If you're managing a sales team, you already know the pain of wading through reports that don’t actually tell you much. You want to see the numbers that matter, without clicking through a maze of menus or squinting at charts someone else thought looked “cool.” This guide is for managers, team leads, and anyone who needs to track real performance—without the fluff—using Salesbolt.
Below, I’ll walk you through setting up and customizing your Salesbolt dashboards so you can actually see what your team’s doing, spot problems early, and skip the weekly spreadsheet scramble.
1. Get Clear on What You Actually Need to Measure
Before you start dragging widgets around, stop and think: what do you really need to watch?
Most teams fall into the trap of tracking too much or the wrong stuff. The point isn’t to build a dashboard that looks impressive—it’s to answer real questions, fast. For sales teams, the usual suspects are:
- Total deals closed
- Pipeline value
- Activity metrics (calls, emails, meetings)
- Win rates
- Average deal size
- Sales cycle length
- Individual rep performance
Pro tip: Ask yourself, “If I had five minutes before a meeting, what numbers would I want right now?” Start with those.
2. Accessing and Understanding Salesbolt Dashboards
First things first: log in to Salesbolt. If you’re not familiar with the dashboard area, here’s the lay of the land:
- Main Dashboard: This is your overview. It’s editable, but don’t mess with it just yet.
- Custom Dashboards: You can create as many as you need—one for yourself, one for execs, one for the team. Each user can have their own setup.
- Dashboard Widgets: These are the building blocks—charts, tables, leaderboards, etc.
Salesbolt’s UI is pretty straightforward, but don’t expect it to read your mind. Plan what you want before you dive in, or you’ll end up with a cluttered mess.
3. Step-by-Step: Customizing Your Dashboard
Step 1: Create or Choose the Right Dashboard
- Click on “Dashboards” in the main menu.
- Decide if you want to tweak an existing dashboard or start fresh.
- To create a new one: Hit “+ New Dashboard,” give it a name (keep it specific, e.g., “Q2 Team Metrics”), and save.
- Set permissions: Decide who can view or edit this dashboard. Public dashboards can get messy, so keep editing rights to a minimum.
Step 2: Add the Widgets That Matter
This is where most people overdo it. Resist the urge to add everything. Focus on what you listed in step 1.
- Click “Add Widget.”
- Choose from these common types:
- KPI Cards: Show one big number (e.g., “Deals Closed This Month”).
- Line/Bar Charts: Good for trends (e.g., “Pipeline Growth Over Time”).
- Tables: For detailed breakdowns (e.g., “All Open Deals by Rep”).
- Leaderboards: Stack up reps by closed deals or other metrics.
- Funnel/Stage Visuals: See where deals stall out.
- Configure each widget:
- Pick the data source (e.g., Opportunities, Activities)
- Set filters (e.g., by team, region, timeframe)
- Choose how to group data (by rep, product, stage, etc.)
Honest take: Fancy visualizations look nice in a demo, but simple cards and tables are what you’ll actually use day-to-day.
Step 3: Rearrange and Resize
Don’t just leave widgets where they land. Drag them around so the most important stuff is front and center. Remove anything you don’t look at weekly.
- Resize widgets so your key metrics are prominent.
- Use empty space to break up sections. Cluttered dashboards get ignored.
4. Filtering and Drilling Down
The real power of dashboards is being able to slice and dice the data.
- Global Filters: Apply timeframes or team filters that affect every widget on the dashboard.
- Widget-Specific Filters: Want to see just your top reps or a specific pipeline stage? Set these at the widget level.
- Drill-Downs: Most Salesbolt widgets let you click into numbers for more detail. Use this to answer follow-up questions without opening a new report.
Pro tip: Set default filters so you don’t have to re-select them every time you open the dashboard.
5. Sharing and Scheduling
You can share dashboards with your team, higher-ups, or anyone else who needs to see how things are going. Here’s how:
- Share Link: Send a direct link (check permissions so you’re not sharing sensitive data by accident).
- Export: Download as PDF or CSV for old-school folks or when you need to drop it in a slide deck.
- Schedule Reports: Automate a snapshot to go out weekly or monthly by email. This keeps everyone honest and saves you from nagging.
Reality check: Automated reports are great, but people stop reading them if they’re too long or stuffed with noise. Less is more.
6. What to Ignore (and What to Watch Out For)
Let’s be real: not every feature in Salesbolt is worth your time.
- Ignore: Anything labeled “AI Insights” or “Predictive Magic” unless you’ve actually seen it work with your own data. These are hit-or-miss and often just repackage existing stats.
- Watch Out For: Widgets that pull from stale or incomplete data. Garbage in, garbage out. Check your data sources regularly.
- Avoid: Dashboards that become graveyards for unused widgets. If you don’t look at it in a month, delete it.
7. Keeping Your Dashboards Useful
A good dashboard isn’t set-and-forget. It needs a tune-up now and then.
- Review monthly: Are you actually using every widget? Cut what’s not useful.
- Solicit feedback: Ask your team what they want to see—or what’s confusing.
- Adapt: As your team or goals change, so should your dashboard. Don’t get sentimental about old metrics.
8. Shortcuts, Pro Tips, and Honest Advice
- Clone dashboards: Save time by copying dashboards for different teams or quarters.
- Bookmark your dashboard: Make it your browser start page if you want to keep your eye on the ball.
- Limit dashboards: One per team or function is usually enough. More dashboards = more confusion.
- Skip the bells and whistles: Animation, color gradients, and “engagement” meters are distractions. Focus on clear, actionable numbers.
- Don’t chase “dashboard perfection”: You’ll never get it perfect. Good enough and up to date is better than “ideal” but ignored.
Wrapping Up
Customizing a Salesbolt dashboard isn’t rocket science, but making it truly useful takes discipline. Start with the numbers that matter, keep things simple, and don’t fall for shiny features you won’t use. The best dashboards answer real questions, fast—so you can spend less time clicking and more time managing.
Remember: iterate. If your dashboard’s not helping, change it. If it’s working, leave it alone. The goal is to see what matters, not to win a design contest.
Now go build a dashboard you’ll actually check. Your future self (and your team) will thank you.