For decades, sales reports have served as an integral part of sales management. Sales teams rely on sales reports to meet their sales goals, while company directors and financial managers review sales reports monthly, quarterly, and annually to make sales-informed decisions for the company’s future, including allocating investments and plan growth.
While the data and analysis compiled in reports remain invaluable to the decision-making process, at other times, the words themselves are obsolete. Thanks to technology, there is a new, much more efficient, and effective way for sales teams to collect and review essential data.
What is a Sales Report?
A sales report is a collection of sales information submitted as material for recording and analyzing sales which play an important role in making decisions in marketing, pricing, and sales systems. Simply put, a sales report provides an analysis of a company’s sales activity over a certain period. Generated monthly, quarterly, and annually, to meet specific business needs, sales reports contain a variety of sales metrics and data, such as:
- Total revenue
- Sales volume
- Number of offers
- Speed of sale (length of sales cycle and how long each opportunity remains at each stage)
- Number and types of new customers
- Conversion rate
- Customer acquisition costs
Why is Sales Reporting Important?
Sales data and analysis are critical to the strategic management and success of the entire sales process. By tracking sales metrics, sales managers can see where the company’s success lies and understand what is driving sales in those areas and identify opportunities to improve sales performance and increase sales as the business grows.
By analyzing that sales data, sales managers can also more easily spot risky offers to stop slippage, drive predictable sales, and support more accurate sales.
Read also: How to View Most Sales Report on iREAP POS PRO Via Mobile
How to Create a Sales Report
You can include various details in your sales report, but too many details can undoubtedly reduce the preliminary information you want to highlight. So instead, adjust your sales report to focus on the specific metrics that play the most significant role in your sales progress.
Once you know what your main focus is, here are the basic steps you can follow to create a sales report:
1. Start with Sales Summary
Starting your sales report with a summary allows you to take the good stuff first. Then, review your sales from the month, quarter, or year you reported to ensure success.
When writing a summary, ask yourself, “What is the main thing I want to communicate in a sales report?”
In most cases, it’s generally the number of sales that are included in the summary that was executed during the period, and whether you met your sales targets are the most important things to highlight. Remember to summarize; perhaps one paragraph is sufficient for a weekly report, while a quarterly or annual report may take up to several pages.
2. Breaking down Sales Figures
Include a section that focuses on sales figures. Of course, the ideal information for this section varies, but you can break down the metrics relating to total sales for the period.
3. Describe Your Sales Results
Once you’ve provided all relevant values and data, including comparing the previous timeframes for more context, use a chart to visualize how your current sales figures correspond to the last month or quarter.
It would help if you also used this section of your sales report to explain some of the factors that affect sales volume. Whether you met your sales targets or objectives, it is essential to analyze what factors led to these results.
If you had a bad sales period, identify what went wrong and explain how you plan to improve for the next period. Conversely, if you exceed your sales targets, look for ways to duplicate these results in the future.
With the iReap POS app, sales reporting can now be simplified, highly accurate, and done in real-time. Furthermore, this application allows the sales team to view detailed information for a certain period or as a whole; the iReap POS sales application is very accurate to see the total sales and increase sales and investment decisions.
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