CRM, lead flow and sales techniques · Sales reporting and dashboards
Start every report from a question and end it with what someone will do.
A report question and meaning template makes each report begin with something the owner actually asks and end with a line saying what the numbers mean and what happens next. This page covers the fields on that single sheet and finishes with one template that every report in your business uses.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
A report question and meaning template makes each report begin with something the owner actually asks and end with a line saying what the numbers mean and what happens next. This page covers the fields on that single sheet and finishes with one template that every report in your business uses.
An interiors firm in Pune sends the owner a Monday workbook with fourteen tabs of leads by month. The owner scrolls for a minute, says it looks fine and closes it. Nothing changes the next week, because the workbook answers no question anybody asked.
The template flips the order. The owner writes the questions first, in plain words. For each one the sales head names the goal it serves, the person who will read the answer, the exact fields that hold it, the chart, the comparison, and two closing lines: what the figures mean, and the action with a name and a date.
The owner supplies the questions, the sales head owns the template, and whoever builds the reports follows it: an administrator, the accountant, or a freelancer. It replaces reports built because the CRM happened to be able to draw them. The readiness check comes before it, and the core report pack is built from it.
Where this sits
Topic 9 of 13 in crm, lead flow and sales techniques: sales reporting and dashboards. Reports and dashboards that lead to action.
- The topic before
- CRM setup and data
- The topic after
- Frictionless selling
If you want this done for you
See the whole sales and marketing picture on one screen instead of four different logins.
The work
What this is actually like.
“Five questions are enough”
Ask the owner to write down the questions they put to the sales head in a normal week. Which source brings orders and not just enquiries. Which rep's quotations go quiet. Which city is slow. Five of those beat a fifty-report library nobody opens.
“A number with nothing beside it is trivia”
Thirty-eight enquiries means nothing until you set it beside last month, the same month last year or the target. Diwali and the March year-end distort the first, so choose the comparison that matches your trade's calendar.
“The action line is the test”
If a report has been read for three months and no action was ever written under it, retire it. The meaning line is one sentence in the sales head's own words, and the action carries an owner and a date.
“Name both fields or stop”
Every question has something you split by, such as source or city, and something you measure, such as orders. If you cannot name the exact CRM field for each, the data is not there yet, and the page on data readiness is where you go next.
What we do
What you end up with.
The documents this topic produces, what each one is for, and how you know it is finished.
The five questions
Written by the owner in their own words, each tied to a goal and to the person who will read the answer.
Result: Finished when each question can be answered with a number or a yes or no.
Report specification sheet
One row per question: the split field, the measure field, the source, filters, chart type and the comparison. Include a source value for WhatsApp and phone enquiries, since they never touch a form.
Result: Finished when someone who missed the meeting can build the report from the row alone.
One-page report template
Title, the question, the period, the chart, the comparison, one sentence on what it means, and the action with an owner and a date. The action cell may not be blank.
Result: Finished when the report fits on one page and the action cell has a name in it.
Action closure line
A single line at the top of next period's report: actions from last time, done or not done.
Result: Finished when you can say how many of last month's actions were completed.
Why us
Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.
Marketing and sales, as one job
Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.
The person on the first call does the work
No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.
A baseline before anything starts
Your numbers are written down on day one, so every later report compares against something honest.
The fee in writing, split three ways
Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.
No guarantees we cannot keep
The term is agreed in writing and never a default twelve months. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.
One office, and we say so
Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.
#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.
Your brief
Tell us what you need, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps about your business, what you want and who decides. Most questions are a tap, and you can skip any you would rather answer on the call.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
What is the meaning line?
Who should write the questions?
Can the CRM fill in the action line?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
Where to go next
The work that carries this topic further.
The rest of sales reporting and dashboards
Or read all of crm, lead flow and sales techniques.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.