Sales Reports are a necessary part of any business. They provide information that can help you make decisions about your business and its future. However, they can also be used to manipulate or intimidate your customers. Many businesses use sales reports to pressure them into buying their product or services. So you must understand what should be in a sales report and how to make sure it’s included in your own business. This article discusses important data types that should be in a sales report.

1. Figures for the company’s revenue
The figure for the company’s revenue is extremely important because this indicates the company’s financial health. A high figure indicates a healthy business, while a low figure shows a loss. It is crucial that you know exactly where the company stands financially so as not to deceive any of your clients. If the company has no figures available for revenue, then you have no other option than to ask one of the company’s directors to supply them for you. These figures will only show up on the first page of the annual accounts form. You’ll find further details about these accounts in the section below:

2. The balance sheet
This is a summary of all the money coming into the company and going out of it over a while. It lists items such as assets (things like land, property etc.), liabilities (debts due to companies, banks and individuals) and equity (stockholders’ savings). To see whether there are any significant problems with the company, look at the balance sheet or use a Google sheets profit and loss template. Any large discrepancies between the income statement and the balance sheet indicate potential problems. For example, if you notice that the company appears to be making more profits than it makes losses, but the debts exceed the equity, then something may have happened to its finances.

3. Sales Rep Productivity
A key indicator of productivity in a sales rep is the average number of new contracts they close each month. There’s much debate about which area in sales produces the highest percentage of new business. Most people believe that it depends on the type of clientele your company attracts. But it’s down to the salesman’s luck, skill, and hard work. One of the most productive reps I ever knew closed around 200 new contracts every month in the same industry! He sold everything from kitchenware to office supplies. To keep track of productivity and ensure you’re fair to all your sales team, set targets and record performance against those set targets regularly. That way, everyone knows who’s doing well and who isn’t. This is a vital tool to help you improve the quality of service provided by your staff.

4. Customer Satisfaction Scores
When you hear someone mention satisfaction scores, you probably think of customer service – after all, that’s where they tend to come from. However, it’s just another sales technique. If you want to get a feel for a company’s level of satisfaction amongst their existing customers, you need to check out their customer satisfaction scores. What do they measure? How often do they update them? Are they useful? And of course, when was the last time you checked them?

5. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
An important aspect of understanding the right type of sales data is knowing what KPIs are worth looking at. For instance, some firms focus on generating leads; others count the number of completed deals. Others still rely heavily on sales effectiveness measures such as the Average Handling Time (how long it takes for a lead to move from initial contact via proposal through to final close). Know what metrics your particular company uses and consider reviewing them regularly. This gives you a greater idea of how effective your salespeople are; it could also guide future decisions about training or changing job roles within the organization.

6. Number of Prospects
This refers to the total number of open businesses about which a representative has entered details into their CRM system. The bigger the number, the better. Of course, you don’t want to go overboard with this one. You don’t want to start sending mass emails to prospective clients. Instead, build up trust with prospects first, then nurture relationships so that you eventually become an expert in your field. Once you’ve done that, you’ll have lots of opportunities.

7. New Business %
The percentage of new business against the total portfolio. For example, if 80% of your business came from new leads, but 20% of it did not convert to a sale, this would show that your sales team wasn’t hitting enough of these leads. It’d also indicate that something needs improving there. To find the exact figure, calculate the actual value of the new business your sales reps generate over their number of new prospects. Then divide this by the total value of all your existing clients.

8. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
An NPS score indicates whether a client would recommend you to a friend or colleague. High levels typically reflect excellent reviews from happy customers, while low marks usually imply dissatisfied customers. It might seem like a simple thing to check once in a while, but when you look closely at the results, it gives you a great insight into the quality of your current relationship with clients. Reviewing this regularly also helps identify any areas of improvement.

9. Deal Size
While this isn’t strictly a key performance indicator, it’s still worth checking now and again. This figure shows how many dollars each of your potential deals will bring in. As well as helping to visualize the size of your overall pipeline, it’ll help you spot which parts of your sales process aren’t working as effectively as others. After all, if you currently are closing 5-10% less than average deal sizes, perhaps you should take a closer look at why?

Conclusion

In conclusion, a good sales report will provide valuable insights into where you’re making most of your progress. If you’re struggling to keep up with the competition, you need to know exactly where you stand. With just 10 minutes of preparation time, you won’t even notice the difference between a solid sales report and a bad one. And with our step-by-step guide at hand, you won’t the hard sell!