If you’re tired of dashboards that look impressive but don’t actually help you manage your sales team, you’re not alone. This guide is for sales managers, ops folks, and anyone who wants to turn Ebsta dashboards into something actually useful for tracking sales team performance—not just pretty charts for your boss.
We’ll walk through how to set up, customize, and (just as important) avoid the common traps that make dashboards useless. If you want real visibility into what your team is doing—good and bad—you’re in the right place.
1. Know What You Actually Want to Track
Before even logging into Ebsta, take a minute and make a list. What do you really need to see? Not what sounds impressive—what will help you make decisions or coach your team?
Start with basics: - New deals created this week/month - Deals won/lost, and by whom - Average deal size or cycle length - Activity levels (calls, emails, meetings) per rep - Pipeline health (are deals stuck or moving?)
Pro tip: Ignore the shiny stuff (“sentiment scoring,” “AI-powered engagement scores”) unless you know it helps your process. Most teams need the basics dialed in first.
2. Get Your Data Sorted (or Your Dashboard Will Lie)
Ebsta dashboards are only as good as your data. If your CRM is a mess, your dashboards will be too—no matter how much you customize.
Checklist before you start: - Are all deals assigned to the right reps? - Are close dates and stages up to date? - Is activity (calls, emails, meetings) being tracked automatically? If not, you’ll always be missing stuff. - Are custom fields (like “Lead Source” or “Deal Type”) used consistently?
If not, fix this first. Otherwise, you’ll waste time customizing dashboards that only amplify your CRM’s problems.
3. Start with Ebsta’s Default Dashboards—Then Ruthlessly Edit
Ebsta comes with a handful of out-of-the-box dashboards. Some are fine; most are generic. Before you build your own, open each default dashboard and ask: - Does this answer a real question I have? - Is this something I’ll actually use to run a meeting or make a decision?
If not, delete or hide it. You can always bring it back later.
4. Build Dashboards That Match How You Work
Now, onto the good stuff. Here’s how to actually customize dashboards in Ebsta to track sales team performance that matters.
Step 4.1: Create a New Dashboard
- Click the “Dashboards” tab in Ebsta
- Hit “Create Dashboard” (don’t worry, you can edit or delete later)
- Give it a name that’s obvious—think “Weekly Sales Team Overview” or “Rep Activity Tracker”
Step 4.2: Add Only the Widgets You Need
Widgets are the building blocks—charts, tables, leaderboards. Only add what you’ll actually use.
Essentials for sales team tracking: - Pipeline by Stage: Visualize where deals bottleneck. Ignore if your team’s pipeline isn’t updated weekly. - Leaderboard by Closed Revenue: See who’s really delivering. Avoid “activity leaderboards” unless you care about quantity over quality. - Deal Velocity: Track average time deals spend in each stage. Most teams skip this but it’s the #1 way to spot slowdowns. - Activity Breakdown: Calls, emails, meetings per rep. But only if this data is actually accurate. - Forecast vs. Actual: Don’t obsess over this unless your team’s forecasts are reliable (hint: most aren’t).
What to skip:
Widgets that just look nice but don’t drive action—sentiment heatmaps, “engagement trends” unless you have a specific coaching plan for them.
Step 4.3: Filter, Filter, Filter
Raw data is noisy. Use filters so you only see what matters.
- Set timeframes (this week, this month, last quarter)
- Filter by team, rep, or territory
- Exclude junk stages (like “Unqualified” or “No Response”)
- For activity metrics, filter out automated or mass emails—they’ll skew your numbers
Pro tip: Save views for your weekly/monthly sales meetings, so you don’t have to re-create them every time.
5. Customize Fields and Metrics (Don’t Just Use Defaults)
Most teams have a few custom fields they care about—like lead source, vertical, or product line. Ebsta lets you pull these into dashboards, but you’ll need to set it up.
Step 5.1: Map Your CRM Fields
- In Ebsta settings, go to “Field Mapping”
- Make sure your custom fields are mapped correctly (no typos, no mismatches)
- If you want to track, say, “Deals by Product Line,” make sure that’s an available field
Step 5.2: Add Custom Metrics
- When adding a widget, use “Custom Metrics”
- Build metrics that answer your questions, like “Average Deal Size by Rep” or “Win Rate by Lead Source”
- Test them on a real dashboard—sometimes the math isn’t what you expect (especially with custom formulas)
Heads-up: Ebsta isn’t as flexible as full-blown BI tools. If your metric needs a lot of logic or custom calculations, you may hit a wall. Don’t be afraid to export to Excel for deeper dives.
6. Share and Schedule Dashboards—But Don’t Overdo It
Once you’ve got dashboards that actually help, you’ll want to share them. Ebsta makes it easy (maybe too easy).
- Share with your team: Only share dashboards with people who’ll use them. More eyes doesn’t mean more insight—it usually just means more confusion.
- Schedule reports: You can schedule dashboards to hit your inbox weekly or monthly. This is great for busy leaders, but don’t clutter people’s emails with dashboards they’ll never open.
- Lock down editing: If you don’t want your carefully built dashboard to vanish or get “improved,” set permissions so only you can edit.
7. Avoid the Most Common Dashboard Mistakes
Even with the best tools, these mistakes can turn your dashboards into a mess:
- Too much detail: Nobody wants to scroll through 20 widgets. Stick to 5–7 maximum per dashboard.
- Too many dashboards: One for weekly pipeline, one for rep activity, maybe one for quarterly trends. That’s it.
- Ignoring adoption: If your team isn’t updating the CRM, your dashboard is lying to you. Fix that first.
- Chasing “real-time”: Daily updates are fine for most teams. Real-time dashboards sound cool but rarely change what you do.
Honest take: Dashboards are only as useful as your willingness to act on what they show. If you’re not going to coach or make decisions based on the data, it’s just window dressing.
8. Keep Improving—But Don’t Chase Perfection
Set a calendar reminder to review your dashboards every month or so. What’s getting used? What’s ignored? What questions are you still struggling to answer? Tweak as you go.
- Ask reps and managers what’s helpful (and what’s just noise)
- Drop widgets that nobody looks at
- Add new views as your process changes
Don’t get sucked into dashboard perfection. Good enough and actionable beats “comprehensive” every time.
Wrapping Up
Customizing Ebsta dashboards isn’t about pretty charts—it’s about getting the truth on how your sales team is performing, so you can actually do something about it. Start with what matters, keep it simple, and be honest with yourself about what’s useful. Iterate as you go. You’ll end up with dashboards that work for you—not the other way around.