A guide to using sales report templates [+ 7 steps to build your own]

At the heart of an effective sales report is data, the lifeblood of any successful sales strategy. By collecting and analyzing metrics such as revenue, win rates, sales cycle length, and customer lifetime value, you can transform raw data into actionable insights.

Getting hold of this data and ensuring it’s accurate is another matter altogether. For that, you need a single source of truth, like a reliable sales report. In this guide, we’ll cover the benefits of sales reports, the different kinds that exist, how to create your own, and how using an AI-driven platform like monday CRM can streamline and automate reporting.

What is a sales report, and why are they important?

A sales report is a comprehensive document that provides an overview and analysis of your company’s sales activities and performance within a given period. These reports can include data such as revenue generated or the percentage of sales achieved compared to targets.

Sales reports help teams evaluate the effectiveness of their sales strategies, forecast future revenue, identify areas for improvement, and make informed decisions to drive business growth.

For instance, sales teams and business leaders can use sales reports to understand the success of various products and approaches so they can make improvements or duplicate that success in other areas.

What are the benefits of using a sales report?

There are many advantages to using sales reports. While there are many different types of sales reports, each one can help businesses drive productivity and gain insights into important sales data. Here’s a look at some of the core benefits of implementing sales reports.

• Identify top-performing products and services: Determine the most profitable products and services to better allocate resources and focus marketing efforts accordingly.
• Detect slow-moving products: Highlight slow-moving products or services to take corrective actions like adjusting prices, increasing marketing, or discontinuing underperforming items.
• Analyze customer profitability: Gain insights into your most profitable customers so that you can implement targeted retention strategies and VIP programs to keep clients engaged.
• Inform data-driven decision making: Data-backed insights empower teams to make informed decisions regarding sales strategies, marketing, pricing, and inventory management.
• Improve sales forecasting and goal-setting: Performance metrics and trends help you set realistic sales goals and improve forecasting to better align resources and strategies.
• Enhance productivity and accountability: Managers and leaders can track individual and team performance, identify areas for improvement, and foster a results-driven sales culture.

By providing a comprehensive view of sales performance, sales reports equip businesses with the necessary insights to optimize their sales strategies, drive growth, and make data-backed decisions.

Choosing the right frequency: Do you need daily, weekly, or monthly reports? 

Sales reports can cover different time frames, such as daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual reports, each focusing on specific metrics according to your business requirements. Some teams may see benefits in using a wide range of time-based sales reports, while others will find it more helpful to focus on reports that demonstrate incremental change.

To make it easier to determine which types of sales reports would most benefit your organization, it’s important to understand the purpose of each report.

What’s important to remember is that short-term reports, like daily and weekly, will help your team stay agile and responsive to immediate challenges and opportunities. On the other hand, long-term reports, like monthly, quarterly, and annual, will give you a window into performance. These reports help paint a bigger picture of sales progress and sales rep improvements so that you can make meaningful decisions regarding resources, team structures, and manpower.

The 6 key elements of a sales report

The key elements of a sales report will vary depending on the purpose, audience, or type of report. Nevertheless, these are the common core components that help transform raw data into valuable, actionable insights.

1. Clear and concise title: The title should provide a clear understanding of the report’s primary focus.
2. Introduction: Start with a brief summary that outlines the purpose, goals, and main conclusions of the report.
3. Detailed performance metrics and data: The body of the report should include relevant sales KPIs and data, such as:
   • Total revenue
   • Average revenue per account/product/customer
   • Percentage of revenue from new vs. existing customers
   • Win rate
   • Sales cycle length
   • Deal conversion rate
   • Quota attainment
   • Pipeline coverage
   • Sales expense ratio
   • Customer lifetime value
4. Data visualization: Include graphs, charts, and other visual aids to help illustrate the sales data and trends.
5. Interpretation and analysis: Explain what the data shows, including insights, trends, and areas for improvement.
6. Conclusion and recommendations: Finish with a summary of the key takeaways and suggested next steps or action plans based on the analysis.

Tracking engagement: Metrics to look for in sales report templates

Each type of sales report template will include different sales metrics, but there are a handful that are likely to show up on almost any sales report. These metrics provide a comprehensive view of sales performance, allowing your business to identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement in your sales strategies and execution.

• Total revenue: Total amount of revenue generated over a set period.
• Average revenue per account/product/customer: The average revenue generated per customer, account, or product provides insights into the productivity and profitability of the sales efforts.
• Percentage of revenue from new vs. existing customers: The breakdown of revenue between new and existing customers indicates the effectiveness of acquisition and retention strategies.
• Win rate: The ratio of deals won and lost reflects the sales team’s proficiency in closing opportunities.
• Sales cycle length: The average time it takes to close a deal, which can identify bottlenecks in the sales process.
• Deal conversion rate: The percentage of leads that convert into closed deals, measuring the efficiency of the sales funnel.
• Quota attainment: The percentage of sales reps meeting or exceeding their sales quotas, indicating overall team performance.
• Pipeline coverage: The ratio of the sales pipeline value to the sales target highlights the health of the sales funnel.
• Sales expense ratio: The ratio of sales expenses to total revenue shows the efficiency of the sales department.
• Customer lifetime value (CLV): The average revenue a customer is expected to generate over their lifetime, which is crucial for understanding customer value.

Aside from these more common metrics, there are others that you might look for to get more details on sales progress. For example, some sales reports might track sales calls and sales rep activity levels to evaluate individual performance and coaching opportunities.

How to write an effective sales report in 7 steps

Here are the key steps to creating an effective sales report that’s well-structured, data-driven, and actionable, helping your target audience make informed decisions to improve sales performance and drive business growth.

1. Determine your goals

Start by setting a clear goal and defining the purpose of the report. Understand the target audience and what information would be most relevant to them. For example, are you creating a report for your weekly team meeting or providing a monthly update for C-level executives?

2. Set a timeframe

Determine the appropriate frequency for the report to ensure it’s focused and relevant. For example, a monthly report only needs the latest monthly figures, not the whole year’s data.

3. Collect relevant data

Collect the necessary sales data and metrics, ensuring the information is accurate and up-to-date. Key metrics may include revenue, sales volume, win rate, sales cycle length, and conversion rates. Using CRM software is one of the best ways to maintain accurate sales data in one centralized place.

4. Add visual elements

As a rule, sales reports contain tons of facts and figures. But if you add charts, graphs, and infographics, you can present the information visually so it’s easy to understand and interpret.

5. Discuss your analysis

A key aspect of the report is to provide your analysis and interpretation of the data. No matter your audience, people want to get to the meat of what you’re saying as quickly as possible. So, ensure you explain the trends, identify strengths and weaknesses, and offer insights and recommendations.

6. Summarize the data

Include a summary at the beginning of the report to give readers a high-level overview of the key takeaways. This sets the scene and tells readers what they can expect to know by the end of the report. It’s especially beneficial if you’re writing an in-depth report for time-strapped executives.

7. Recommend next actions

Conclude the report with a clear action plan outlining the next steps and strategies to address any issues or capitalize on opportunities identified in the report. For example, if month-on-month sales are down, explain how you plan to address the decline.

Why you should use sales report templates

For those who don’t want to create their own reports from scratch, a sales report template is a great way to get started quickly while still covering the most important information. Sales report templates help teams stay consistent by standardizing the reporting framework, making it easier to collaborate, stay aligned, and maintain accuracy.

While some downloadable templates can be customized, it’s best to use built-in templates in a platform like monday CRM to benefit from reports that can be completely tailored to any business. The monday.com template center offers 200+ fully customizable templates, including a sales tracking template. Aside from templates, there are other ways to generate reports in CRM software like monday CRM:

• Visual dashboards: Monitor sales activity, performance, and progress by customizing your dashboard view with widgets that pull data from your sales boards to constantly stay aware of critical sales data.
• AI-generated reports: Use built-in AI in monday CRM to generate real-time reports at set frequencies so that you always have fresh data at your fingertips to facilitate decision-making.
• Predictive analytics and sales forecasts: Get a peek into the future with sales forecasts to predict which sales are at risk and which will close based on pipeline data, as well as predictive analytics to make it easier to allocate resources.
• Sales views: Toggle between different sales views in your CRM to get different views into your data, such as a Workload View in monday CRM that shows you your sales team’s current capacity.

Specialized reporting: From sales pipelines to lead analysis

Specialized metrics can provide deeper insights into specific aspects of your sales operations that may require attention or optimization. Aside from generating reports based on frequency to compare progress, specialized reporting templates can provide deeper insights into what’s going on in your sales team.

Unlike time-based reports that track performance over set periods, specialized reports focus on other aspects of your sales process. These targeted reports help you diagnose issues and identify opportunities that broader reports might miss.

The most valuable specialized reports include:

• Sales pipeline reports: Track deals at each stage of your sales funnel to reveal where prospects get stuck and help forecast future revenue.
• Lead source analysis reports: Understand which marketing channels and campaigns generate the highest-quality leads to inform marketing decisions.
• Sales rep performance reports: Compare individual performance across key metrics to identify top performers and those who need additional coaching.
• Product or service performance reports: Break down sales by offering, which highlights your most profitable products and underperforming inventory.

When used alongside time-based reports, specialized reports complete the bigger picture. For instance, if your monthly report shows declining revenue, a lead source analysis might show that your top-performing channel has dried up, while a pipeline report could show deals stalling at a specific stage.

Integrated sales and marketing report templates

In addition to specialized sales reports, it’s a good idea to integrate marketing reports with sales data to get a holistic view of how marketing campaigns are translating into sales. A platform that combines sales and marketing reports or helps you analyze data for both efforts side-by-side will go a long way in revealing the full customer journey from first touch to closed deal, enabling both teams to make data-driven decisions that improve conversion at every stage.

Integrated sales and marketing report templates show which campaigns actually close deals to enable smarter budget allocation. Teams can better distinguish between marketing activities that drive revenue and those that produce vanity metrics, while creating faster feedback loops between teams.

Key integrated metrics on these kinds of reports include:

• Marketing qualified leads (MQLs) to sales qualified leads (SQLs) conversion rate
• Lead source to closed revenue attribution
• Campaign ROI and customer acquisition cost by channel
• Content engagement to deal velocity correlation

For example, if your integrated sales and marketing report reveals that webinar leads have a 40% higher close rate but take twice as long to convert, marketing can extend nurture sequences for these prospects while sales adjusts their follow-up timing accordingly.

Industry-specific sales report solutions

While many business-related sales reports have a lot of similarities, depending on the industry you’re in, there are specific things you might want to track alongside sales metrics. Here’s a quick overview of what to look for in a few industry-specific sales reports:

E-commerce sales report solutions

• E-commerce sales reports can help teams analyze seasonal performance and the impact of marketing promotions to optimize planning.
• Monitor performance from different channels to understand where in the funnel customers might drop off and see which sources drive the most valuable purchases.
• Key metrics to track: Cart abandonment rate, average order value (AOV), product return rate, conversion rate by traffic source, and repeat purchase rate.

Sales reports with industry tracking solutions

• Look for slow-moving and fast-moving inventory to identify which products need the most reordering to prevent lost sales.
• Track inventory costs against sales margins to optimize purchasing and reduce carrying costs.
• Key metrics to track: Inventory turnover rate, stock-to-sales ratio, stockout frequency, and sell-through rate by product category.

Hotel and hospitality sales reports

• Compare direct bookings with travel agency reservations to understand commission spending and improve profits.
• Analyze seasonal patterns as well as group versus individual bookings to gain insights to better allocate staff and adjust pricing strategies throughout the year.
• Key metrics to track: Occupancy rate, average daily rate (ADR), revenue per available room (RevPAR), booking lead time, and channel distribution percentage.

Automate custom sales reporting with monday CRM

Built on the robust monday.com Work OS, monday CRM enables business owners, sales teams, and stakeholders to manage the entire sales cycle in one centralized place. From capturing leads and tracking deals to analyzing real-time data and producing customizable dashboards, you can create your chosen sales report.

The monday CRM platform puts AI front and center to make it easier for teams to both create meaningful reports and action insights to implement real change throughout your organization. With AI-powered sales reports and analytics, teams can make informed decisions backed by real data. Armed with real-time data and smart automations, businesses can scale more sustainably than if they were using static Word templates and Excel sheets.

Let’s take a closer look at some core monday CRM reporting features that help organizations grow.

Sync data with 200+ app integrations

Connect all the apps and external reporting tools you already use, like Salesforce, Gmail, Outlook, or Google Analytics, to focus on the data that matters. No more working with endless screens and fields and risking siloed data between programs. Teams save time by defining, collecting, and organizing the exact sales data they need to build sales reports and sync data to a single source of truth.

Build custom dashboards with AI

Instantly visualize your deal progress, sales figures, and team performance via the custom sales dashboards in monday CRM. For example, you could ask the built-in AI assistant, monday sidekick, to build you an AI dashboard to better understand your pipeline. Then, you can get a custom dashboard with a Funnel Chart that shows conversion rates between different stages in the funnel, or a Leaderboard to compare sales rep performance within each deal stage.

Access AI reporting and automation

Track data in real time with AI reporting and intelligent automations baked into the monday CRM platform. Managers can use AI to auto-generate daily, weekly, or monthly reports to constantly stay on top of sales performance without manually creating or running the report. Workflow automations allow teams to capture sales data, update records, and generate alerts when metrics fall outside target ranges, reducing manual work while keeping everyone informed.

Get proactive with forecasting and predictive analytics

Aside from sales reports and dashboards that show progress and live sales data, teams using monday CRM can also proactively influence sales deals with predictive analytics and forecasting. With these features, sales reps can see when a deal is at risk of falling through the cracks so they can intervene early. Sales forecasting can also be helpful to predict future resource needs based on historical data, customer behavior, and sales patterns.

Selecting the best templates for your team’s growth

Creating well-structured, data-driven, and actionable sales reports will help your target audience make informed decisions that lead to improved sales performance and drive business growth. Start building your sales reports in monday CRM to take advantage of automations, customizations, and AI that can help reveal critical sales patterns and predict future needs. The flexible and intuitive platform makes it simple for teams to collaborate on reports in real-time while also centralizing your data to create a single, reliable source of truth.