Note:  Feel free to click this link for a full sized image. 

A dashboard like this can be a good start for sales representatives for a number of reasons.  Let's breakdown why this format can work, and who it is primarily geared for -

1.  The display is fairly data dense and conveys quite a bit of information in one visual layout. 

2.  The specific content displayed tells a story that is critical for sales representatives.  Sales people are heavily incented to hit their quota, and this type of display prominently charts how they are performing with respect to won deals compared to key benchmarks including their quota and prior year's attainment.  Sales people are also constantly being asked how their pipeline looks overall as well as which deals they are forecasting to close this month/quarter.  The display above provides a way for them to get visibility into their entire pipeline and see summary values for the rollup of that pipeline at each stage while maintaining the flexibility to drill down and look at only one month at a time to insure that the data they have in CRM accurately reflects the right value and close date on all their deals.

3.  The context on the chart provides critical information to eliminate possible confusion.  In the upper right, it is noted that all currency values have been converted the local user currency (in this case USD).  Second, the chart is available in the UI of Dynamics CRM but can be exported to Excel or PDF for viewing offline and to allow for printing.  Third, the user selector in the top frame of the report defaults to the user running the report and returns data from not only the user selected, but also all individuals who are setup in CRM as subordinates of the selected user.  Finally, in the lower left it has been clearly identified when the report was run in order to minimize the possibility of confusion that results from reviewing outdated materials.

This is by no means the only design, or best design for any given organization, but it can serve as a solid foundation from which to build a sales culture oriented around data driven decision making.  I'll follow up with additional posts where we'll look at other examples that add some nuance to this display.  Some things we'll focus on in upcoming posts -

Quotas - What's the best way to make sure they are displayed effectively?

Activity tracking - How do we add more information to the display that also gives a perspective on how well sales reps are using CRM?