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How to create a 'call' dashboard

If calling is a big part of your strategy - either in Sales or Account Management, then it makes sense to have a dashboard that tracks this business critical activity.

Now the title of this hack could be misleading, as there could be any number of different reports that could benefit you depending on the part calling plays in your business. So consider this as inspiration, or a place to start as you develop a dashboard which will add genuine value to your business.

Let's dive into some suggested reports.

1) Calls made by month, broken down by type

Screenshot 2024-10-17 at 11.44.16

First, if you haven't already, make sure you've got your call types set up correctly. More details on how to do that here.

This report displays call data from this fiscal year, and to create the chart I've selected the following options:

Screenshot 2024-10-17 at 11.45.15

Note that you can use a 'Compare by' field to look at how many calls were made over your selected date range vs another date range.

How is this useful?

If calling is an important part of your strategy, then it's likely call volume is something you want to track. You may be able to draw conclusions from this data, like for example if you have noticed that less initial sales meetings have been booked compared to last month and the prospecting call volume has also decrease, these two metrics could be connected and warrant further exploration.

 

2) Call type by outcome

Screenshot 2024-10-17 at 11.50.02

Screenshot 2024-10-17 at 11.53.32

This is a really simple report which I think is a must-have. If you can see that a large proportion of your calls are not being answered or not connecting at all, then you need to do some digging to find out why. Are the numbers mostly duds? If so, how can you find the right ones? Are you not getting past the gatekeeper? Then we've got some tips to help you with that.

 

3) Call outcome by lifecycle stage

Screenshot 2024-10-17 at 13.40.16

Screenshot 2024-10-17 at 13.47.32

Breaking down call outcome by lifecycle stage can help you identify trends within the different types of people you're calling. You expect that you'll have more people answering your calls if they are customers vs. prospects. But what if that's flipped on it's head, and people are engaged and willing to talk during the sales process but not so much once they've become a customer? You can use this data as a starting point to discover why. Do customers not feel a conversation is going to give them value? Do they have a good relationship with their account manager? 

Drill further into each lifecycle stage and use what you find to either validate your assumptions, or identify areas that need further exploration.

 

4) Calls without types

Screenshot 2024-10-17 at 13.59.09

Screenshot 2024-10-17 at 14.00.35Very simple setup here! You will need to add a filter too: Call type is 'unknown'.

Now this is just one report of many that you should have if certain call data like type or outcome is important for you. In fact, the could be the most important reports on the dashboard because if you have lots of missing data, you won't get the insight you need from the other reports.

 

5) Tracked term mentions by category

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This is actually a pre-made HubSpot report which is definitely worth including, IF you have your tracked terms all set up! Here is a knowledge base article on how to set up your terms and create this report.

Tracked terms are grossly underutilised in HubSpot. Setting up right and then reporting on them can give you insight into things like:

  • How much is pricing being mentioned in early calls? This could be an indicator of how important pricing is to prospects
  • How many times are your teams mentioning your loyalty program? This gives you insight into who is actively pushing certain promotions.
  • Are certain questions being asked more than others? This could identify gaps in your marketing or sales materials.

6) Calls made by person broken down by outcome

Screenshot 2024-10-17 at 14.28.17


Screenshot 2024-10-17 at 14.27.34Note: There are lots of ways you could break this data down - call type, outcome, status - it really depends what is useful for you!

This is a good report if tracking call activity is valuable for you, and if it typically has a tangible impact on your business.

You might be able to identify trends like:

  • Do the best performing sales people tend to make more calls?
  • Person X is making a lot of calls but they aren't being completed - why is that?

 

And there you have it! Six reports to start off your calls dashboard. I hope this gives you a good starting point to develop all the call reports which matter to your business.

Hollie-HS-Web-1

Author: Hollie Higa

Head of Marketing