Whether you’re running a B2B sales team or just trying to figure out if your pipeline is actually working, you need data you can trust and reports you can act on. Most analytics tools promise the world, but end up giving you charts you don’t need and numbers you don’t trust. If you’re using Vinna, this guide will show you how to actually track and report on what matters—without wasting your time.
This is for sales managers, ops folks, or anyone tired of dashboards that look good but don’t help you make decisions.
1. Set Up Your Sales Data in Vinna
First things first: your reports are only as good as your data. If your deals, contacts, and activities are a mess, nothing else matters.
What you need: - All your deals/opportunities in Vinna, with clear owners and stages. - Accurate info on companies, contacts, and deal values. - Sales activity tracked—calls, emails, meetings, whatever drives your deals.
How to make sure your setup isn’t garbage: - Map your sales process to Vinna’s stages. If you use “Qualified,” “Proposal,” and “Closed Won,” make sure those are there. - Ditch duplicate or outdated deal stages. The simpler, the better. - Make sales reps actually update their deals. No tool can fix a culture of “I’ll update it later.”
Pro tip:
Before you even touch reports, pull up a random deal in Vinna. If basic info is missing or wrong, fix your process first. Garbage in, garbage out.
2. Decide What You Actually Need to Track
Not every metric is worth your time. The best sales teams track a handful of things well, not 20 things badly.
The essentials: - Pipeline value: Total value of open opportunities. - Win rates: Percent of deals that close. - Sales cycle length: How long it takes to close a deal. - Average deal size: Self-explanatory, but often ignored. - Activity metrics: Calls, emails, meetings—if these drive your sales.
What to skip (unless you have a reason): - Vanity metrics—number of leads, clicks, or “engagement” with no connection to revenue. - Overly granular activity tracking. If your team spends more time logging than selling, you’re doing it wrong.
Be honest:
Ask yourself, “Will I change anything based on this number?” If not, don’t track it.
3. Build Your Dashboards in Vinna
Now that you know what matters, build dashboards that actually help you manage, not just impress your boss.
How to do it:
- Go to Vinna’s Analytics or Reporting section.
- Pick or create a dashboard. Don’t get lost in the templates—start simple.
- Add widgets for your key metrics:
- Pipeline by stage
- Win/loss rates over time
- Average sales cycle
- Leaderboards (if you want to see rep performance)
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Activity tracking
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Customize filters—by time, team, or product line.
- Save and share with your team.
Pro tips: - Limit your dashboard to 5-7 widgets. If it takes more than a minute to scan, it’s too busy. - Name your dashboards clearly. “Q2 Pipeline” is better than “Bob’s Dashboard 3.”
What doesn’t work:
Don’t try to cram every possible metric into one view. You’ll end up ignoring most of it. One dashboard for the exec team, one for sales managers, tops.
4. Set Up Automated Reports (and Actually Use Them)
It’s easy to set up reports that nobody reads. The goal is to get the right numbers to the right people, at the right time.
How to set up reports in Vinna: - Pick the dashboard or report view you want to send. - Use Vinna’s “Schedule Report” feature (usually a button or menu option). - Choose who gets it, how often (weekly, monthly, etc.), and in what format (email, PDF, whatever).
Tips for getting value: - Keep reports short and focused—don’t send a 20-page PDF. - Customize for each audience: execs want topline numbers, managers may want more detail. - If nobody mentions the report in your next sales meeting, it’s probably not useful.
What to ignore:
Don’t set up daily reports unless your sales cycle is days long. For most B2B teams, weekly or monthly is plenty.
5. Use Your Data to Run Better Sales Meetings
Dashboards and reports are pointless if you don’t use them to drive action.
How to use Vinna analytics in your meetings: - Open your dashboard at the start. Don’t let the meeting drift into random anecdotes and “gut feelings.” - Focus on exceptions and trends. Which deals are stuck? Who’s crushing it? Where are we losing? - Ask, “What are we going to do differently based on this?” If the answer is “nothing,” you’re just admiring the numbers.
Pro tips: - Look for patterns in lost deals. If you’re losing the same way every time, fix the root cause instead of just blaming “bad leads.” - Celebrate wins, but don’t ignore slow-moving deals. Use the data to nudge, not just punish.
6. Audit and Tweak—Don’t Set and Forget
The reality: sales processes change, teams change, products change. Your analytics setup should keep up.
How to keep your reporting useful: - Every quarter, ask: Are we tracking the right things? Is anything just noise? - Drop reports nobody reads. Add new ones if they help answer real questions. - Clean up your data regularly—merge duplicates, fix typos, archive dead deals.
What to ignore:
Don’t chase shiny new metrics just because Vinna (or anyone else) adds them. Stick to what helps you make decisions.
Final Thoughts: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
Don’t let analytics become a second job. The best B2B sales teams use tools like Vinna to get just enough insight to act, not to drown in numbers. Start with the basics, get your team in the habit of using real data, and tweak as you go. You’ll spend less time arguing about whose spreadsheet is right—and more time actually closing deals.