Measure Sales Metrics that Matter
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- Summarize the power of Sales Cloud reports and dashboards.
- Describe features of Sales Cloud Forecasting.
If It’s Not in Sales Cloud, It Doesn’t Exist
“You can’t manage what you can’t measure” is a mantra for sales leaders for good reason. When you can accurately measure performance, you can double down on what works best and pull back on what doesn’t.
With Sales Cloud, you can see how your sales team is doing in real time. In fact, you can easily track changes using the Pipeline Inspection tool; this allows you to quickly see what deals will impact sales forecasts. And, by seeing data across the business, you quickly make adjustments to meet and beat your goals.
Dashboards are a great way to visualize your most important reports, and share them with anyone. Does that sound like a great way to motivate reps by highlighting their performance? You betcha! If everyone is going to see your report card, you want all “A”s right? Even better, you can build dashboards with clicks, and no code. Now there’s a test anyone can pass.
Of course, to have a complete picture, your sales team should track everything in Sales Cloud. Some of our most successful customers adopt a mantra:
“If it’s not in Sales Cloud, it doesn’t exist.”
Every call, every customer interaction, every closed deal is tracked in Salesforce—or no one gets credit for those things. It sounds extreme, but it works. (And it saves you from losing a deal if a key sales rep leaves.)
Forecast Smarter as a Team
If an exec asked you how the quarter looks, would it be hard to gather that info? Not with Sales Cloud. Use the forecasting tool to easily see a real-time view of forecasts throughout the organization, including in-line forecast adjustments, and drill down just by clicking. Plus, in the spirit of “success from anywhere,” forecasts—just like deal information—are accessible via the Salesforce mobile app.
Keep your forecasts accurate with well-defined sales stages—customized to use your exact terminology—and get the entire organization on board. What are the key attributes that qualify a deal as a “commit”? With your team all on the same page, you have a meaningful look into your business and have the data you need to help drive good decisions.
You don’t want data entry to stop you from having real-time forecast information, so make it easy for reps to update their deals with the Opportunity Kanban. As reps drag deals into a new stage, their totals recalculate instantaneously, and your organization gets that critical visibility.
Are You Ready to Increase Your Sales?
Now that you know what Sales Cloud is and have some idea of what you can do with it, you officially have enough information to be dangerous. It’s time to ask yourself: “Self, are we ready to modernize our sales process and increase our sales?” Look into the mirror: You are.
Contact us to learn more about how Sales Cloud can revolutionize your sales organization.
Or take this journey even further with Trailhead! Lots of Trailblazers like you have learned all about Salesforce with Trailhead, and you can too.
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