The Significance of Sales Charts for Your Sales Strategy

In the age of the digital world with data and automation rapidly growing, sales strategies can no longer be built from hunches and what we think works. Sales must be data driven.  

So how do we navigate this digital age in order to tailor your sales strategy to something concrete that you know will work with more certainty?  

You must learn the significance of a sales chart.  

 

What is a sales chart? 

A sales chart gives a visual representation of your data to help you understand patterns faster and more efficiently. You can learn trends about who your customers are, when they’re likely to buy and even what blockers may be causing friction.  

Sales charts get as granular as you want, showing you how sales KPIs fluctuate throughout time, regions or even lead groups. Rather than inundating you with data fields, sales charts help you simplify understanding your data and your customer patterns.  

At the end of the day, sales charts are tools to help you improve your performance and point your strategy to more wins.  

 

The different types of sales charts 

There are several types of commonplace sales charts that will be integral to you and your sales teams. Furthermore, if you are working with an advanced data visualization organization, you may be able to achieve customized options that include some overlaps or a mixture of metrics that you’d like or need.  

Some of the top contenders of types of sales charts will be options like: 

• Sales Performance: An overview of sales growth with several quick hits’ views of important KPIs to the individual salesperson, such as new customers, revenue, customer acquisition cost, etc.  
• Sales Cycle: A graph showing the average length of time to go through your sales funnel 
• Conversion: Graph showing more detailed aspects of sales conversion rates, such as lead conversion ratio and opportunity-to-win ratio 
• Sales Opportunity: This graph offers a view into potential leads and corresponding details throughout your funnel, ranging from opportunity pipeline, likelihood to close, or average sales cycle  
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): Insights for both the average customer lifetime period as well as the average customer lifetime value amount 

Once you decide which type of sales chart(s) is the best for you, you can start coordinating the right metrics and analytics necessary to make it an influential dashboard to your sales strategy. 

 

What sales KPIs should you include in your sales chart? 

Sales charts are of course made up of sales KPIs that inform you of critical data you should be aware of. Principal KPIs that you’ll want to make sure you have real-time views of on your sales chart should include: 

• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) 

• • Learning how much it costs to acquire new customers 

• Average conversion time 

• • Learning how long it takes to convert a lead 

• Lead conversion rate 

• • Learning how many leads are actually converting 

• Sales by Contact Method 

• • Learning where your sale came from 

• Monthly Sales Growth 

• • Learning the overall snapshot of critical metrics dictating how your sales are 

 

How can I use this sales chart for my sales strategy? 

Before gaining data visualization, sales strategies were often formulated by intuition: what you believe will work, what others say works and even what may be tried and true for you. The first two are easily understood on being improved by sales charts and the data it brings you. Though, even with your tried-and-true plans, wouldn’t it be better for your bottom dollar to know it is working at maximum potential? 

With the power of real-time sales charts behind you, you gain a clear understanding of how long it takes a prospect to go through your current funnel, when that opportunity is scheduled to close and allows you to start tapping into building your customer personas to know who you need to target and how.  

Aside from this understanding, you will be able to easily identify possible gaps where portions of your sales strategy need improvement. Seeing an average conversion time that seems unsavory to your business plan? Now you know that metric is what you and your team need to tackle.  

Sales charts give you the ability to see and know what is and isn’t working. 

 

Being in the digital age, you likely have most of this data sitting there ready to help influence your sales strategy. All you need to do now is make sure you bring it together with visibility to metrics you need and can improve your processes from there. The future of your profitability is depending on it. 

 

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If you are not already taking advantage of the power of sales charts, what are you waiting for? Contact the Aceyus team today to see how you can gain real-time insights. 

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