Your sales pipeline is the heart and soul of your sales organization. The more you understand it, the better decisions you can make and the more revenue you can bring in.
This requires more than just collecting data—you need reports that tell you what’s happening within your pipeline, and why it’s happening.
Understanding your sales pipeline data can be overwhelming. That’s why I’ve created a quick guide to help you see which reports you should create, and why.
To show you how it’s done, we’re using the example of a simple sales process that works like this:
Using this example as a baseline, here are the 8 pipeline reports you can build to better understand where conversions take place, where deals are getting lost, and the best acquisition sources for your business.
In my article on "15 Sales Pipeline Metrics to Track for Better Quality Deals," I delve into key metrics that can help you optimize your sales pipeline.
1. Month-over-month metric comparison
So, what exactly is happening in your pipeline? That’s what this report is for:
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In Master Metrics, you can create this metric table and compare the data through different time periods, grouping it by day, week, month, quarter, or year. This shows you how your metrics evolve over time.
When testing this report, ask yourself these questions:
- How many opportunities were created?
- How many discovery calls were completed?
- How many proposals were sent?
- How many opportunities were closed/lost?
- How many opportunities closed/won?
- Of the total closed opportunities, what percentage were won?
- What was the total revenue from closed/won opps?
- What was the average deal value per month?
2. Conversion rate by acquisition source
Knowing your conversion rates is important. But do you know where those won deals are coming from?
This report will tell you which sources are bringing your team more success, and which ones are slacking behind.
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In this example, we have three sources: Facebook Ads, YouTube Ads, and organic conversions. While organic is winning out of the three, we can see that both types of social ads are bringing in conversions.
Here’s the point: You can use this report to bring sharper focus to your inbound efforts. If you’re testing different inbound campaigns, you’ll see which ones are working and which ones aren’t.
Cut those methods that aren’t bringing in enough conversions, and focus on getting new leads from the sources that are more likely to convert.
Now, let's draw the parallel to the world of maximizing total contract value. Just as you meticulously assess various avenues to understand which ones are yielding the most substantial returns, this report serves as a compass guiding your inbound efforts. Amidst the ebb and flow of different inbound campaigns, this report acts as a beacon, shining a light on what's working and what's not.
What's the takeaway? Just as you might fine-tune strategies to enhance total contract value, this report empowers you to refine your approach. Ditch the methods that fall short on conversions, redirecting your energies towards cultivating fresh leads from sources with a higher likelihood of conversion—a strategic maneuver that aligns with the art of optimizing total contract value and propelling your business towards lasting success.
3. Conversion rate by sales rep
Sales managers need to be aware of how each individual rep is performing.
With this report, you’ll see how each rep’s conversion rate is tracking over time.
And if you're looking to optimize your sales team's performance and drive better conversion rates, explore our guide on maximizing sales conversion rates.
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Use this report to check the status of your team month-over-month. Is one rep trending lower than normal? Maybe it’s time to do a check-in and see if you can help them get back to their top potential. Is another rep trending better each month? Look for patterns in their strategies and methods to see if you can implement their success across the team.
This report is also great for building a bit of friendly competition among your reps.
4. Opportunities created by acquisition source
Want to track more of the data around your lead generation? See how many opportunities each acquisition source is giving you in this report:
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Looking at this month-over-month can also give you an idea of how things are trending over time. For example, are your Facebook ads suddenly delivering a much lower number of opportunities? It might be time to revamp your campaign or retarget to a better audience.
5. Opportunities won by acquisition source
How many opportunities turn into closed/won deals? Check this report to see which acquisition sources are giving you more customers overall.
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This report also helps you see whether an individual source is failing to deliver, or if you’re getting lower numbers all around.
For example, rather than panicking over a much lower number of opportunities created organically, pay attention to the timing—maybe it’s just a seasonal slump rather than a problem with your inbound process.
6. Opportunities lost by pipeline stage
When checking the health of your sales pipeline, this is a report you’ll need to create.
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By seeing which stages are losing more opportunities, you can see if there are any bottlenecks or areas where you need to improve. If you’re losing more opps in the early stages than later stages, this is normal. But if you start to see more lost opportunities towards the final stages of your pipeline, this may be a sign that something is wrong.
Check how many deals are lost across all stages, and you’ll see where you need to optimize your process.
7. Conversion rate by stage over time
Create reporting by cohorts to truly understand how each cohort is performing over time and how opportunities convert from one stage to the next.
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Using this table, you can answer questions such as:
- How many opportunities were created per month?
- Of the opportunities created, how many reached the "Discovery Call Done" stage?
- Of the opportunities created, how many reached the "Proposal Sent" stage?
- Of the opportunities who reached "Discovery Call Done", how many then reached the "Proposal Sent" stage?
- Of the opportunities created, how many reached the "Won" stage?
- Of the opportunities who reached "Discovery Call Done", how many then reached the "Won” stage?
- Of the opportunities who reached "Proposal Sent", how many then reached the "Won” stage?
8. Close rate per pipeline stage
When an opportunity reaches a certain stage, how likely is it to close?
When you’re tracking close rates per pipeline stage, you can track how many of these deals are closing:
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Once you have this information, you can forecast smarter as each deal enters a new stage in the pipeline.
Create your own reports with Master Metrics
Your pipeline data is all there. But the way you interpret it can make or break your sales process (and your business).
That’s why I created Master Metrics—to help business owners and sales managers take a deeper look at the data they’re collecting.
If you need help creating these types of reports from your Close data, feel free to book a call with me.
