Want your sales team to know where they stand—without endless spreadsheets, status meetings, or chasing down numbers? This guide is for sales managers, ops folks, or anyone who's tired of “flying blind” with outdated data. We'll walk through setting up real, automated sales dashboards in Grow, so your team always has the right numbers in front of them—no B.S., no fluff.
Why bother with automated dashboards?
Let’s be honest: Most sales dashboards are either out of date, too complicated, or just ignored. Manual reporting eats up hours. People pull numbers from different places, and suddenly your “real-time” dashboard is a week old. Automation fixes that. You get:
- Live numbers—not stale Monday-morning recaps.
- Less busywork for your team.
- One source of truth—no more fighting over which spreadsheet is “right.”
- More time to coach, sell, and actually manage.
But don’t expect dashboards to fix your sales process magically. They’re a window, not a steering wheel. You still have to act on what you see.
Step 1: Get your sales data ready
Before you even log into Grow, take a look at where your sales data lives. If your data is a mess, your dashboard will be, too.
Ask yourself: - Do you use a CRM (like Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive)? - Are deals tracked in Google Sheets, Excel, or something else? - Are the fields and deal stages consistent?
Pro tip: Dashboards are only as good as your data hygiene. If reps skip fields or fudge numbers, your dashboard will lie to you.
What works:
CRMs with clearly defined fields and regular sales updates work best. Google Sheets can work if everyone is disciplined.
What doesn’t:
Random note-taking, scattered spreadsheets, or “we’ll fix the data later.” Garbage in, garbage out.
Step 2: Connect Grow to your data sources
Grow plays nice with a lot of platforms, but the setup can be confusing if you’ve never done it.
- Log into Grow. If you’re new, you’ll need a Grow account (and the right permissions).
- Go to “Connections” in the left sidebar.
- Find your data source. Major CRMs, Google Sheets, Excel, SQL databases—they’re all here. Search or scroll.
- Authenticate. This usually means logging in to your CRM or granting access. Follow the prompts.
Heads up: Some integrations (especially older, custom, or less common CRMs) might need API keys or extra setup. If you’re stuck, Grow’s help docs are decent, but their live chat is hit or miss. Don’t be afraid to loop in your IT person if things get weird.
What works:
Direct API connections (like Salesforce, HubSpot) are smoothest. Google Sheets works well for small teams.
What doesn’t:
Uploading CSV files. You lose the “real-time” part when you have to re-upload every time.
Step 3: Build your first dashboard
Now for the fun part. Don’t try to build the “ultimate” dashboard right away. Start with one or two core metrics, then layer on more as you go.
1. Create a new dashboard
- Click “Dashboards” > “Create Dashboard.”
- Give it a clear name, like “Sales Team Overview” or “Q2 Pipeline.”
2. Add metrics (widgets)
- Click “Add Metric.”
- Pick your connected data source.
- Choose what number you want to show: Closed deals, pipeline value, new leads, conversion rate, whatever matters most.
Pro tip: Less is more. People tune out dashboards cluttered with vanity metrics or stuff they can’t control.
3. Set up filters and grouping
- Filter to show this quarter, your team, or specific deal stages.
- Group by rep, region, or product—whatever helps you spot trends.
4. Choose the right visual
- Bar and line charts are easy to read at a glance.
- Gauges and leaderboards are good for seeing who’s ahead (or behind).
- Avoid pie charts unless you want to annoy people.
5. Repeat for each key metric
- Example: “Deals Closed This Month,” “Pipeline by Rep,” “Win Rate,” etc.
Step 4: Automate data refresh
Automation is the whole point—otherwise, you’re back to updating by hand.
- Set refresh intervals. In each metric, set how often Grow should pull new data. For most sales teams, every 15-60 minutes is plenty. More frequent updates can slow things down or hit API limits.
- Schedule email or Slack reports. Let Grow send daily/weekly digests to your team, so they don’t have to check the dashboard constantly.
Watch out: If your data source is slow (especially big spreadsheets or databases), too-frequent refreshes can bog things down or even break the connection.
Step 5: Share your dashboard
Now you want your team to actually use this thing—not just you.
- Invite users. In Grow, add your team members with view or edit permissions.
- Set up a TV/viewing screen. Most modern offices have a spare monitor. Put the dashboard up where people can see it.
- Mobile access. Grow dashboards work on phones, but they’re not perfect. Test before rolling out to field reps.
What works:
Screens everyone can see, quick daily standups around the dashboard, or automatic email digests.
What doesn’t:
Burying the dashboard in a bookmarks folder. If it’s not visible, it gets ignored.
Step 6: Iterate and improve (don’t overthink it)
Once the basics are live, ask your team what’s actually useful. Drop metrics nobody looks at. Add what people keep asking for. Dashboards should evolve as your team does—not stay frozen in time.
- Review usage. Are people looking at the dashboard? Do they act on what they see?
- Tweak visuals or groupings to make trends (or problems) obvious.
- Update when your sales process changes. New products, deal stages, or targets? Update the dashboard, too.
Pro tip: Don’t chase perfection. “Good enough” and live beats “perfect” and never shipped.
What to skip (seriously)
There’s a lot of noise in dashboard software. Here’s what to ignore:
- Dozens of “vanity metrics.” If a number never changes how you work, cut it.
- Overly complicated charts. If it takes more than five seconds to explain, it’s too much.
- Manual data uploads. You’ll stop doing them after a month.
- Features you don’t need yet. Custom scripts, deep data modeling, or pixel-perfect design—save that for later.
Final thoughts: Keep it simple, stay honest
Automated dashboards are supposed to make your life easier, not add another layer of stress or confusion. Start simple. Get the basics working. Show your team where they stand in real time, so you can focus on coaching and selling—not spreadsheet wrangling.
Remember: The best dashboard is the one your team actually uses. If something isn’t working, change it. If you outgrow your setup, tweak and improve. Don’t wait for “perfect”—just get started and adjust as you go.