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The Competitive Advantage

tag: sales reports

November 17, 2025

Stop Managing Sales Backwards: Lead with Your Pipeline, Not Your Bids

What reports do you use to manage your firm’s sales effort… Year-to-date sales? Sales by service line? Sales by industry? If you had to pick just one report by which to manage your sales efforts, what would it be? What about to manage your own sales efforts?

In both cases, the answer is the same – the ‘sales pipeline report.’ Created and used properly, it’s the one tool that can keep your sales efforts on track, ensure that nothing falls through the cracks, tells you what next steps are with every sales prospect and provides senior management with nearly everything they need to know.

May 11, 2021

A Sales Pipeline is NOT Just About RFPs

Nearly every firm we speak with says they’re using a sales pipeline as part of their business development process. But they’re really not.

Too many firms think that a sales pipeline is only about what’s at the end of the pipeline (or ‘bottom of the funnel,’ depending on your hardware preference). These firms are concerned only with ‘proposals out in the marketplace’ and the status of those opportunities. And while RFPs are certainly important, focusing on them is a little nearsighted. RFPs are more about the now. What about the future?

April 2, 2019

You Can’t Fully Understand Your Business Without These 3 Sales Reports

All owners and managers look at their sales reports each month. Of course. And the most common top-line measurements are: Revenue this month, Revenue year-to-date (YTD) and Revenue YTD vs. Last YTD. All important information.

But, if my conversations with clients – a lot of them – are any indication, the sales analysis, too often, stops there. And it shouldn’t. There are a few other sales reports – easy to set-up in your accounting software – that will give you deeper insight into what’s really happening in your firm. And once you have a deeper understanding of your business, the more effectively you can plan as you move forward.