If you manage a B2B sales team, you know reporting is both a lifeline and a headache. You want real numbers—not noise—and you want them in your inbox, not buried behind six clicks. This guide is for sales leaders and ops folks who need to set up automated reporting in Experiense and actually trust what lands in their inbox every week.
No fluff, no magic “AI insights”—just straightforward steps, honest caveats, and a few shortcuts to save your sanity.
Why Automated Reporting (Usually) Beats Manual Spreadsheets
Let’s be honest: manual reporting dies the moment your top rep forgets to update their pipeline, or someone’s “simple” Excel macro breaks. Automated reporting isn’t perfect, but it means:
- Less time fiddling with exports and pivots.
- Fewer “wait, what’s the real number?” moments.
- More consistent data for forecasting, coaching, and board decks.
But beware: automation is only as good as your inputs. Garbage data in, garbage reports out. So, before you set anything on autopilot, get the basics right.
Step 1: Decide What Actually Matters
Before you start clicking around Experiense, get clear on what your team really needs. Here’s what most B2B sales leaders care about:
- Pipeline health: What’s in the funnel, by stage and rep?
- Closed-won and closed-lost: What did we actually sell, and what slipped away?
- Activity metrics: Are reps doing the calls/emails/meetings they should?
- Forecast vs. actual: How close are we to target?
Pro tip: Don’t try to automate everything at once. Pick two or three metrics that actually drive decisions. The rest is noise.
Step 2: Clean Up Your Data (Seriously—Don’t Skip This)
If your CRM is a mess, your reports will be too. In Experiense, garbage like missing deal stages, duplicate records, or inconsistent owner fields will haunt you later.
Quick data hygiene checklist: - Standardize deal stages and naming conventions. - Make sure every deal has an owner. - Double-check close dates and forecast categories. - Archive or merge obvious dupes.
Ignore: Fancy “data enrichment” tools unless your basics are solid. Most teams don’t need another subscription—they need reps to update their deals.
Step 3: Build Your Report Templates
Now, log into Experiense and head to the reporting area. You’ll see a bunch of template options—don’t get distracted by the shiny stuff.
What to set up first:
- Pipeline Summary
- Group by stage and owner.
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Filter out deals that haven’t been touched in 30 days (stale pipeline is a killer).
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Closed Business
- Break down by rep, product, and month.
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Include “closed-lost” reasons if you want to spot patterns.
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Activity Overview
- Calls, emails, meetings, and notes per rep.
- Skip “activity type” breakdowns unless your team actually uses them.
Pro tip: Start with Experiense’s prebuilt templates, then tweak. Don’t build from scratch unless you love pain.
Step 4: Set Up Your Automation Rules
Experiense lets you schedule reports to go out automatically. Here’s how to make it work (and not annoy your team):
- Choose the right frequency.
- Daily = Overkill for most B2B sales teams.
- Weekly = Goldilocks for pipeline and activity.
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Monthly = Good for closed business and forecasts.
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Pick your audience.
- Managers: Give them full detail.
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Individual reps: Send only what they can act on—don’t drown them in company-wide numbers.
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Set delivery method.
- Email is still king—nobody checks “in-app notifications.”
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If your team lives in Slack, connect the Experiense Slack integration (but don’t double up).
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Test before you trust.
- Send a test report to yourself.
- Spot-check numbers against the live dashboard.
What to ignore: Pushing reports to everyone “just in case.” Nobody reads those. Start lean and add recipients only when asked.
Step 5: Customize and Tweak (But Don’t Overthink It)
You’ll be tempted to add more charts, filters, and fields. Resist. The best automated reports are clear, not cluttered.
- Remove columns nobody asks about.
- Use simple charts (bar, line) over fancy ones.
- Add a short summary or “what to look for” note if your team tends to skim.
If people keep asking for the raw data behind a chart, add a CSV export link. Don’t try to fit everything into one PDF.
Step 6: Keep an Eye on What’s Actually Used
Check a month later: Is anyone opening the reports? Are managers referencing them in meetings? Or is everything getting ignored?
- If reports aren’t used: Ask why. Too frequent? Wrong info? Format issues?
- If people want more: Add, but only if it’s actionable. Avoid “nice to know” metrics.
Pro tip: There’s no shame in killing a report that nobody needs. Better to have three good ones than ten that get ignored.
What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Ignore
What Works
- Simple, scheduled reports that land in people’s inboxes.
- Consistent formatting—so folks know where to look, every time.
- A short, focused set of metrics tied directly to team goals.
What Doesn’t
- Overly complex dashboards nobody reads.
- Automating before cleaning your data. This just spreads the mess faster.
- Notifications in five different places. Stick to one channel.
What to Ignore
- “AI-generated insights” unless they actually help your team act.
- Reports that nobody can explain in under a minute.
- Automating every metric “just in case.”
Keep It Simple—And Iterate
Automated reporting in Experiense isn’t a “set it and forget it” thing. Get the basics working, see what’s actually useful, and adjust as your team grows. The best reports don’t win style points—they help you run the business. Start lean, keep it clean, and don’t be afraid to scrap what doesn’t work.