What Is a Sales Analysis Report?
A sales analysis report includes sales-related metrics, also called key performance indicators, for a specified time-period. Sales analysis reports provide a record of past performance and can be used as a tool to predict future business performance.
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Purpose of Sales Analysis Reports
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Sales analysis reports are used to measure and monitor sales department performance. Sales managers use these reports to develop sales strategies, better understand past results and to help forecast future results. Sales representatives use these reports to closely track their performance against sales goals and to plan and prioritize sales activities. Finance and human resources staff members use these reports to calculate sales compensation and bonus payouts for sales department employees.
Sales Analysis Metrics
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The sales related metrics most common in sales analysis reports include top line sales revenue, net sales revenue, sales goals or quotas, performance as a percentage of sales goals, sales profit, sales pipeline and the type of products sold (also called product mix). This information is often available at an individual sales representative level, a team level and at the department level.
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Report Creation
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Sales analysis reports can be created manually by extracting data from a database, then converting the data into a report template using Microsoft Office tools. They may also be calculated automatically and be available for online viewing within a customer relationship management (CRM) or an enterprise resources planning (ERP) system.
Frequency Of Reporting
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Most sales organizations provide sales analysis reporting that is updated daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually. With the use of automation tools, companies can also leverage "real time" sales analysis reporting.
Sales Data
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Database It is mission critical that the data used to create and calculate sales analysis reports is extracted from a trusted source or database. If poor quality data are used, then the sales reports will be inaccurate. This will cause many immediate and downstream business problems.
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References
Resources
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