If you manage a sales team, you know the drill: there’s a mountain of activity data, everyone’s busy, and it’s easy to get lost in the dashboards. If you’re using Atriumhq, you’ve got more numbers than you probably know what to do with. But the point isn’t to drown in metrics—it’s to actually coach your reps better. This guide is for frontline managers, enablement leads, or anyone who wants to turn all those graphs into real conversations that help their team win.
Let’s get honest about what matters, what doesn’t, and how to actually make this data work for you.
Step 1: Get Clear on What You Actually Want to Change
Before you even open Atriumhq, ask yourself: What do I care about? If you’re not sure what good looks like for your reps, all the data in the world won’t help.
Start here: - Are meetings down? Pipeline empty? Deals stuck in limbo? - Are reps burning out, or are some just cruising? - Is there a new process you want to reinforce?
Don’t try to “coach to the data”—decide what outcomes you want, then find the signals that actually matter. Most managers skip this step and end up chasing vanity metrics.
Pro tip: Write down your top 2-3 priorities for your team this quarter. Keep them handy. Everything else is noise.
Step 2: Choose the Right Activity Metrics (and Ignore the Rest)
Atriumhq tracks just about everything—emails sent, meetings booked, calls made, opportunities touched, and more. Not all of it is equally useful.
What’s actually helpful: - Meetings booked and first meetings held: Good indicators of top-of-funnel health. - Emails/Calls sent: Only useful if you know what “good” looks like for your team. - Opportunity touches: Shows if reps are giving deals enough attention. - Deal progression: Are things moving, or getting stuck?
What’s usually noise: - Total email/call volume (without context) - Time in CRM - “Engagement scores” that aren’t clearly defined
Don’t get seduced by a colorful dashboard. Pick 2-4 metrics that line up with your priorities. If you track too many, you’ll end up talking about nothing.
Step 3: Set Baselines and Spot Outliers
Data is only useful if you know what’s normal. Atriumhq loves a good benchmark, but don’t just accept their “team average” at face value—your team is unique.
How to baseline: - Look at your team’s historical data over the last 3-6 months. What does average activity actually look like? - Compare high performers and low performers—but be careful. Some top reps do less activity because they’re focused or have better accounts. Don’t punish efficiency.
In Atriumhq: - Use their “team view” to scan for outliers—reps way above or below the norm. - Filter by time period and role. New reps vs. veterans often have totally different patterns.
What to watch for: - Consistent under-activity: Could be a coaching opportunity, or maybe a sign the rep is overloaded elsewhere. - Wild swings in activity: Sometimes means a rep is “sandbagging” their efforts for end-of-month heroics. Not always a problem, but worth a conversation. - Reps working hard, but not seeing results: Don’t just praise effort—help them work smarter.
Step 4: Dig Into the “Why” Behind the Numbers
If you stop at “Sally’s meetings are down this month,” you’re not coaching—you’re just reading a scoreboard. The real value is in the conversation that follows.
How to approach it: - Ask reps what’s behind the trends. Are they stuck on bad accounts? Is their outreach falling flat? - Look for context—did marketing leads dry up? Did a new process slow everyone down? - Pair activity data with outcome data (pipeline created, deals won) to see if effort is actually paying off.
Good questions to ask: - “I noticed you booked fewer meetings this month—what changed?” - “You’re sending lots of emails, but pipeline’s flat. Is there a bottleneck?” - “You’re touching every opp, but deals aren’t moving. Anything blocking you?”
Watch out for: - Excuses that blame everything on “bad leads.” Probe deeper. - Over-correcting for one metric. Example: Pushing for more calls usually just leads to more bad calls.
Step 5: Turn Insights Into Coaching Actions
Data is only as good as what you do with it. Once you’ve got a sense of what’s working (or not), build your coaching plan.
Practical ways to use Atriumhq data for coaching: - Weekly 1:1s: Bring up trends, not just snapshots. “Your meetings have trended down for 3 weeks—let’s talk about why.” - Role plays: If outreach is high but meetings aren’t, listen to call recordings or review email templates together. - Peer learning: If one rep is crushing a metric, ask them to share what’s working in your next team meeting. - Micro-goals: Instead of vague advice (“do more outreach”), set a specific target for a week and see what happens.
Don’t: - Use data as a stick to beat people with. If reps feel like you’re just policing activity, they’ll game the numbers. - Ignore rep feedback. Sometimes the metric is fine—the process is broken upstream.
Do: - Celebrate improvement, not just top performers. - Adjust your approach if the data isn’t telling the full story.
Step 6: Review, Iterate, and Don’t Overcomplicate
Here’s the truth: you’ll never “set and forget” your coaching metrics. Teams change, goals shift, and sometimes you realize you’ve been tracking something pointless.
Keep it simple: - Review your chosen metrics monthly. Are they driving the conversations you want? - Drop anything that’s just noise. - Add new metrics only if they actually help you see something you’re missing.
Remember: - The goal is better conversations and outcomes, not a perfect dashboard. - Activity data is a starting point—not the whole story.
Final Thoughts
Coaching with data from Atriumhq isn’t about being a spreadsheet cop. It’s about seeing what matters, asking good questions, and helping your team get better—one conversation at a time.
Don’t let the flood of numbers distract you from the basics. Pick a few key signals, talk to your reps, learn as you go, and keep it human. If something isn’t working, change it. The best managers are always iterating.
Now go open that dashboard—but don’t forget to actually talk to your team.