your team from selling your products?

5. Are your sales reps meeting their quota?

6. What are the things that hinder consumers from buying your products?

How do you write a sales report?

How can you determine if you successfully wrote a sales report? Is it measured by how visually appealing your dashboard looks, or the way you automate your slide presentation? No, not quite.

Although aesthetics is important when presenting your data, the most important thing for a sales report is to communicate data clearly and effectively. If your facts and numbers are difficult to comprehend, then they won’t serve their intended purpose.

Start with the end

Writing your analysis report with an end in mind allows you to include all the important data in your presentation. As an example, if your monthly report ends with an increase in sales, then you can position your metrics in a manner that will highlight your successful operations.

Always think about the objective of your report. If you want to focus on your representatives’ standing, include their average sales, performance, and other KPIs.

Think about your audience

Who are you writing your sales report for? If it is meant to be used to touch base with sales reps, populate it with relevant data. You should stay away from pieces of information that won’t be useful for their tasks or things that they cannot change.

If you are creating a report for your boss, they may appreciate a presentation with lots of facts, data, and a useful summary with the most useful and relevant information to save their time.

Check for discrepancies

After compiling your data, check your report again. You don’t want to include too much information that isn’t useful for your target objectives, so keep the fluff to a minimum. Verify numbers and quantities to be sure that you’re displaying the appropriate and correct metrics. No matter how small the value is, a simple mistake can cause others to question the accuracy of your entire report and could affect your future operations drastically.

4 simple tips to make sales reporting easier

Sales reports are powerful tools in any business. Unfortunately, they can be tricky to write, especially for first-timers. If you are in the same boat, here are some of the strategies you can use to breeze through the entire process.

Tip #1: Identify the weak and strong points

What are the important pieces of information that you need to share in your report? Do you see obvious challenges with your sales goals, revenue, or the way your team is running? How are your recent metrics if you compare them with your past data? Knowing the areas where you are good at and where you are lacking should be highlighted when writing your sales report.

Tip #2: Create an attractive and digestible presentation

When we analyze reports and data, breaking them down into small chunks is always a great strategy. Not only will your numbers be easier to understand, but it will also help your team recognize correlations and apply them to their day-to-day tasks. A report that is well-designed will be more effective and your business can use it to easily identify trends and patterns to improve your operation in the near future.

Tip #3: Summarize your presentation properly

After identifying your weaknesses, strengths, and goals, ensure that you present your report with a clear wrap-up. How will your metrics change the way you market your products? Are there any necessary changes you need to make when it comes to the way you manage your people? If so, how are you planning to do it in the coming weeks, months, or years? Creating a sales report is essential, but the most important thing is to know how it will affect your business.

Tip #4: Use an automated sales reporting tool

Making use of traditional ways to write your reports is not bad, but it is not always a productive way to make use of your time. Aside from using Microsoft Excel or Google Spreadsheets, you can have your pick of an automated sales tool that can generate your reports in just a few minutes. Although they can cost you a little money, the time you will save by just uploading your systems instead of creating them manually will be a wise investment you can make for your business.

How often do you need to make them?

A sales report can be in different formats that would depend on the particular goal for making them. How often you need to write one would be subject to your current objectives.

Do you want to make a report on your team’s performance? Or do you want to focus on your sales? You can generate a sales report daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly. As always, the options are endless. You can even do it every couple of years.

Best templates and examples for your sales reports

What are the different types of daily sales reports?

“Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman – not the attitude of the prospect.” – W Clement Stone

Daily sales reports are often good for tracking sales data and conversion leads. It would also be helpful to get an average of the reps’ number of closed deals.

1) The average revenue per rep

This is the total number of successful sales per day.

2) Conversion rate per rep

This is how many leads are converted into customers.

3) Average transaction size per rep

This is the average amount that consumers spend.

4) Number of new leads per rep

This is the total number of potential customers.

5) Number of calls per rep

This is the total number of sales calls that are created by the representative.

What are the different types of weekly sales reports?

“Ninety percent of selling is conviction and 10 percent is persuasion.” – Shiv Khera

Weekly sales reports are often best to track sales performance according to the set key performance indicators. Since it is easier to track your sales reps’ achievement every 7 days, many companies use this opportunity to touch base, correct shortcomings, and appreciate success.

1. Rate of upselling and cross-selling

2. Number of sales meetings

3. Average of opportunities and wins

4. Number of lead conversion

5. Number of sales by territory

What are the different types of monthly sales reports?

Monthly sales reports are often best to monitor and assess trends in sales and revenue. It is also great for analyzing the effectiveness of short-term marketing strategies and can be used to track team performance.

1. Average cycle length of sales

2. Number of conversions

3. Number of orders and sales

4. Average outbound calls

5. Sales performance

What are the different types of quarterly sales reports?

Quarterly sales reports are often best when it comes to tracking sales volume and success in achieving KPIs. Since quarterly reports are lengthy, they are effectively used to identify areas that require improvement.

1. Pipeline forecast

A pipeline report includes the leads or prospects that are being pursued by your sales reps. Creating a quarterly forecast can help predict your sales value and the performance of your salespeople within this time period.

1. Revenue report

A revenue report allows you to see a breakdown of your representatives’ total amount of sales in the last three months.

1. Marketing collateral usage report

Creating a marketing collateral usage report allows you to determine successful and failing marketing strategies.

Why are sales reports important?

Running a successful business is not always determined by the number of products or services you were able to sell in a particular period. Have you ever wondered why a particular store you know suddenly went out of business, even if they were always packed with customers? Usually, when this happens, poor management strategies are to blame.

This is exactly why making and keeping sales reports are essential to keep the company running. Every piece of data that you will get will be analyzed and assessed to give an insight into the overall operation of the company. Sales reports are also an effective tool your entire team can use to measure your strengths, the areas in which you can improve, and other important statistics that you can fix or cultivate to motivate your people and of course, grow your profits.

Sales analysis reports help with:

1. Keeping track of revenue, logistics, and budget

2. Monitoring the performance of sales representatives

3. Forecasting sales

4. Making business decisions

5. Saving the company’s time and resources

Manage your sales data using a reliable and easy to use tool

To summarize this guide, your sales report should always include the following:

• The activities of the company and the overview of the sales operations

• The determining relevant key performance indicators (KPI)

• Visual graphics and charts to make the data easy to understand

• The sales volume

• The sales summary

Our software makes for a very convenient sales tool that will compile data and clearly present revenue opportunities for your company, visit us and get a free 1-on-1 consultation from our team.

Get in touch and we’ll set up a meeting. Are you ready to add revenue?

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