If you’re juggling leads, deals, or accounts and have to report on progress, you need a clear way to track your sales pipeline. And let’s be honest: half the dashboards you’ve tried are either a mess of vanity metrics, or so complicated you’d rather just stick with your spreadsheet. This guide is for sales managers, revenue ops folks, and anyone tired of duct-taping together their sales data. Here’s how to actually set up a pipeline dashboard in Pandamatch that works—without the fluff.
1. Get Your Sales Data in Order (Don’t Skip This)
Before you build anything, you need clean, reliable data. Sounds boring, but if your data’s a mess, your dashboard will be too—just with fancier colors.
Checklist: - List your pipeline stages: E.g. Lead, Qualified, Demo, Proposal, Won, Lost. Keep it simple. - Make sure each deal or lead is tagged with a stage (and update these as things move). - Double-check fields: Owner, deal value, close date, company, etc. If you’re missing these, you’ll regret it later. - Choose a source of truth: Are you pulling data from your CRM, a spreadsheet, or somewhere else? Stick to one.
Pro tip: If your team is spotty about updating deal stages, no dashboard will fix that. Start there.
2. Connect Pandamatch to Your Data
Pandamatch isn’t magic—it needs to know where your data lives.
Options: - CRM integration: Most people will pull from Salesforce, HubSpot, or similar. Pandamatch has built-in connectors for these. You’ll need API access. - CSV upload: If you’re old-school or your CRM is...let’s say “quirky,” you can upload a spreadsheet. - Database connection: For the SQL crowd, Pandamatch can connect directly to your database.
How to set up: 1. Open Pandamatch and head to the “Data Sources” section. 2. Pick your source (CRM, CSV, or database). 3. Follow the prompts to authenticate and select the right tables or fields. 4. Run a test import—check for missing or weird data (better to spot it now).
What to ignore: Don’t bother connecting every field “just in case.” Extra noise makes building charts a pain.
3. Map Out Your Pipeline Stages in Pandamatch
Here’s where you tell Pandamatch what your pipeline actually looks like, so it doesn’t lump everything into one pile.
Steps: 1. In the dashboard builder, choose “Add Pipeline.” 2. Name your pipeline (e.g. “New Business Pipeline”). 3. Define each stage—make sure these match what’s in your CRM or source data. 4. Assign the right field in your data as the “Stage.” This is critical. If you mess it up, your charts will be nonsense.
Honest take: If your pipeline has 12 stages, you’re overcomplicating things. Four to seven is plenty for most teams.
4. Build the Core Pipeline Visualizations
Now, the fun part: making the actual dashboard. Skip the vanity charts—focus on what you’ll use.
Must-Have Visuals
- Pipeline Funnel: Shows how many deals are at each stage.
- Stage Conversion Rate: What percent move from one stage to the next.
- Deal Value by Stage: Where’s your money sitting?
- Aging Report: How long deals stay in each stage (helps you spot stuck deals).
How to add these in Pandamatch: 1. In the dashboard editor, hit “Add Chart.” 2. Pick the chart type (funnel, bar, table, etc.). 3. Select your pipeline data source. 4. Drag in the fields: stage, value, age, owner, etc. 5. Tweak the filters (e.g. show only active deals, or deals for a certain rep).
Pro tip: Ignore “total activities logged” and other busywork metrics. They rarely tell you anything useful about pipeline health.
5. Filter and Slice the Data (But Don’t Overdo It)
It’s tempting to add filters for everything—owner, region, product line, month, flavor of coffee. Resist. Start simple.
Recommended filters: - Date range (e.g. this quarter, this month) - Deal owner or team - Stage
How to: - Use Pandamatch’s filter panel to set up dropdowns or quick-selects. - Save common views for fast access (like “My Pipeline” or “Stuck Deals”).
What to ignore: Don’t build a separate dashboard for every rep or region unless you have a very big team. Otherwise, it’s just more stuff to maintain.
6. Share and Automate (So People Actually Use It)
A dashboard no one looks at is just a pretty screen saver.
Tips: - Set up scheduled emails or Slack alerts for key metrics (“Here’s this week’s pipeline summary”). - Give people access—but keep editing rights limited, or things will get messy fast. - Embed dashboard links in your CRM, wiki, or wherever your team hangs out.
Pro tip: If you’re presenting in meetings, pull up the live dashboard—not screenshots. That way, you’re working off the latest data, not last week’s best guess.
7. Watch for Common Pitfalls
Even with the best tools, dashboards go sideways. Here’s what trips people up:
- Dirty data: Outdated stages, missing values, or duplicate deals ruin trust.
- Overcomplication: More charts ≠ more insights. If you’re not using a chart, delete it.
- “Set and forget”: Pipelines change. Review your dashboard every quarter or so.
- Vanity metrics: Don’t track things just because you can. Focus on real bottlenecks and potential revenue.
And if execs want a custom chart for every hypothetical, push back. More dashboards don’t close more deals.
8. Iterate Based on What You Actually Use
After a few weeks, look at which charts you check daily—and which you ignore. Cut the dead weight. Add only what your team asks for, not what a consultant says you “should” have.
Simple questions to guide you: - Where are deals getting stuck? - Which reps or channels are winning most? - Are we on pace to hit revenue goals?
If your dashboard doesn’t answer these, tweak it.
Summary: Keep It Simple, Keep It Useful
Tracking your sales pipeline in Pandamatch is about clarity, not complexity. Get your data right, build a few core charts, and actually use them. Don’t let dashboard sprawl eat your time. The best dashboards are the ones your team checks without being nagged—so start basic, watch what works, and improve from there. The rest is just window dressing.