Sales teams love dashboards. But what you really need is clarity: what’s working, what’s not, and what to do next. If you’re managing a sales team and want to tighten up your go-to-market (GTM) strategy, this guide is for you. We’ll walk through how to pull real insights from your team’s activity inside Surfe — and how to actually use what you find.
You don’t need to be a data nerd or a Surfe power user. You just need the right steps, a bit of curiosity, and a willingness to ignore the noise.
1. Get Your Surfe Data House in Order
Before you start slicing and dicing sales activity, make sure you’re working with solid, reliable data. Garbage in, garbage out.
Check that your team is actually using Surfe
- Are all reps onboarded? Double-check that everyone has the Surfe extension installed and connected to your CRM.
- Are they logging activities? Surfe pulls activity from LinkedIn, Gmail, and more — but only if reps use it. If someone’s going “off-platform,” you won’t see the full picture.
- Set expectations: Make it clear that tracking isn’t about micromanaging — it’s about understanding what works.
Pro tip: Run a quick audit. Pick a random week and compare Surfe activity logs to what’s in your CRM. If things don’t match up, you’ve got a data hygiene problem to fix first.
2. Define What “Sales Activity” Actually Means for Your Team
Not all activity is created equal. Surfe can track a lot: connection requests, messages, calls, meetings, emails, notes, and so on. But more isn’t always better.
Decide what matters
- What’s a meaningful touchpoint? Are you optimizing for outreach volume, quality conversations, or booked meetings?
- Which channels matter most? If your team is heavy on LinkedIn but never closes from cold email, focus your analysis accordingly.
- What’s just noise? Don’t waste time tracking activity that doesn’t move deals forward (e.g., views, generic “likes”).
Honest take: A high number of LinkedIn messages doesn’t mean much if no one replies. Look at actions that actually correlate with pipeline.
3. Pull (and Understand) the Right Reports in Surfe
Here’s where most teams get lost. Surfe offers a bunch of data, but not all of it is useful for GTM decisions.
Useful views inside Surfe
- Activity by rep: See who’s actually doing the work — but don’t fall into the “activity for activity’s sake” trap.
- Activity by account or segment: Are you hitting your ICP, or wasting time elsewhere?
- Response and conversion rates: This is gold. Outbound activity is only useful if it leads to replies and meetings.
- Timeline views: Spot trends, seasonality, or sudden drops.
How to pull them
- Open Surfe’s dashboard.
- Filter by timeframe (last 30 days is a good starting point).
- Slice by rep, account, or segment depending on your goals.
- Export raw data if you want to do deeper analysis in Excel or Google Sheets.
Watch out: Don’t obsess over vanity metrics. “Messages sent” is easy to game. Look for downstream actions: replies, meetings booked, deals moved forward.
4. Find the Patterns (and the Red Herrings)
Now for the actual analysis. This is where you spot what’s working — and what’s just keeping people busy.
What to look for
- Who’s getting real engagement? It’s not always your highest-volume rep.
- Which messages/channels convert? Are LinkedIn voice notes landing, or are they just weird? Is cold email dead for your ICP?
- Are certain segments responding better? Maybe SMB replies to LinkedIn, but enterprise only bites on warm intros.
- What’s slowing things down? Are there bottlenecks between first contact and meeting booked?
Ignore the noise
- Don’t overthink short-term blips. One bad week doesn’t mean your whole GTM is off.
- Be skeptical of “busy work.” Some reps are great at looking busy without moving deals.
- Don’t chase every outlier. If one rep books a meeting with Google, it doesn’t mean you should shift your whole strategy.
Pro tip: Compare your top and bottom performers. What’s actually different in their activity? It’s rarely just volume.
5. Turn Insights Into GTM Adjustments
All this analysis is pointless unless you actually change something. The trick is not to overreact — just run small experiments.
Move from data to action
- Double down on what works: If LinkedIn voice notes get replies, have everyone try them for a month.
- Drop what’s dead: If cold email is a graveyard, scale it back.
- Test new approaches: Got a hunch a new segment will respond? Assign it to one rep and see.
- Set clear, simple targets: Not “send 100 messages,” but “book 3 meetings from LinkedIn this week.”
Communicate clearly
- Share findings with the team: But don’t drown them in charts. “Here’s what’s working, here’s what we’re trying next.”
- Involve reps: The best ideas often come from the people on the front line.
Reality check: GTM strategy isn’t set-it-and-forget-it. What works this month might flop next quarter. Keep it flexible.
6. Track Changes and Iterate
New experiments need new data. Don’t just “set goals and forget it.”
- Monitor leading indicators: Are meetings booked going up? Are replies better quality?
- Check in weekly: A 10-minute review beats a 4-hour quarterly post-mortem.
- Adjust quickly: If something bombs, drop it. If it works, scale it.
Don’t get stuck in analysis paralysis. A simple test run by two reps is worth more than a perfect spreadsheet.
What to Ignore (and What Not to Worry About)
There’s a lot of noise in sales analytics. Here’s what you can safely ignore:
- Activity for activity’s sake: Don’t reward people for blasting out messages if nothing comes back.
- One-off wins: Just because someone books a whale doesn’t mean you should chase only whales.
- Complex dashboards: If you need a PhD to understand it, you’re overcomplicating things.
You don’t need every metric. You just need a few that tell you if you’re moving in the right direction.
Keep It Simple and Keep Moving
You don’t need a fancy data stack or endless tracking to improve your team’s GTM. Just get your data clean, focus on actions that lead to real results, and don’t be afraid to try (and kill) new tactics fast.
Remember: Sales is messy. GTM is trial and error. Surfe gives you the visibility, but it’s up to you to cut through the noise. Start simple, test one thing at a time, and don’t wait for “perfect” data. That way, you’ll actually get better — not just busier.