Remote sales is a different animal. You can't just walk over and check in on your team or glance at a whiteboard. If you want to know who's really moving the needle (or who's just moving their mouse), you need a dashboard that makes sense for the way remote selling actually works. This guide is for sales managers and ops folks who want practical steps—not fluff—on setting up performance dashboards in Ambition that help remote teams focus and win.
Why Dashboards Matter for Remote Sales Teams
Dashboards aren't magic. But when you’re running a remote team, they beat chasing people for updates or living in spreadsheets. The right dashboard:
- Shows everyone the same numbers, in real time
- Cuts through “activity theater” and focuses on what matters
- Gives reps a fair shot at seeing where they stand
- Helps you coach with facts, not gut feelings
Bad dashboards just create noise or stress. Good ones keep people honest and motivated—without you constantly nudging them.
Step 1: Get Clear on What You Actually Want to Track
Before you touch a tool, nail down what matters for your team. Don’t just track what’s easy to measure (calls, emails, meetings). Track what actually drives revenue.
Ask yourself:
- What leading indicators predict success? (e.g., discovery calls, demos, proposals sent)
- What lagging indicators matter most? (e.g., closed deals, revenue booked)
- What do reps control daily, and what’s just noise?
Pro tips:
- Talk to your team—what do they think matters? Sometimes the ground truth is different from what you see in the CRM.
- Ignore “vanity metrics” (like total dials) unless you know for a fact they matter.
Keep it simple: Three to five key metrics is plenty to start. You can always add more later.
Step 2: Connect Ambition to Your Data Sources
Ambition isn’t a CRM—it’s a dashboard and coaching layer. You’ll need to connect it to where your data lives. Most teams pull from Salesforce, HubSpot, or Outreach, but CSV uploads are an option if you’re old school.
How to do it:
- Admin access: Make sure you or someone on your team has admin rights in Ambition and your CRM.
- Check integrations: In Ambition, go to “Integrations” and follow the prompts for your CRM. You’ll usually need an API key or OAuth login.
- Map fields: Double-check that the fields you care about (like “Meetings Booked” or “Revenue Closed”) are actually being pulled in. This can get messy, especially if your CRM data is messy.
- Test it: Pull in some sample data and make sure it looks right. If your data’s a mess, fix it now—bad data = bad dashboard.
What to watch out for:
- If your CRM is full of junk data or fields nobody updates, your dashboard will be garbage-in, garbage-out.
- Some integrations limit which fields you can sync; don’t assume everything will just work.
Step 3: Design Your Dashboard Layout
It’s tempting to throw every metric on the screen, but less is more. Think: If I could only see three things about my team today, what would they be?
Tips for layout:
- Top-level summary: Start with team-wide numbers (e.g., total pipeline created this week).
- Leaderboard: Show rep-level breakdowns for your key metric (e.g., meetings set, deals closed).
- Trends: Add a simple chart for week-over-week or month-over-month progress.
- Keep it visual: Ambition lets you use bar charts, gauges, and leaderboards. Pick what’s easy to read at a glance.
What to skip:
- Don’t show email opens or clicks unless you know they drive results. They usually don’t.
- Don’t add a metric just because it’s in the CRM. If it’s not useful, leave it out.
Step 4: Set Up Goals, Targets, and Thresholds
Dashboards are nice, but targets are what get people moving. In Ambition, you can set weekly, monthly, or quarterly goals for teams or individuals.
How to set them up:
- Go to “Goals” or “Targets” in the Ambition admin area.
- Set realistic, challenging targets for each metric—ideally based on past data, not wishful thinking.
- Assign targets to teams or individuals. For remote teams, it’s smart to have both team-wide and individual goals.
- Set up alerts or notifications for when people hit (or miss) targets. Don’t overdo it—nobody wants 20 Slack pings a day.
Honest take: Don’t set targets in a vacuum. Ask your team for input, look at last quarter’s numbers, and adjust as you go. If everyone always hits 100% or always misses, your targets are wrong.
Step 5: Make the Dashboard Visible and Useful
If nobody looks at the dashboard, it’s just digital wallpaper. For remote teams, visibility means everything.
How to keep eyes on it:
- Pin the dashboard: Set it as a homepage tab, or link it in your team’s Slack/Teams channel.
- Share updates: Use Ambition’s automated reports to push daily or weekly summaries to email or chat.
- Show it in meetings: Start your weekly sales call with a quick look at the dashboard—no hiding from the numbers.
- Let reps filter: Give reps a way to see just their own numbers, so it’s not just a leaderboard for the top dog.
What not to do:
- Don’t shame people in public. Celebrate wins, but coach privately on misses.
- Don’t make the dashboard your only source of truth. Use it to start conversations, not end them.
Step 6: Layer On Coaching and Gamification (If It Fits)
Ambition is built for more than dashboards—it does coaching, contests, and “TVs” (digital leaderboards). Use these features if they help, but don’t force-fit them.
Coaching:
- Set up regular 1:1s using Ambition’s coaching features.
- Use the dashboard to ground your feedback in real data.
- Don’t just focus on who’s behind—spot who’s improving, too.
Gamification:
- Try short contests with clear rules (e.g., most meetings booked this week).
- Keep prizes simple. Recognition usually works better than gift cards.
- Don’t pit your entire team against one superstar—set up brackets, tiers, or team competitions to keep things fair.
Reality check: Not every team loves gamification. If it feels forced, skip it. If it causes more stress than fun, pull back.
Step 7: Review, Refine, and Don’t Overthink It
The first dashboard you build won’t be perfect. That’s fine. The key is to check in every couple weeks:
- Are people looking at it?
- Do the numbers look right?
- Are you getting “so what?” questions? If so, your metrics might not matter.
Quick tweaks:
- Remove dead metrics nobody cares about.
- Add a new KPI if it proves to be predictive.
- Fix broken data—fast.
Don’t be afraid to kill features nobody uses. The flashiest dashboards aren’t always the most useful.
What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Ignore
What works:
- Fewer, better metrics beat a laundry list every time.
- Clear, visible targets keep remote teams aligned.
- Regularly talking about the numbers (in 1:1s or team calls) makes the dashboard “real.”
What doesn’t:
- Tracking busywork. Calls for the sake of calls don’t drive deals.
- Over-gamifying. Contests can backfire if they feel cheesy or unfair.
- Ignoring data hygiene. If your CRM is a mess, fix that first.
Ignore:
- Hype about “AI-powered insights” unless it’s actually helping you coach or sell.
- Fancy widgets you don’t understand or use.
Keep It Simple. Iterate as You Go.
Dashboards aren’t set-and-forget. The best ones start simple and get better over time. Don’t try to build the perfect system from day one. Get the basics right, make it visible, and tweak what matters.
Remember: The goal isn’t to impress anyone with a fancy UI. It’s to help your remote sales team know where they stand, focus on what works, and win more often—with less nagging from you.