Is your business facing obstacles that have decreased its growth and revenue? Did you know that 61% of organizations engaged in social selling report experiencing revenue growth annually 💲 ?
A sales report is the best solution for growing your business’s revenue. It will guide you and your business to new heights, and you can be one of the 61% of organizations😉.
First, you must know what a sales report 🗄️ is and what it does. This blog will help you understand every detail of the sales report, including how to write it, the types, benefits, essential elements, and additional tips for improving it
🔑 KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Sales reporting collects, analyzes, and presents business or company sales activity data.
- There are several types of sales reports, such as sales pipeline reports, conversion rates reports, average deal size reports, sales call reports, lead response time reports, and revenue reports.
- With all the reports, there are some benefits like improved decision-making, optimization of the sales funnel, boost in sales team performance, and stronger customer relationships.
- Key elements of sales reports include relevant KPIs, sales volume, net and gross sales, and the percentage change in KPIs from the previous reporting period.
What is Sales Reporting?
Sales reporting is the report that collects, analyzes, and presents data related to business or company sales activities. Likewise, it provides an in-depth evaluation of a company’s sales performance over a specific time period, providing valuable insights into strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement.
Some of the key performance indicators (KPIs) that are commonly tracked in sales reports are:
- Sales Volume: It is the total revenue generated during the reporting period.
- Conversion Rates: This refers to the percentage of leads converted into sales at each sales funnel stage.
- Average Deal Size: The total average value of finalized deals.
- Sales Cycle Length: This means the average time the salesperson takes to close the deal.
- Win/Loss Ratio: This refers to the percentage of finalized deals compared to canceled ones.
- Customer Acquisition: CAC is the cost of acquiring a new customer.
Types of Sales Report
There are different types of sales reports, and you’ll use them depending on what you want to learn from your sales data and who you want to show it to. Some of them are:
1. Sales Pipeline Report
A sales pipeline report will help you track the progress of potential sales opportunities at several stages in the sales funnel, giving insights into the health of your sales pipeline and forecasting future sales.
2. Conversion Rates Report
Conversion rates report allows you to analyze the percentage of leads that convert into sales at each stage of the sales funnel, helping you identify areas for improvement in your sales process.
3. Average Deal Size Report
The average deal size report is a type of report that includes the average value of your sales transactions, which is helpful for forecasting, resource allocation, and setting appropriate sales goals.
4. Sales Cycle Length Report
The sales cycle length report defines and tracks the average time the salesperson takes to close the deal, helping you improve your sales efficiency and identify the obstacles in your sales process.
5. Won And Lost Deals Analysis Reports
In a business, there are specific deals that get finalized as well as canceled. So, to prepare the report of those deals, a won/loss deals analysis report allows you to read every detail about the deals carried out by the salesperson.
6. Sales Call Report
You must contact your customer during a deal to inquire about or purchase the product. However, a sales call report tracks all those calls between a salesperson and a customer, assisting you in identifying the effectiveness of your sales communication and areas for improvement.
7. Lead Response Time Report
It tracks how quickly your sales team follows up with potential customers. It measures the average time from a lead’s initial contact to the first salesperson interaction. Businesses that analyze this data by source, score, and trend can improve efficiency, prioritize high-value leads, and ultimately convert more prospects into customers.
8. Revenue Report
As you all know, every business generates low or high revenue over a specific period of time. So, to get detailed knowledge about the incomes, revenue reports allow you to track total sales revenue, breakdowns by product or service, and any deductions or adjustments.
Benefits of Sales Reporting
Sales reporting offers you several benefits, and some of them are:
- Improved Decision-Making: One of the benefits of sales reporting is improved decision-making. Sales reports allow you to record all the datas and make it easy to make data-driven decisions. In other words, this allows businesses to make quick decisions about everything from product development to marketing.
- Optimize Sales Funnel: In simple language, a sales funnel is a customer’s journey from inquiry to purchasing the product. Businesses can identify obstacles in their sales funnel by analyzing the sales report. Moreover, it encourages businesses to focus on areas they need to improve, such as lead generation and conversion rates.
- Boost Sales Team Performance: You can study every detail and track individual and team performance when you have all the sales reports. These datas can identify top performers and the fields that need guidance. Likewise, sales reporting can motivate the sales team by creating a healthy sense of competition.
- Increased Accountability: With sales reports, your business can hold salespeople accountable for their performance. In addition, you can track metrics like calls made, meetings held, and deals closed. Correspondingly, sales reports also help managers ensure that employees achieve their goals within a specific time frame.
- Identify Sales Trends: When you own a wholesale shop, you have all the records of the items sold, which helps you identify the maximum and minimum sold products. Furthermore, these records will allow you to identify trends, reveal seasonal buying patterns, and assess the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
- Improved Forecasting: When you own a business, many factors define your business’s progress. Besides, companies can create more accurate revenue projections by utilizing sales trend ideas. In the same way, this allows owners and management to plan for future production, staffing, and inventory needs.
- Stronger Customer Relationship: One of the best benefits of sales reporting is that it enables businesses to identify their most profitable customers and maintain strong customer relationships. Moreover, this also allows them to modify marketing efforts and develop stronger relationships with their valuable customers.
What are the Key Elements of a Sales Report?
There are several types of reports; according to that, the key elements vary. In simple language, the key elements of sales reports contain the following figures:
Relevant KPIs
Key Performance Indicators are specific valuations used in businesses to measure the performance of various sales activities. They also provide information regarding the level of demand and the overall performance of a sales effort.
Sales Volume
One key element of a sales report is Sales volume. This refers to the total quantity of products a business company sells over a specific period. Sales volume provides insights into the level of demand for a company’s productions and the number of sales.
Net and Gross Sales
Net sales are the total amount of money a company earns from selling its products or services after accounting for returns, discounts, and allowances. Similarly, it reflects the actual cash the company earns from what you sold rather than the initial asking price.
Whereas Gross sales is the total amount of money earned by the company by selling its product without any deduction of fees.
Percentage of KPI change from the previous reporting period
Comparing the two reports is also a key element of sales reports. This helps to analyze the percent change in KPIs compared to the earlier periods and provides information about whether sales have increased or decreased.
How to Write a Sales Report?
There are a few points to consider while writing a good sales report, and the points are described below:
1. Define Your Purpose & Audience
You must clarify the purpose of your report before analyzing any data. Answering questions like, “Do you track sales trends over time and evaluate team performance?” can identify potential areas for improvement.
Next, you can consider your audiences, and based on their choices and preferences, you can customize the content to their understanding and interests.
2. Gather Your Data
While gathering data, you must determine which sales statistics are most relevant to the purpose of your report. This may include your company’s revenue, conversion rates at various sales stages, average deal size, and sales cycle length.
Furthermore, you can extract the necessary information using your CRM software or other sales data sources.
3. Structure Your Report
As a sales reporter, you can begin with a short introduction highlighting key takeaways and overall sales results. Similarly, you can organize the reports according to the topic.
You can also include sales pipeline analysis, conversion rates, average deal size, sales cycle length, win/loss analysis, and customer acquisition cost. Use headings, subheadings, and bullet points to break up the text and ensure the report is clear and straightforward.
4. Analyze & Explain
When analyzing and explaining, you do not simply present data; you should analyze the trends and patterns you observe. You can also explain the reasoning behind the data and the factors that could be driving these trends.
For example, you can ask: Are there any specific strategies or initiatives that impact success?
5. Actionable Insights
Finally, you can wrap up your reports with actionable recommendations and specific actions based on your analysis to improve sales. These could include changing marketing strategies, improving the sales process, or providing additional training to salespeople.
Your report becomes a valuable tool for driving positive changes and meeting sales objectives when it includes clear steps.
What are the sales report examples to evaluate your sales performance?
Various examples of sales reports can help you evaluate your sales performance. Some of them are:
1. Sales Pipeline Report
A sales pipeline report gives you an overview of possible revenue at different sales funnel phases. This allows the business marketing team to identify obstacles and adjust lead nurturing strategies accordingly.
2. Conversion Rate Report
Every business must have a report of its sales according to its marketing. However, to help with that, a conversion rate report enables you to examine the percentage of leads that convert to sales at each funnel stage.
3. Average Deal Size Report
In a business, you should sell several products with different price ranges. So, the average deal size report allows you to track the average value of closed deals, offering insights into pricing strategies and the effectiveness of targeting high-value customers.
4. Sales Cycle Length Report
When dealing with a customer about a product, it takes a specific time to finalize a deal. Similarly, the sales cycle length report evaluated the average time taken by the sales team to close a deal.
5. Win/Loss Analysis Report
There is no surety that when you start a deal with the client, the agreement will get finalized. So, a win/loss analysis report delivers helpful information regarding the business’ weaknesses and assists us in improving our sales pitch and finding our ideal customers.
6. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) Report
Attracting new customers to your business is one of the most important things. So, to help your business with an increased number of customers and sales, a customer acquisition cost report provides the marketing campaign’s effectiveness and optimizes spending for maximum ROI.
Additional Tips For Sales Reporting
Some of the additional tips for sales reporting that help you improve your business’s sales and attract new customers are:
- Focus on Storytelling: A primary additional tip for sales reporting is that you don’t just present data; you can explain critical trends, challenges, and successes. Similarly, you can use several pieces of data to support your points and make your report more engaging and memorable.
- Keep it Actionable: You can summarize your report with practical conclusions and recommendations. Based on the data presented, you can also mention what steps can be taken to improve, giving the reader a clear path forward.
- Embrace Collaboration: As a sales reporter, you can ask for feedback from sales representatives and other stakeholders while preparing the report. This encourages a sense of ownership and ensures that the report meets everyone’s needs.
Conclusion
Sales reports assist you and your business by providing information that will help you improve and overcome obstacles. Some sales reports that will guide and support you are sales pipeline reports, conversion rates reports, average deal size reports, average sales cycle reports, win/loss deals analysis reports, and revenue reports.
Moreover, sales reports can benefit your business by providing details about tasks being carried out, such as deal tracking, customer call tracking, and more. Nevertheless, if you are looking for a business phone number to contact your customer during a sales process, KrispCall, cloud telephony for modern business, can help by providing the number you want.
