If you’re prepping for a quarterly review and your team’s using Winn to track sales, this guide is for you. Maybe you’re new to Winn, or maybe you just want to pull a report that actually makes sense (and doesn’t take hours to clean up). Either way, you want more than just a spreadsheet dump—you want something that tells a story, highlights what matters, and doesn’t waste your time. Let’s get into it.
Why Detailed Reports Matter (and What to Skip)
Before you start clicking around, let’s talk about what actually matters in a quarterly sales report:
- Trends: Are sales up, down, or flat? Why?
- Top performers: Which reps, products, or regions are driving results?
- Pipeline health: What deals are likely to close next quarter?
- Outliers: Big wins and losses. Patterns worth a second look.
What you don't need: endless columns of data nobody reads, or charts that look impressive but don’t answer real questions. If you focus on clarity, you’ll save time and everyone else’s patience.
Step 1: Know What You Need (Before You Log In)
Don’t just open Winn and start poking around. Take five minutes to answer:
- Who’s your audience? (Execs care about different things than sales reps.)
- What questions do you want to answer? (Be specific—“Why did Q2 lag behind Q1?” is better than “Show me everything.”)
- How detailed do you need to get? (Quarterly high-level, or broken down by rep/product/region?)
Pro tip: Write these down. It’ll keep you focused when Winn throws 30 filter options at you.
Step 2: Log In and Find the Reporting Section
Winn’s interface changes now and then, but here’s the usual path:
- Sign in to your Winn account.
- From the main dashboard, look for the “Reports” or “Analytics” tab in the left sidebar.
- Click it. If you see multiple report types, pick “Sales Performance” or whatever best matches quarterly sales.
If you don’t see these options, you might not have the right permissions. Bug your admin (nicely) or check your user role settings.
Step 3: Set Your Date Range and Filters
This is where most people get tripped up. Here’s how to avoid pulling three months of useless data:
- Set the date range to match your quarter (e.g., April 1 - June 30).
- Filter by team, territory, or product as needed. Don’t go overboard—start broad, then narrow if you see something weird.
- Exclude test/demo data if possible. Some orgs have a lot of junk in their system.
If your company renames quarters (Q1, Q2, etc.) based on fiscal years, double-check you’re not pulling the wrong months.
Step 4: Choose the Right Metrics
Winn typically tracks a ton of metrics. Here’s what’s usually worth including for a quarterly review:
- Total sales (closed deals/amount)
- Win rate (deals won vs. lost)
- Average deal size
- Sales cycle length (how long it takes to close deals)
- Pipeline coverage (pipeline vs. targets)
- Top reps/products/regions
Ignore vanity metrics unless your boss specifically asks. Number of calls or emails sent rarely tells the real story.
If you’re unsure which metrics matter, check last quarter’s report or ask your manager what they actually care about.
Step 5: Customize Your Report Layout
Winn lets you pick and arrange columns, group data, and add charts. Here’s how to do it without making a mess:
- Drag and drop columns to put important stuff up front.
- Group by rep, product, or region—but not all three at once, or you’ll create a monster.
- Add basic charts (bar or line) for trends. Skip pie charts unless you want to annoy your audience.
- Preview your report before exporting. If it’s confusing to you, it’ll be worse for everyone else.
Pro tip: Less is more. A clean table with three key charts beats a 20-page “data dump” every time.
Step 6: Export and Sanity-Check
Once you’ve got the report looking good:
- Click “Export” (usually a button at the top right).
- Pick your format—Excel and PDF are safest bets.
- Open the file and spot-check: Are totals correct? Do the charts match the tables? Any glaring errors?
Don’t assume Winn gets everything right out of the box. If numbers look odd, double-check your filters. Sometimes old closed deals or test accounts sneak in and mess up your totals.
Step 7: Polish for Your Audience
Most quarterly reviews aren’t just about data—they’re about telling a story. Here’s how to make your report useful, not just “done”:
- Add a summary page: One slide or doc that answers the big questions (“How did we do? Why?”)
- Highlight surprises: Big wins, losses, or shifts in the pipeline.
- Flag issues: If something looks off (missing data, odd spikes), say so. Don’t pretend everything’s perfect.
If you’re sending the report out, add a short email or message explaining what to look at first. Otherwise, expect lots of “What am I looking at?” replies.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
Even pros trip up sometimes. Here’s what to watch for:
- Pulling last quarter’s data by mistake. Always double-check your date range.
- Including inactive reps or dead products. Clean up your filters.
- Formatting nightmares. Winn’s exports aren’t always pretty—check for weird column breaks or unreadable charts.
- Too much detail. If your report takes more than 10 minutes to read, it’s probably too much.
And, yes, sometimes Winn’s own reports are buggy or slow. If something won’t load, try a smaller dataset or check with support.
Shortcuts, Integrations, and What to Ignore
- Scheduled reports: If you run the same report every quarter, set up a scheduled export. Saves time, but always glance over it before sharing—automation can go wrong.
- CRM integrations: If your sales data lives somewhere else (Salesforce, HubSpot), make sure it’s syncing correctly with Winn. Missing or duplicate data is a pain to fix after the fact.
- Ignore “AI insights” unless they’re actually helpful. Winn sometimes spits out generic advice that sounds smart but doesn’t add much value.
Bottom line: Automate routine stuff, but never outsource your judgment.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
Quarterly sales reports don’t have to be fancy—they just need to answer the right questions, clearly. Start simple, focus on what matters, and tweak your approach each quarter. The best reports spark useful conversations, not eye rolls.
If you get stuck, don’t be afraid to ask for help—or to toss out features that aren’t working for you. In the end, the goal is to make your next quarterly review a little less painful. Good luck.