An image in a sea of data is like a breath of fresh air. This is because there is a limit to how much information the human brain can process before it becomes overwhelmed when manual work is done. Sales is one of those fields that is bursting at the seams with information. Unfortunately, the sales reporting systems for many organizations are afflicted by time-consuming issues that reduce the accuracy and dull the insights of their reports, reducing their value. This challenge creates a reporting process that is slowed down and can even cause data loss along the way.
With that said, there is nothing more frustrating than having to invest an excessive amount of time and effort into more straightforward activities. Trying to keep track of specific information manually is a fruitless endeavor due to the amount of time it requires. The days of keeping records with a pen and paper are long gone. Now you require something that is livelier and more effective. In this article, we are going to show you some scenarios on the common problem faced by businesses in monitoring their sales performance and how it can be solved afterwards.
Case Study 1: Track Salesperson Sales
Case Study 2: Best Selling Products Or Brands
Case Study 3: Finding Gross Profit
Case Study 1: Track Salesperson Sales
Let’s take a look at the first scenario. Kevin is a store manager who is overseeing over 11 employees in his outlet. His concerns when managing his team includes:
- Monitor sales for each employee
- Analyze sales data brought by each employee
- Access sales method effectiveness for each employee
- Realtime salesperson tracking
- KPI tracking and monitoring across all business units
Coupled with overseeing and managing his employees, he also has to work on his own tasks as well. Since there is no system being implemented in his store, all of them have to key in, process and track the data manually. This has caused a massive headache to him and also the team. So the question now is, how can he track sales performance for each one of his employees quickly but constructively? His best bet to avoid all of these issues in the long run is:
- Make his own customized dashboards
- Identify area where can be improved
- Automate sales reporting and dashboard (better performance tracking)
- Streamline the process of creating and managing customers’ needs
To implement all these solutions, having a sales performance dashboard is the ultimate answer. For retailers, to get the most out of your sales team, you need to keep track of their performance and data. With this dashboard, each member of your sales team is tracked in real time, and you can see where they are in relation to their sales goals, as well as when they are performing better or worse by comparing data from previous months or year to the current ones for better forecasting of products. Keeping tabs on your sales staff is as simple as using these dashboards; the system takes care of the rest. Moreover, a manager can also rapidly notice patterns and keep tabs on reports because it automatically tracks and updates the information they deem important. In addition, a mobile app is also provided for each of the sales staff that are able to see their up to date performances, targets or incentives can also be shown in the app to keep them motivated and hit the KPI. For better push, the system is able to automatically send an email reminder to staff in order to prompt them how much time they have left and how much more to achieve to hit that target. Convenience at its finest.
Case Study 2: Best Selling Products Or Brands
Kelly is the business owner of a retail shop which sells various brands of cosmetics and skincare products. Her current outlet is located in Kuala Lumpur. Since her business is flourishing, she is planning to launch a second outlet somewhere in Melaka. Expanding one’s business is no easy matter so she is troubled with all these questions inside her head:
How can my second outlet execute my brand message and must do so at every consumer touchpoint?
How can I identify which brands are doing well and can help me boost inventory productivity? Alternatively, which are underperforming and why?
Is my stock replenishment cycle time optimized with a precise demand forecast?
Her concerns are absolutely understandable because it’s rough out there for businesses in the retail industry. To answer her questions, the sales performance dashboard will do the trick as well. It allows retailers and SMEs to see how each product or brand contributes to their overall revenue goals. In addition, it enables you to identify which products are doing well and which are struggling, as well as which products may be affected by seasonal trends. You can use this information to better plan your sales and determine how to meet the quotas.
Furthermore, you'll be able to see trends across all of your locations in terms of sales and margins, as well as regulations, inventory, and other factors. Besides, if you ever wondered which product is the best to be promoted during certain seasons at your different outlets, we have the answer for you. Definitely it will not be easy to determine which one since you are dealing with tons of products and brands, which is why this dashboard can help you to take it a step further. By comparing data from previous sales records, the dashboard's ability is to help identify the most popular products or brands and subsequently aid with inventory management as well. It's possible to see how inventory changes over time, what the future demand for your products will look like, when to reorder and when to cut back on inventory with this dashboard. It's going to be a huge help for businesses.
Case Study 3: Finding Gross Profit
In the last scenario, Cindy is a branch manager of a telecommunication business. She wants to find out the gross profit for different types of product categories. But the thing is, her company relies too much on traditional spreadsheets. If they continue to use spreadsheet reporting, she believes she will not be able to get an accurate measure of profit mainly because it can take a while to be completed. She is stressed out because of the frequent errors in spreadsheets. An internet search revealed to her that a growing number of high-profile companies have made catastrophic blunders in their financial performance due to a misplaced number or an entry made in the wrong cell.
For many businesses, your gross profit margin ratio may appear to be fine on a spreadsheet. However, when you look at this ratio through the lens of an enterprise business intelligence solution, you may gain a new perspective. To show consistency, it is important to use a sales performance dashboard to display finance BI visualizations. Over time, gross margins are expected to fluctuate dramatically. When there are significant surges in either direction, you'll know the reason thanks to the dashboard. Now let’s take a look at this comparison; with manual work, it will probably take around 2 to 3 days to complete these reports alongside 2 to 3 employees. But with the help of the system, it can be done with just a few clicks and doesn’t even require much manpower to get it done since every data has been captured from the POS system into the dashboard. Consequently, this dashboard makes the numbers spring to fruition and allow you to easily analyze your financial health by:
- Envisioning the data can help your brain process it faster.
- Provide a simple means of identifying commonalities and differences
- Reveal things you'd otherwise miss if you only looked at the numbers in isolation.
- Deliver useful data to help you run your business.
As a result, if you don't have a well-thought-out strategy, it's destructive to work in retail today. Without proper methods and technologies, fortunes can be earned and destroyed with an equal speed. In order to stay afloat and thriving, you'll need to have access to the most basic business intelligence, as well as timely reports and indicators that allow for quick decisions, ensuring agility in tactical execution of day-to-day operations, and providing insight into which products the market and preferences of customers.
Already started considering using a Sales Performance dashboard in your own business? What if you don't know where to begin, or who to ask for help? If that is the case, don't worry because we're here to help! Interested? Check out our solutions to learn more about how this sales performance dashboard can benefit your business today!