If you're in sales ops or a RevOps role, you've probably been burned by dashboards that look pretty but tell you nothing useful. Or worse, they take weeks to set up, and by the time you're done, your team has already found a workaround in Google Sheets. This guide is for folks who want real, actionable dashboards inside Revenuehero without the fluff or the endless back-and-forth with IT.
The good news: Revenuehero has legit options for building custom sales dashboards. The bad news: It's not magic. You’ll still need to know what you want to track, and you’ll need to avoid the usual dashboard bloat. But if you want your team to actually use these dashboards, here’s how you do it.
Step 1: Get Clear on What You Actually Need
Before you even open Revenuehero, slow down for 10 minutes and talk to your sales reps or managers. Don't ask what charts they want—ask what questions they want answered. Some examples:
- "Which reps are booking the most meetings from inbound leads?"
- "How long does it take for a lead to go from demo booked to closed-won?"
- "Where are leads dropping off in our funnel?"
Pro tip: If you can’t answer these questions with your current setup, that’s your real dashboard requirement. Ignore requests for vanity metrics like “total meetings booked ever.”
Write these questions down. You’ll use them to decide what data to pull, which charts to build, and what to ignore.
Step 2: Check Your Data Foundations
Dashboards are only as good as your data. Revenuehero pulls info from your CRM, calendar, and (sometimes) other integrations. Here’s what to check before you build anything:
- Is your CRM (like Salesforce or HubSpot) integrated and syncing cleanly? No integration = no data.
- Are reps logging activities properly? If your team books meetings outside Revenuehero, you’ll have gaps.
- Are lead sources and stages consistent? Garbage in, garbage out.
If you see issues, fix them now. Otherwise, your dashboard will be a funhouse mirror—distorting reality instead of showing it.
Step 3: Explore Revenuehero’s Reporting Capabilities
Revenuehero offers two main options for reporting:
- Built-in Dashboards: These are templates for common sales metrics—conversion rates, meeting volume, pipeline velocity, etc.
- Custom Reports/Dashboards: This is where you can build from scratch or tweak existing templates.
What works: The built-in dashboards are fast to set up and good for standard metrics. Custom dashboards let you get granular, but they require a little more setup and a clear idea of what you want.
What to skip: Don’t waste time recreating dashboards that already exist in your CRM unless you need something your CRM can’t do (like tracking meeting no-shows tied to Revenuehero bookings).
Step 4: Build Your First Custom Dashboard
Here’s the actual how-to, step by step:
4.1: Head to the Reporting Section
- Log into Revenuehero.
- Go to the sidebar and find “Reporting” or “Dashboards.” The UI changes occasionally, but it’s usually in the main nav.
4.2: Start with a Template (If It Fits)
- Revenuehero offers templates for things like “Meetings by Rep” or “Lead Conversion.”
- If one fits your needs, duplicate it and tweak. No need to start from scratch unless you have to.
4.3: Create a New Custom Dashboard
- Click “Create New Dashboard” or the equivalent button.
- Give it a clear name (e.g., “Inbound Demo Funnel – Q2”).
4.4: Add Widgets/Reports
Most dashboards are built from widgets. These could be:
- Tables: Good for lists (e.g., all meetings this month).
- Charts: Line, bar, or pie—pick what matches your question.
- Metrics/KPIs: Single numbers (e.g., “Average Time to First Response”).
Don’t get cute with visuals. Simple is better. If you need more than 5 widgets to answer your main questions, you’re probably overcomplicating.
4.5: Define Filters and Segments
You want to slice data by:
- Date Range: Last 7 days, this quarter, etc.
- Rep or Team: Who’s performing best/worst.
- Lead Source: What’s converting.
Set up filters so users can tweak views themselves. Don’t hardcode everything—sales managers love to slice and dice.
4.6: Set Up Permissions
- Decide who can see or edit the dashboard.
- Most teams restrict editing to ops or managers, but viewing can be open.
4.7: Save and Test
- Save your dashboard.
- Pull it up on a Monday morning meeting. Does it help the team spot issues or trends? If not, go back and tweak.
Step 5: Make It Useful—Not Just Pretty
A dashboard is only as good as its adoption. Here’s how to keep it relevant:
- Review regularly. Set a recurring reminder to check if the dashboard is still useful. Kill or update anything that’s ignored.
- Get feedback. Ask the team if they’re actually using it. If not, find out why.
- Automate sharing. Revenuehero can auto-email dashboards or summaries. Set this up so people see the numbers without logging in.
What to ignore: Requests for endless drill-downs or “just one more metric.” More data doesn’t mean more insight. Focus on the questions you wrote down in Step 1.
Step 6: Common Traps and How to Avoid Them
- Overcomplicating metrics. Stick to leading indicators (like meetings booked, meetings held) and lagging results (like deals closed). Fancy formulas look smart but are rarely actionable.
- Trying to please everyone. You’ll get requests for dashboards that serve one person’s pet project. Resist. Build for the team, not for outliers.
- Ignoring data hygiene. If your data stinks, fix that first. No dashboard can fix bad inputs.
Step 7: Iterate—Don’t Set and Forget
Your first dashboard won’t be perfect, and that’s fine. Review usage after a few weeks:
- Are people actually using it?
- Are the metrics leading to better decisions?
- Is anything missing—or is there too much clutter?
Trim what’s not working. Add only what’s necessary. Keep it lean.
Summary: Keep It Simple and Evolve
Custom dashboards in Revenuehero can be powerful if you focus on the basics: solve real problems, show only what matters, and keep your data clean. Don’t fall for shiny visuals or endless metric requests. Build something useful, let your sales team try it, and don’t be afraid to change it up as you learn what actually drives results.
The real trick? Start small, stay skeptical, and improve as you go. Your future self (and your sales team) will thank you.