So you want to track your go-to-market (GTM) metrics in one place, without wrestling a pile of spreadsheets or wading through clunky BI tools. You’ve heard Beautiful makes this easy. This guide is for you: marketers, sales ops, or anyone tired of copy-pasting numbers to keep leadership in the loop.
I’ll walk you through setting up a custom dashboard in Beautiful, pulling in GTM data that actually matters, and avoiding the usual dashboard traps. No fluff, just what works (and what to skip).
Why Custom Dashboards Matter (and When to Skip Them)
Let’s be real: Not every company needs a custom dashboard. If you’re pre-product-market-fit or only have a couple of sales, your time is probably better spent talking to customers.
But if you’re at the point where: - You’re reporting weekly/monthly numbers to execs or the board, - Multiple people need to see the same metrics, - Or you’re tired of “where’s that number again?” Slack messages,
…it’s time to build a dashboard.
What Beautiful does well:
- Fast setup, no code required.
- Connects to spreadsheets, CRMs, databases, even Notion.
- Good for sharing live dashboards with the team (no more screenshotting charts).
What it doesn’t:
- Not a full-blown analytics engine.
- Doesn’t magically fix messy data.
- If your team hates dashboards, this won’t change their mind.
Step 1: Decide What Actually Matters
Before you touch any software, write down the 3–5 GTM metrics you really care about. Don’t get sucked into tracking everything. Here are the classics:
- Pipeline: New deals created, pipeline value, pipeline by stage.
- Revenue: Closed-won, MRR/ARR, average deal size.
- Lead flow: Inbound/demo requests, outbound touches, conversion rates.
- Sales activity: Calls, emails, meetings set.
Pro tip: If you’re tracking more than a dozen metrics, you’re probably tracking too much. Start simple—lead sources, pipeline, revenue. Add more later if people actually ask for it.
Step 2: Get Your Data Ready
Beautiful can connect to a bunch of sources: Google Sheets, Salesforce, HubSpot, Postgres, Notion, and more. The catch? Garbage in, garbage out.
What to do: - Make sure your data source is up to date and not full of duplicates or blank rows. - If you’re using spreadsheets, keep your raw data and your “dashboard data” in separate tabs. - Use clear column names: “Deal Value” is better than “Column H”.
Things that trip people up: - Pulling data from multiple places with different definitions (“What counts as a lead?”). - Relying on manual spreadsheet updates—someone will forget. - Not cleaning up weird date formats or missing values.
If your data’s a mess, take a week to fix it first. No dashboard can save you from bad inputs.
Step 3: Connect Your Data Source to Beautiful
Now, the easy part. Here’s how to hook up your data:
- Sign up/log in to Beautiful.
- Click “New Dashboard” or “Create Dashboard.”
- Choose your data source.
- For Google Sheets: Authenticate and pick the right file/tab.
- For Salesforce/HubSpot: You’ll need to authorize the connection.
- For databases: Paste in the connection string (get this from IT if you don’t know it).
Pro tips: - If you’re nervous about permissions, start with a test spreadsheet. - Only pull in the minimum data you need. No one cares about every deal ever.
What to ignore:
Don’t bother with “auto-sync every 5 minutes” unless your data actually changes that often. For most teams, daily or weekly updates are plenty.
Step 4: Build Your Dashboard (No Design Degree Needed)
Here’s where most people overthink it. Just start with one or two charts or tables.
1. Choose Your Visuals
- Bar/column charts: Good for pipeline by stage, leads by source.
- Line charts: Track changes over time (revenue, pipeline, conversion rates).
- Tables: For lists of deals, leads, or activities.
- Single value/KPI: For big numbers like “Total Revenue This Month.”
Keep it simple:
If you need a legend to explain the chart, it’s probably too complicated.
2. Add Widgets
In Beautiful, you drag and drop widgets (charts, tables, metrics) onto the dashboard. For each widget:
- Pick the data source and columns.
- Set filters (e.g., “only this month” or “sales region = North America”).
- Name it something obvious (“Pipeline by Stage Q2”).
3. Arrange and Resize
- Put the most important numbers at the top left.
- Group related metrics together.
- Leave white space—don’t cram.
Things to skip:
- Pie charts. They’re almost always confusing.
- Fancy backgrounds or logos. They don’t help anyone.
Step 5: Share and Automate
No point in building a dashboard if nobody looks at it.
- Share a link: Beautiful lets you invite teammates or create shared links. Use view-only for execs.
- Set up email digests (if you want): Some teams like a Monday morning summary in their inbox. Only do this if people actually read them.
- Embed in Slack or Notion: If your team lives there, drop the dashboard where they’ll see it.
What not to do:
Skip the PDF exports and attachments. They’re out of date the second you send them.
Step 6: Maintain (But Don’t Babysit)
Dashboards aren’t “set and forget.” They’re also not a second job.
- Check once a week that the data’s updating.
- Remove widgets people aren’t using.
- Update filters or sources if your process changes (e.g., a new sales stage).
If you’re getting requests for random new charts, ask: “Who will look at this, and what will they do with it?” If there’s no clear answer, skip it.
What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Ignore
What works: - Keeping dashboards dead simple. - Making metrics actionable (“What should we do if this is red?”). - Using live links instead of static reports.
What doesn’t: - Tracking too many metrics. - Relying on manual data updates. - Letting dashboards get out of sync with reality (old definitions, dead metrics).
What to ignore: - “Best practice” dashboards that don’t fit your business. - Cosmetic tweaks that don’t help people make decisions.
Wrapping Up: Start Simple, Iterate Fast
Don’t stress about getting your dashboard perfect on day one. The best dashboards are living documents—add what people need, kill what they don’t, and keep the main thing the main thing.
If all you do is make it easier to see your top 3 GTM numbers in one place, you’re already ahead of most teams. Keep it simple, keep it honest, and let the dashboard work for you—not the other way around.