Data & Reporting, where to start?

Revenue Operations is all about data. Sure, it does involve processes and systems, but the first is created to have the highest quality data (usually input by humans, like sales reps) with minimum friction and the second is implemented to optimize the first, which in many cases means having data flowing automatically and consistently from different platforms to the CRM. However, most CRM's have a pretty limited out of the box reports and dashboards structures, which is why many companies have a data visualization tool that allows them to manipulate, clean and visualize the data in different ways. But these tools are expensive and complex, requiring specific professionals - like data analysts, engineers and scientists - to manage.

That's where spreadsheets come into play. Working of of Google Sheets or Excel can also be limited and have it's own managing costs (which are still much cheaper than managing a data visualization software), however, it is still the cheapest, leanest and fastest way for SMBs and early stage startups to manipulate data from the CRM. Technology has improved this market a lot in the last years, making it possible to accomplish a bulk of different things only with GSheets. Add-ons, scripts, automations, integrations... there are a ton of different solutions that cover pretty much all the main use cases that SMB companies face.

Sure, as said before, spreadsheets also have its own limitations. We have to worry about the amount of data being imported, the formulas breaking, the report columns that are being pulled... but still it is the best place to start. At the end of the day, the data is what really matters. Yes, it's not going to be displayed in a nice screen with an array of different, pretty and colorful charts (even though that's also possible to do in a spreadsheet), but the information needed is there.

Of course data visualization tools have their own value, specially for bigger companies with larger amounts of data. And here are a few concepts to keep in mind to have the best of both worlds:

• Know your metrics

Structuring the reports with the columns that are most used is already a much bigger step than it looks and it may take a while to get it really sorted out. Once there is a clear understanding of the main metrics to be analyzed, it's just a matter of structuring the report with the right columns and the sheet with the right formulas. The data that is analyzed is often the same anyways. Once the 1st template is built, customize from there as needed. Having different tabs for each main metric/analysis also helps. For example, for most SMB B2B tech companies, it's often possible to have different tabs to show data around sales forecast, leads and main pipeline metrics from a few months.

• One off report X Recurring dashboard

There are many requests coming into the door. Some are little adjustments to be made in an already existing dashboard, others are much bigger projects that may take weeks and even months to be done. It's always important to take a few minutes to understand what the request is actually about. Sometimes, the same data shown in different ways can make a huge difference in the scope and size of the task and that's usually closely related with the type of report you need to build. Is it a recurring dashboard that will need to be constantly updated? Or is it just a one off report to understand a specific metric? While the first will require you to think about a lot more things than just analyzing the metrics themselves, like how much data to pull into the sheet so that it doesn't break, which formulas are the best ones for the use case, how to show the data... the list goes on and on, the second may be a lot more simple, allowing you to do scrappier things to get the job done.

• Be scrappy

When working with a spreadsheet, it's quite tempting to try to figure out a magic formula that will solve your issue. Who never spent hours searching for a formula that would solve the most specific problem? Sure, studying and learning new things is always great, but sometimes the time spent is just not worth it. Specially if it's a one off report, copying and pasting or doing any other thing that would usually be considered a "sin" is fine. Always keep in mind that the goal is getting the information needed.