Advanced CRM Reports: Which Metrics Help Increase Sales?

Many companies still rely on simple tables and Excel summaries when it comes to monitoring sales. But this approach quickly loses effectiveness: data is fragmented, updated manually, and fails to provide a complete picture.

To answer the main question for any business – how to increase sales – it is necessary to see processes dynamically and understand exactly where customers are lost. This is where CRM reports come in. They allow businesses to analyze every step of the funnel, manage the performance of sales managers, and forecast results.

With their help, executives receive not just numbers but a transparent picture: from the source of a lead to repeat purchases. This level of analytics makes it possible to build on strengths, eliminate weak points, and genuinely influence revenue growth.

In this article, we’ll look at which advanced CRM reports help increase sales, which KPIs deserve attention, and how to interpret analytics so that it truly works for business growth.

What Is a Sales Funnel?

A sales funnel is a model that describes the customer journey from first contact with the company to closing a deal. It clearly shows how many potential clients move from one stage to another and where the business is losing opportunities.

Example of a sales funnel:

• lead generation;
• first contact;
• product or service presentation;
• discussion of terms;
• deal closing.

This kind of visualization helps businesses not only monitor the number of clients at each step but also identify growth points: which stages “bottleneck,” where most leads are lost, and how to fix it.

CRM Sales Funnel

The built-in sales funnel in CRM automates this process. The system records all stages of customer interaction – from the first inquiry to repeat purchase. Unlike manual tracking in spreadsheets, CRM not only shows the status of each deal but also collects real-time analytics.

Which metrics can be tracked in a CRM sales funnel:

• number of leads at each stage;
• conversion between stages;
• average deal cycle length;
• lead sources and their effectiveness;
• revenue forecast for open deals.

Thanks to this, managers see not just a static picture but also dynamics: where bottlenecks arise, how productive sales reps are, and which actions truly help increase revenue.

What Are KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)?

For effective management, decisions must be based on facts and figures, not intuition. This is where KPIs come in – useful metrics that show how well the business is performing. Put simply, KPIs are key performance indicators – the numbers a business uses to evaluate its effectiveness. They help determine whether the team is moving toward its goals: meeting targets, using resources efficiently, and identifying areas for improvement.

Without key performance indicators, a company only sees “general numbers” – for example, monthly revenue. But such data doesn’t explain what exactly influenced the result. KPIs are, in essence, tools that allow you to evaluate in detail which processes work efficiently and which require adjustments.

Core Sales KPIs

A CRM can track dozens of metrics, but for most companies, the key ones remain:

• Conversion rate – the percentage of clients who move from one stage of the funnel to the next.
• Average deal size (Average Check) – the average transaction amount; helps assess the value of each deal.
• LTV (Lifetime Value) – the total revenue a customer generates over their entire relationship with the company.
• Cost per Lead (CPL) – how much the company spends to acquire one client.
• Repeat purchase rate – shows how effectively the business retains customers.

Regular monitoring of these metrics through CRM reports helps identify weak spots on time and make management decisions based on data, not guesswork.

Example: AvaCRM and Plausible Integration

For management decisions to be as accurate as possible, it’s important for businesses to connect internal CRM data with external web analytics. Only this way can you understand not just “how many clicks there were on the website,” but which channels actually bring in clients and impact revenue.

AvaCRM is a CRM system developed by our team. It’s chat-oriented and works as a PWA application, which makes it convenient for managers: they can communicate with clients, track deals, and work with analytics directly in the browser or on a smartphone.

AvaCRM can be integrated with Plausible. This integration links traffic sources to specific deals and builds a complete funnel picture.

How it works:

1. Plausible records visits, channels, and user behavior on the website.
2. The data is automatically transferred into AvaCRM.
3. In CRM, each lead receives a “source tag” that remains until the deal is closed.
4. The manager can see which channels and campaigns actually bring clients, and which only generate clicks without conversions.

Practical benefits of the integration:

• Identifying the most effective advertising channels.
• Comparing cost per lead and conversion across sources.
• Linking marketing KPIs to real deals rather than superficial metrics.

As a result, the company gains an end-to-end analytics tool: it can evaluate not just traffic, but also its contribution to sales, adjust budgets, and strengthen the channels that truly work.

Tips for Reading CRM Reports Correctly

Even the most advanced CRM reports won’t help if they are interpreted incorrectly. For analytics to genuinely help grow sales, you need to approach it systematically:

• Look at dynamics, not static numbers. Growth or decline of indicators over time shows how effective your actions are.
• Identify bottlenecks. If conversion sharply drops at one funnel stage, it signals a problem requiring attention.
• Compare different segments. Split clients by sources, managers, or products to understand where churn occurs.
• Make data-driven decisions. Analytics should not just record results but help adjust commercial strategy.

Common Mistakes in Interpretation

In practice, businesses often make errors that neutralize the benefits of CRM reports:

• Focusing on a single KPI. For example, an increase in average deal size may seem positive, but if the number of deals is dropping, overall revenue may not grow.
• Ignoring the entire sales funnel. Looking only at final metrics (e.g., total number of deals) hides problems in the earlier stages.
• Failing to act on results. Reports alone change nothing – it’s important to implement adjustments and monitor their impact.

The main rule of interpreting reports: look at the system as a whole and turn analytics into concrete management actions. Only then do numbers stop being “data for data’s sake” and start driving company growth.

How to Increase Sales in a Store

For both offline and online retail, detailed product-level insights are crucial. Here, CRM reports help identify which items generate the most revenue and where growth potential lies.

Useful examples of reports:

• Best-selling products – which items are most popular and which categories lead.
• Demand dynamics – how product turnover changes across seasons or during promotions.
• Average transaction value – helps assess the effectiveness of upselling and cross-selling.

These reports allow businesses to adjust their product assortment, plan purchases, and more precisely answer the question: how to boost sales in a specific store.

How to Increase Sales in Small Business

In small companies, the main resources are people and acquisition channels. Therefore, CRM reports should focus on team performance and customer retention.

Key reports:

• By manager – who closes more deals, who has higher conversion rates.
• By acquisition channel – which sources bring “quality” leads, and which only generate traffic.
• By returning customers – how many buyers come back for repeat purchases.

These metrics help optimize team and marketing efforts, channeling resources where the return is highest.

Advanced CRM reports transform analytics from a collection of numbers into a practical growth tool. They help not only to see the current state but also to forecast future results, adjust strategy, and identify new opportunities to increase revenue.

If you want more than a standard “out-of-the-box” solution, order a custom CRM with advanced analytics from us – designed and implemented specifically for your business needs.