If you’re in B2B sales, you know the dashboards you get out of the box rarely fit what you actually need. The default widgets look flashy, but don’t really tell you if your team’s pipeline is healthy, or who’s about to fall off a cliff. This is for sales ops leads, revenue managers, and anyone who’s tired of exporting to Excel just to make sense of the numbers. We’ll focus on how to take Georep—a solid tool for distributed sales teams—and turn its dashboards into something that actually helps you hit targets.
1. Get Clear on Which KPIs Actually Matter
Before you so much as click "Add Widget," take a hard look at what you really need to track. B2B sales is full of metrics—most of them noise. Don’t let your dashboard become a graveyard for vanity stats.
Start with the basics: - Pipeline coverage (pipeline value vs. quota) - Win rate (by rep, by segment, by product) - Sales cycle length - Average deal size - Lead response time - Activity metrics (calls, meetings, emails—but only if you’ll act on them)
Ignore or de-prioritize: - "Impressions" or "views" from marketing, unless you sell via inbound - Raw activity counts (e.g., number of emails) with no context - Overly granular breakdowns that nobody acts on
Pro tip: If you can’t imagine your team changing behavior based on a metric, don’t put it on the dashboard.
2. Map Your Data Sources (Don’t Assume It’s All There)
Georep can pull in a lot, but it can’t read your mind—or your CRM’s duct-taped custom fields. Before you start building, sketch out where each KPI’s data actually lives.
Common sources: - CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.) - Marketing automation - Customer success tools - Billing or ERP for closed revenue
Checklist: - Are all sales stages mapped the same way in Georep as in your CRM? - Are custom fields (like "Product Line" or "Vertical") synced? - Is data up to date, or is there a 24-hour lag?
If there’s a disconnect, fix your integrations and data hygiene first. No dashboard can fix garbage data.
3. Build for the End User, Not Yourself
It’s tempting to cram everything you want to see onto one screen. Don’t. Ask your end users—usually reps or managers—what they need at a glance.
Keep in mind: - Reps care about their own pipeline, tasks, and where they stand. - Managers care about team progress, forecast accuracy, and outliers. - Execs want trends, not details.
Set up views by role: - Use Georep’s permissions and filters so people only see what matters to them. - Limit dashboards to 5-7 key widgets per view. More than that, and people tune out.
4. Customize Widgets That Move the Needle
Georep gives you a chunk of prebuilt widgets, but don’t just use what’s there. Customize.
What actually works: - Pipeline waterfall: Shows how deals progress (or die) between stages. - Aging by stage: Spot stagnant deals before they rot. - Conversion rates by source or segment: Tells you where to focus. - Forecast vs. actual: Cuts through optimism bias. - Lost deal reasons: If reps fill this out honestly, it’s gold.
What doesn’t: - Pie charts with 10+ slices. No one can read them. - “Leaderboard” widgets that just create resentment. - Overly busy heatmaps—unless you really act on them.
Pro tip: Give every widget a plain-language title. “This Month’s Pipeline by Product” beats “Q3-2024_OPP_OBJ_AGG”.
5. Set Up Alerts and Thresholds—But Don’t Overdo It
Dashboards are great, but humans miss things. Georep can send alerts when KPIs cross thresholds—use this, but sparingly.
Examples: - Pipeline drops below 70% of target - No new deals added in a week - Deal stuck in stage X for more than Y days
Don’t set up alerts for every little wiggle. If people get too many, they’ll ignore all of them.
6. Make It Easy to Drill Down
It’s one thing to see “Pipeline is down 15%”—it’s another to know why. Build your dashboards so users can click through to see deal-level details, not just the top line.
How to do it: - Use Georep’s filters: by owner, region, product, or any custom field that matters. - Let users export deal lists for further digging (yes, Excel still wins for some tasks). - Link out to records in your CRM for context.
If a widget doesn’t let you drill down, think hard about whether it’s worth showing.
7. Review and Prune Regularly
Dashboards tend to bloat over time. Once a quarter, sit down with your users and cut what isn’t getting used.
Signs it’s time to prune: - No one can explain what a widget means. - Data is stale, or the input field isn’t getting filled in. - Users just log in, take a screenshot, and never look at the detail.
Don’t be afraid to delete. If it’s important, someone will complain.
8. Common Pitfalls (and How to Dodge Them)
Here’s what trips up most teams:
- Tracking too much: More metrics = less focus. Stick to what drives decisions.
- Relying on manual data entry: If a metric requires reps to update a field every week, expect spotty data.
- Chasing perfection: You’ll never get the “perfect” dashboard. Get something usable, then iterate.
- Ignoring context: KPIs mean nothing without context. Always show trends, not just snapshots.
9. Quick, Practical Tips
- Color-code with care: Use color to highlight real problems (e.g., red = below goal), not just for decoration.
- Mobile users: If reps access Georep on the go, test dashboards on a phone. Cluttered layouts don’t work.
- Documentation: Keep a short doc explaining what each metric means and where the data comes from. Saves arguments later.
- Avoid “chart soup”: Too many charts in one view is overwhelming. Less is more.
Wrapping Up: Start Simple, Iterate Fast
You don’t need a consultant or a week-long offsite to build a useful B2B sales dashboard in Georep. Focus on a few metrics that drive real action, keep the views clean, and check in with your users every month or two. Most importantly, if you find yourself explaining a KPI more than once, it’s probably too complicated. Keep it simple, and don’t be afraid to cut what isn’t working. The best dashboards are the ones people actually use.