Getting the most from a sales and marketing dashboard
Even well-designed sales and marketing dashboards can be misused or ignored. Fortunately, there are simple ways to ensure that managers consult your dashboard regularly and use the information it provides.
In Summary:
| • | Test your dashboard for accuracy before deploying it, and train employees to interpret it correctly. |
| • | Use dashboards as a critical component of managers' performance evaluations. |
| • | Investigate and act on the patterns your dashboard reveals. |
Creating a well-designed sales and marketing dashboard involves identifying your most strategic metrics, integrating data from multiple sources, and formatting information so it's easy to read. Unfortunately, that hard work all too often goes to waste.
"The majority of [companies] do not use dashboards effectively," says Steve Hurley, vice president for member engagement at the IT Services Marketing Association, a Lexington, Massachusetts-based organization for technology marketing executives.
There are a number of reasons why dashboards end up being misused or not used at all. You can avoid them by following a few basic principles.
Allow time for testing and training
When a dashboard project fails, a rushed deployment is often the culprit. Before putting your dashboard into production, take time to verify that its data is consistently accurate and timely. A newly released dashboard that displays flawed information will quickly lose credibility.
Be sure to offer plenty of training, and don't assume that everyone shares the same understanding of what the figures on your dashboard represent. For example, if a sales total reflects what customers have ordered, not what they've paid for or physically received, make certain everyone knows it. "It's amazing how much debate there can be over what terms mean or labels say," Hurley notes.
Finally, emphasize that your dashboard is a tool for improving business performance, not exposing underperformers. Staffers who fear that a dashboard will subject them to scrutiny may try to hide or distort bad news.
Use the dashboard as a decision-making and evaluation tool
Distribute your dashboard broadly across your organization to help managers and other decision makers understand your company's most strategic objectives. If employees who should be consulting your dashboard aren't, consider basing their employee performance reviews on dashboard data. But don't evaluate managers solely on what your dashboard says. "Dashboards don't tell the entire story," says Mark Max, a managing partner at iStrategy Consulting, a Microsoft Certified Partner based in Owings Mills, Maryland, that specializes in business intelligence. Combine the dashboard's quantitative data with qualitative input from employees and other managers, as well as your own observations.
Above all, don't just read your dashboard. Use it as a tool for continual improvement. A rise or drop in customer satisfaction metrics, for example, should provoke further investigation and corrective action. "A dashboard in and of itself isn't a management tool," observes Creighton Lang, vice president of The Revere Group, a Microsoft Gold Certified solution provider headquartered in Chicago. In the end, dashboards can measure business performance, but only managers can improve it.
 | Rich Freeman is a Seattle, Washington-based freelance writer specializing in business and technology. He has more than 14 years of strategic marketing and communications experience in the IT industry. |
