Writing a Sales Report

Most sales teams will hold weekly sales meetings, where reports are discussed, and sales achieved are compared to sales targets. Usually problems will be discussed, action taken where targets are not met, and success highlighted. Each sales representative will usually have to submit a weekly report to their manager.


kThere are many online sales reporting solutions available on the internet, and also lots of free downloadable templates. Search the internet for one that suits your organisation, or develop or adapt your own standardised report.

Let’s think about what you need to include so you know what you are searching for. Don’t have your people filling in reports that don’t tell you what you need to know. Reconfigure them to show exactly what you need, and only that. Time is money, so reporting should be quick and effective. Only you can define what your report needs to contain, because a good sales report clearly shows what you, the management, need to be able to see.

You probably want to know which products are performing well or badly. Why?
Which personnel are performing well or badly? How are you doing against targets? Is there a problem that needs to be addressed? Why are targets being missed – is it the target or the performance that is the problem.

The report is not an end in itself but a means to the end, which is monitoring and improving performance. You want to be able to see any trends emerging, and take action. Maybe there is some competitor activity that is an obstacle to success? Or a weak sales person, who needs some training to help them? Your objective is to design the report to flag up any issues.
Image (1) or sales report doc

Information to include on your report

    • A sales report will often be referred back to the following year for comparison, so make sure to date it and note the products, categories, department, and sales territory as befits your organisation.
    • List the numbers for the week (or period) and perhaps the cumulative period to date, both shown against target. It is useful to insert rows that show the percentage performance against target
    • Product or salesperson

sales-report-image

  • Price promotion in effect this week
  • Consider whether you want to report units, cash, or both
  • You might find it useful to compare this to last year’s performance for the same period
  • Extract the weeks highlight, significant figures or best performance, quantified against target e.g. 15 % above target, 10% below target
  • Report any other relevant facts or statistics, and pertinent information such as national holidays falling in the period, weather influences, staff sickness
  • Comment on and explain any abnormalities or anomalies
  • Comment on and explain any success or shortfall

These last two points will form a basis for any discussion at the sales meeting They will also be useful for a quick reminder when the figures are reviewed the following year as comparators for the current year’s figures.