If you’re in sales, you know the numbers matter—but it’s easy to drown in reports that don’t actually help you sell more. This guide is for sales managers, team leads, and anyone trying to actually do something with their sales data—not just tick boxes for upper management. If you use Quoter to build and send quotes, there are reporting tools baked in that can tell you what’s working, what’s not, and where to focus. But, like any tool, it only helps if you know how to use it.
Let’s cut through the noise. Here’s how to actually analyze your sales performance using Quoter’s analytics and reporting features—without wasting your time on vanity metrics.
Step 1: Know What You Want to Measure (and Why)
Don’t just open up reports and start clicking around. Before you even log in, decide what questions you’re actually trying to answer. Quoter will give you plenty of data, but most of it won’t matter unless it ties back to real decisions.
Some useful questions: - Which products or services are selling best? - Who on the team is closing the most deals—and who’s struggling? - How long does it take, on average, to close a quote? - Where are deals getting stuck or lost? - Are discounts helping close deals, or just eating profit?
Skip these common traps: - Obsessing over “quotes sent” without tracking closes. - Looking at month-over-month data without context (seasonality, big one-off deals, etc.). - Relying solely on dollar amounts—volume and margin matter, too.
Pro tip: Write down your top 2–3 goals before you open Quoter analytics. That way, you’ll filter out the noise and focus only on what moves the needle.
Step 2: Get Familiar with Quoter’s Analytics Dashboard
Once you’re logged into Quoter, head to the Analytics (or Reporting) section. The interface changes now and then, but the basics stay the same.
The main things you’ll see: - Total Quotes Sent: How many quotes you’ve sent out. - Quotes Accepted (or Won): Deals that turned into sales. - Quotes Lost: Deals that didn’t close. - Conversion Rate: Percentage of quotes that became sales. - Quote Value: Total value (and sometimes average value) of quotes.
You’ll also get breakdowns by: - Sales Rep: Who’s sending/closing the most. - Product/Service: What’s selling. - Time Period: Trends over weeks, months, quarters.
What’s actually useful: - Conversion Rate: This tells you if your quoting process is working, not just how busy you are. - Time to Close: The lag between sending and closing a deal. - Lost Quotes Reasons: If you’re tracking why deals are lost (price, timing, competitor), look at this often.
What to ignore: - Raw quote counts with no context. - Fancy graphs that don’t answer your original questions.
Step 3: Break Down Performance by Rep, Product, and Time
Start slicing the data. Here’s how to get something actionable:
By Sales Rep
- Who’s closing the most? Don’t just look at volume—look at close rates and average deal size.
- Who needs help? If someone’s sending lots of quotes but closing few, they might need coaching or a process tweak.
By Product/Service
- Top sellers: Which offerings are consistently accepted?
- Underperformers: Are there products no one is buying? Time to rethink or promote differently.
- Discounting patterns: Is discounting linked to closing, or just making you less profitable?
By Time Period
- Trends: Are sales picking up, slowing down, or flatlining?
- Seasonality: Don’t panic over dips if they happen every year. But watch for unexpected drops.
Pro tip: Pull out one or two “problem” areas (like a rep with a low close rate or a product that never sells) and dig in. Don’t try to fix everything at once.
Step 4: Dig Into Lost Quotes (and Actually Learn From Them)
This is where most teams drop the ball. Lost deals are a goldmine for process improvements—if you bother to look.
- Look for patterns: Are deals lost for the same reason (e.g., price, slow response, wrong product fit)?
- Talk to your reps: The data tells you what happened, but not always why. Ask the people doing the work.
- Don’t take it personally: Losing deals is normal. The goal is to spot trends, not blame people.
What doesn’t work: - Ignoring lost deals or just chalking them up to “bad leads.” - Focusing only on wins. You’ll never improve if you don’t study your misses.
Step 5: Export, Slice, and Combine Data If Needed
Quoter’s built-in reports are handy, but sometimes you need more flexibility:
- Export to CSV: Pull your data into Excel or Google Sheets if you need custom charts or want to compare to other sources (like your CRM).
- Combine with other tools: Sometimes Quoter isn’t the only source of truth. Blend its data with pipeline info or marketing stats for a fuller picture.
Warning: Don’t get lost in spreadsheet land. Only export what you’ll actually use. More data is not better—better questions are better.
Step 6: Set Up Regular Check-ins (But Don’t Overdo It)
You don’t need to obsess over analytics daily. Once a week or month is enough for most teams.
- Weekly: Quick check for red flags—slumping close rates, new reps struggling, weird drop in quotes sent.
- Monthly/Quarterly: Deeper reviews. What’s working? What needs to change?
Automate what you can: If Quoter lets you schedule report emails, do it. But don’t just file them away—take 10 minutes to actually look at them.
Step 7: Watch Out for Common Pitfalls
A few things that trip up even experienced sales teams:
- Chasing vanity metrics: Big quote numbers feel good, but only closed deals pay the bills.
- Ignoring context: One giant deal can skew your numbers. Always sanity-check before making big decisions.
- Overcomplicating: If your report takes an hour to explain, it’s probably not helping anyone.
Pro tip: If you can’t explain your sales performance in a few sentences, you’re overthinking it.
What Quoter Does Well (and Where It Falls Short)
What works: - Clean, quick access to your quote pipeline and close rates. - Easy breakdowns by rep, product, and time period. - Exporting for deeper analysis elsewhere.
What doesn’t: - Not a full CRM—don’t expect complex forecasting or pipeline management. - Custom reporting is limited; for really granular analysis, you’ll need to export data. - If your sales process is messy, no tool will magically clean it up.
Keep It Simple, and Iterate
Don’t let reports become another thing you dread. Use Quoter’s analytics to answer a few key questions, fix what’s broken, and move on. If you’re not sure where to start, pick one metric (like conversion rate or time to close), track it for a month, and see what changes. Then tweak and repeat.
Sales analytics isn’t magic—it’s just paying attention to what’s working and making small, steady improvements. Stick with that, and you’ll blow past teams who are still lost in spreadsheets.