How to generate and export detailed sales reports from Vanillasoft

If you’re using a CRM like Vanillasoft, odds are you care about tracking sales performance and getting your hands on actual, useful data. But figuring out how to wrangle a clean, detailed sales report out of it? That’s where things tend to get a little murky. This guide is for sales managers, operations folks, and anyone else who wants real, actionable numbers (not just pretty charts for the boss).

No fluff—just the steps, honest pitfalls, and some hard-won advice.

1. Know What You Want Before You Click Anything

Before you even log in, pause. What are you actually trying to find out? Vanillasoft spits out a lot of data, but it’s only as useful as the questions you ask. Here are a few common goals:

  • Tracking daily/weekly/monthly sales
  • Measuring rep productivity
  • Spotting bottlenecks in the pipeline
  • Comparing campaign performance
  • Checking follow-up activity

Don’t try to report on everything at once—pick one or two targets. If you’re not sure, start simple. You can always add complexity later.

Pro tip: Make a checklist of the fields you care about (e.g., rep name, call outcome, revenue, date). It’ll save you headaches later.

2. Getting Into Vanillasoft’s Reporting Tools

Assuming you’ve got the right permissions (if you don’t, bug your admin), here’s where to go:

  1. Log in to Vanillasoft.
  2. Navigate to the “Reporting” menu on the left sidebar.
    • There are several options, but for sales details, look for “Call Activity Reports,” “Lead Activity Reports,” or “Custom Reports.”
  3. Pick a report type:
    • Call Activity: Good for tracking how reps are working leads.
    • Lead Activity: Focuses more on the outcomes for each lead.
    • Custom Reports: Build your own (more on this in a minute).

If you just want a quick count of calls or appointments, the canned reports work fine. But for detailed sales reporting—think lead source, sales stage, revenue, rep, date, and so on—custom is usually the way to go.

3. Building a Detailed Sales Report (The Honest Way)

Step 1: Start a New Custom Report

  • Go to Reporting > Custom Reports.
  • Click “Create New Report” (the button might read “New” or “Add Report” depending on your version).

Step 2: Choose Your Data Source

  • Most detailed sales data lives in the Leads or Call History tables.
  • If you want to track specific sales outcomes (closed/won, revenue, etc.), start with Leads.

Step 3: Pick Your Fields

Here’s where most people get lost. Vanillasoft loves to throw every possible field at you. Resist the urge to select everything:

  • Must-haves: Rep Name, Lead Name, Sale Amount, Sale Date, Lead Source, Current Status, Campaign Name.
  • Nice-to-haves: Call Outcome, Notes, Last Contacted, Custom Fields (if you track things like region or vertical).

Pro tip: Less is more. Choose only what you need for your current question.

Step 4: Apply Filters

  • Use filters to narrow down your data. For example:
    • “Status = Closed Won”
    • “Sale Date between 01/01/2024 and 03/31/2024”
    • “Campaign Name = Spring Promo”
  • You can also filter by user or team if you need to compare performance.

Step 5: Set Sorting and Grouping

  • Sort by date, rep, or amount—whatever makes sense for your needs.
  • Grouping lets you see totals per rep, per week, etc. This is handy for team roll-ups and spotting trends.

Step 6: Preview and Adjust

Hit the Preview button before you run the report. This usually saves you a bunch of time. If you see weird blanks or too much data, tweak your fields or filters.

4. Exporting Your Report (So You Can Actually Use It)

Vanillasoft doesn’t always make exporting as obvious as you’d like, but here’s the process:

  1. Run your report.
  2. Look for the “Export” button—usually at the top or bottom of the report results.
    • Typical export options are CSV or Excel. Stick with CSV unless you love fighting with Excel formatting.
  3. Click “Export,” and your file should download.
  4. Open it up in your spreadsheet tool (Excel, Google Sheets, whatever’s handy).

Heads up: If you’re exporting a lot of data (thousands of rows), things may slow down or even time out. Break down big reports by date range or campaign to keep them manageable.

5. What To Do With Your Exported Data

Now that you’ve got your CSV, you’ve got options:

  • Pivot tables: Great for slicing by rep, campaign, or time period.
  • Charts: Don’t get carried away—simple bar or line charts usually do the trick.
  • Spot-check for accuracy: It’s not uncommon for exports to have surprises (missing fields, odd dates). Double-check before you share numbers up the food chain.

Real talk: Vanillasoft’s exports sometimes need cleanup. You might get blank columns, weird date formats, or fields you didn’t ask for. Don’t panic—this is normal. Trim what you don’t need.

6. Common Pitfalls (And How To Dodge Them)

  • Too many fields: The temptation is real. If your report is 50 columns wide, nobody’s reading it.
  • Date confusion: Make sure you’re filtering and grouping by the right date—“Created Date” vs. “Last Contacted” vs. “Sale Date” all mean different things.
  • Stale data: If your team isn’t diligent about updating statuses or entering sale amounts, your reports will be garbage. Set expectations early.
  • Permissions: Some users can’t see certain data. If you’re missing expected fields, check with your admin.
  • Exports don’t match dashboard: The real data is in the exports, not always the dashboard widgets. Trust the CSV.

7. Pro Tips for Reporting Sanity

  • Save your favorite report templates in Vanillasoft so you don’t have to rebuild each time.
  • Schedule exports (if your plan allows) to get fresh numbers in your inbox.
  • Document your process—future you (or your teammates) will thank you.
  • Use custom fields sparingly—they’re useful, but too many makes reporting a pain.

8. What Not To Worry About

  • Overly fancy graphs: Stick to clear tables and basic charts. If you need a dashboard, build it in your spreadsheet tool.
  • Every possible metric: Focus on what actually helps your team improve or make decisions. The rest is noise.
  • Perfect formatting inside Vanillasoft: The real power is in the export. Clean up your data there.

9. When to Call for Backup

If you find yourself spending hours wrestling with reports, or if you need something hyper-specific (like integrating with other tools or automating dashboards), consider:

  • Reaching out to Vanillasoft support—they’re hit or miss, but sometimes helpful.
  • Getting IT or an analyst involved for advanced Excel or database work.
  • Looking into third-party reporting tools that pull from Vanillasoft’s API (if your organization is big enough to justify it).

Keep It Simple—and Iterate

The best sales report is the one you can actually use. Start with the basics, tidy up your exports, and don’t sweat perfection. As your needs change, tweak your reports. It’s better to have a simple, reliable process than a complicated one nobody trusts.

Now go get your numbers—and don’t let reporting slow you down.