You never want to be caught off-guard by what your sales team is doing. Instead, you need definable, real data produced frequently to gauge who’s producing and who isn’t. That’s the only way to plug the gaps and improve your sales overheads.
Sales reports are one of the most reliable means of gauging sales progress but producing report after report every week or month can be incredibly time-consuming.
That’s why sales report templates are so sought-after. Each time you want to create a sales report, no matter how frequently, you’d have a reliable template to use as your base.
This article will discuss the importance of sales report templates and how you can set up your very own usable template today!
Table of Contents
What Is a Sales Report Template?
A sales analysis report or, more simply, a sales report, details sales figures and sales data for the most recent period.
As we discussed in the intro, some companies may opt for weekly sales reports while others might be fine with producing only one report a month. That depends on how in-depth you want to analyze your sales quotients.
In a sales report is all the key data that inform your company’s short-term future financial decisions, from generated revenue to open deals versus closed deals, won deals versus lost deals, and superstar sales reps.
A sales report template puts together the bare bones of your standard sales report but without any of the data.
The template is savable and editable. You can use it each week or each month you produce a report to save you valuable time.
Rather than create the skeleton of a sales report from scratch–which is especially time-consuming if you’re doing it every single week–that skeleton will be there waiting to be used.
You simply input the numbers, change other parameters as needed, and then repeat it all again next week or next month.
Read also: What is Sales Planning? Tips & Downloadable Templates for Beginners
More Benefits of Sales Report Templates
Saved time is the top perk of using a sales report template but far from the only one. Here are some other benefits your company may enjoy.
They keep you consistent in your sales reporting
Companies have many responsibilities, sometimes far too many.
When feeling overwhelmed with duties, it’s not uncommon to push off those responsibilities that feel a little less than paramount.
Although you know that sales reports are a critical benchmark in gauging your company’s success, producing a fresh sales report every week can be difficult.
You might decide that rather than publish a report every week that you push it back to once a month. Yet once a month can quickly turn into once a quarter, and then once a year.
The less sales data your company has, the worse off you are. It’s harder to review historical data to make predictions about what might occur in the future.
More so, you also have large chunks of time left unaccounted for.
By using a sales report template, you can stay on top of your sales reporting, producing it as consistently as your company prefers and never having to worry about those gaps in your sales data.
They allow the team to create sales reports in your absence
If it’s your job to put together the sales reports every week, what happens if you get sick or need to take a vacation?
Do you normally skip the sales reporting that week?
Even small gaps here and there are still gaps, and not ideal if you can help it.
You could train someone to produce sales reports from scratch, but if they never get to put these skills to use, then they could forget what they’re doing by the time push comes to shove.
At least if this person who’s working in your absence had a sales report template to rely on, it would make it easier for them to produce a report when you’re out of the office.
They help produce sales reports anywhere, anytime
While this last point depends on the sale reporting software you have, if your templates are accessible on your home computer or laptop, then you could work from home or take a sick or vacation day and still get the sales reporting done. Go you!
Read also: Sales Analysis — Learn To Zoom In and Master The Pipeline
How to Create Your Own Sales Report Templates
Has your company decided that sales report templates would suit you? Here are the steps to putting one together.
Determine your goals and audience
What is the purpose of this sales report? Are you reporting on weekly income or quarterly income? Is the report more about looking into the performance of your sales reps?
No matter what your projected goal is, the first thing you have to do before you create a template is narrow down that goal.
You also have to keep the audience in mind.
Will the sales report only be distributed among the higher-ups like managers or bosses? Is it solely for your sales team to improve performance? Will other sectors of the company get to see it?
Depending on how you answer that question, you might choose to include or omit certain information from the report.
Discover the most effective sales lead management strategies that will transform your sales process in our detailed article!
Decide the report scope
What do you plan to measure in this sales report? Is it going to be a leaderboard of sales rep performance? A report to understand the activities of your sales team? Is it a trend report or just a weekly earnings report?
Is the purpose of the report only to have business figures for a meeting with a potential new client?
You will need different templates for each of these projects.
Select the right tool for the job
You don’t always have to shell out large sums of money for a sales report template.
You can use widely available tools like Microsoft Excel or Google Charts.
Of course, should you wish to invest in software or a program, you have countless options at your disposal, from Domo to Funnel and HubSpot. One super affordable alternative to HubSpot is EngageBay.
Pick a good format
The format that’s most appropriate for your sales report will depend on the type of report and the nature of the content therein.
A good format is easily readable and thus digestible and even appealing.
Produce and tweak
Now that you’ve got all the pieces put together, you can begin creating sales report templates.
Of course, this is a bit of a trial-and-error process.
Once you see the templates in action, you might wish to go back and change them.
The best thing about a template is that you can edit it at any time.
Read also: 10 Sales Analysis Reports to Improve Sales Performance
Conclusion
Sales report templates save your team hours when producing sales data, as they needn’t start from nothing every time. The templates also allow others to easily step in and make a comprehensive sales report.
We hope the information we shared today inspires you to begin using templates for your sales reports.
If you want a sales tool that can automate your entire sales management for as little as a dollar a day, try EngageBay.
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