If you’ve ever sat through a quarterly sales review wondering what half the numbers actually mean—or worse, how you’re supposed to act on them—you’re not alone. This guide is for sales leaders, ops folks, and anyone who’s tired of data for data’s sake. We’ll walk through how to get genuinely useful quarterly sales reports from Revenue, cut out the fluff, and give you a process you can actually stick to.
Let’s keep it honest: fancy dashboards and endless exports aren’t what drives results. It’s about clear, focused reports that help you make decisions. Here’s how to get there.
Step 1: Know What Questions You Want to Answer
Before you even open up Revenue, stop and ask: “What do I actually need to know at the end of this review?” Otherwise, you’ll end up swimming in charts that don’t matter.
Core questions most teams care about: - How much did we sell, and is that above or below target? - Where did those sales come from (by rep, product, region, channel)? - Which deals or customers moved the needle most? - What’s working and what’s stuck in the pipeline? - Are there trends we’re missing—good or bad?
Ignore the noise: - Vanity metrics (number of calls, meetings, etc.) can be interesting, but they rarely drive strategy at the quarterly level. - Overly granular reports (“deals by zip code by Tuesday afternoon”) just cloud the picture.
Pro tip: Write down the three questions you must answer this quarter. Build your report around those.
Step 2: Pull the Right Data from Revenue
Revenue’s reporting tools are flexible, but that can be a double-edged sword. It’s easy to get lost. Here’s what to actually use:
The Essentials
- Quarterly Revenue Summary: Start with the built-in summary report for the quarter. This gives you top-line sales, broken out by your core segments (products, reps, regions).
- Pipeline Movement: Look at pipeline reports, but filter for deals that actually closed in the quarter. This cuts out the wishful thinking and shows what’s real.
- Deal Attribution: Use the “Deal Source” or “Win Reason” fields if your team fills them out. If they don’t, skip this for now (and consider fixing your process).
What to Skip (or at Least, Don’t Lead With)
- Activity logs: These are more for coaching or process audits, not quarterly reviews.
- Historical pipeline snapshots: Unless you’re doing a deep dive on forecasting accuracy, these just muddy the waters.
How to export: - Use Revenue’s “Export to CSV” for detailed analysis, but don’t feel bad about sticking to the main dashboard if that’s enough. - For most leadership reviews, screenshots of the summary widgets are fine—just make sure everyone’s using the same filters.
Step 3: Slice the Data—But Not Too Thin
It’s tempting to break everything out by every possible field. Resist that urge.
Stick to these breakouts: - By Sales Rep: Who’s delivering, who’s struggling, and who needs help. - By Product/Service: What’s driving growth, what’s stalling. - By Region or Channel: Only if these matter for your business.
Watch out for: - Over-segmentation. If your report has more than 4-5 categories per chart, it’s probably too much. - Tiny sample sizes. Don’t draw conclusions from one or two deals.
How to do it in Revenue: - Use the built-in filters and group-by options. Don’t export to Excel unless you have a really good reason. - If you’re prepping for a meeting, make sure your data is “frozen” a day or two before so you’re not arguing over numbers that keep changing.
Step 4: Add Context (But Don’t Write a Novel)
A report without context is just a spreadsheet. But nobody needs a 10-page commentary.
What to include: - Brief notes on outliers (big wins, big misses): One or two sentences each. - Target vs. Actual: If you missed or beat your number, say why—in plain English. - Key blockers or drivers: New competitor? Pricing change? Sales comp tweak? Flag it.
Skip: - Excuses and wishcasting (“We would have hit target if only…”) - Listing every deal. Focus on patterns, not anecdotes.
How to do it: - Add a slide or a bullet-point summary to your report. - If you’re emailing the numbers, include a 3-5 sentence intro at the top.
Step 5: Turn Numbers Into Actions
Here’s where most reports fall apart: lots of stats, no next steps. The whole point of a quarterly review is to figure out what to do next.
For each key finding, ask: - What’s one thing we’ll start, stop, or double down on next quarter? - Who owns the action, and when will we check back?
Examples: - “Drop the lowest-performing product from active campaigns—Jane to review messaging.” - “Assign top closer to at-risk region—check progress in 30 days.” - “Pipeline stuck at pricing stage—run a quick-win training.”
Keep it simple: More than 3-5 actions per quarter is overkill. Pick a few that matter.
Step 6: Share and Store the Report
A great report is useless if it lives in someone’s inbox. Make sure it gets seen and can be found later.
Best practices: - Share in your regular leadership or team meeting—not just over email. - Save the report in a shared folder (Google Drive, Dropbox, or inside Revenue if your plan supports it). - Tag or name the file clearly: “Q2_2024_SalesReview.pdf” beats “finalreport_v7_EDITED.”
Skip: - Sending the raw CSV to everyone (unless you enjoy follow-up questions about every column). - Sharing screenshots without explanation.
Step 7: Review, Simplify, and Repeat
After the review, ask yourself and your team: - What did we actually use from the report? - What was confusing, repetitive, or ignored? - What would make next quarter’s review faster?
Then: Cut what didn’t help. It’s better to have a short, focused report every quarter than a monster spreadsheet nobody reads.
Honest Takes: What Works, What Doesn’t
- What works: Tight summaries, clear visuals, and a short list of actions. People actually read these.
- What doesn’t: Reports that try to answer every possible question. Nobody wants to relive their stats class.
- Ignore: The urge to automate everything—some manual review is good, especially when you’re finding your groove.
- Don’t stress: If your first few reports are rough, that’s normal. Iterate.
Wrap-Up: Keep It Simple, Keep It Useful
Quarterly sales reviews don’t have to be a slog. Focus on the questions that matter, pull only the data you need from Revenue, and turn those numbers into a handful of real actions. Skip the rest. The simpler your process, the more likely people are to actually use your reports—and that’s the only metric that really counts.