Dashboards Close Million Dollar Deals
How you can use visualization to increase the value of your work and close deals in any industry
The Problem
Anybody dealing with tech products and data-focused services runs into the same fundamental problem: what you do is technical but non-technical people control the budget. In other words:
This is an incredibly tough hurdle to clear. I’ve seen so many people try to dumb down their tech, focus on features, etc. But we all know that painfully overused sales lesson “Sell benefits, not features”
I’m going to explain how visualizations are the rocket fuel you need to leverage that concept.
Let’s start with the old way:
Lead with the technology, focus on all the features and hope that people understand why it’s valuable.
We know that approach doesn’t work. So I’m giving you an incredibly simple alternative:
Build visualizations that tell a story. Let that story sell for you.
In other words: Make big beautiful dashboards!
Up until about 5 years ago, building a dashboard was an extremely complex process with multi-year timelines and huge budgets. Now you can spin one up in less than an hour using dozens of off-the-shelf tools. It’s easier than ever and can be applied to virtually any type of data.
I’ve been in the dashboard game for years. I’ve used them in sales roles, design roles, product roles, and as an independent consultant. They are almost entirely responsible for me closing deals with Google, Apple, Lego, Microsoft, Gatorade, Nectar, Emergent and many others.
So why do dashboards work so well?
The short version is that they force us to paint a picture of how our product/service will be used in the real world.
But it goes even deeper. I believe dashboards play into an archetypical fantasy we all share about running a business that leverages data and technology.
I call this the data-driven fantasy.
Data-Driven Fantasy
What do you see in your head when you think about a company being data driven? How about a company leveraging technology to improve their operations?
A lot of people imagine something like a command center:
Big screens, lots of charts, data streaming by and little dots showing up on big maps of the world.
For whatever reason this idea sells really well. So take advantage of it. The easiest way is to include a mockup of your product/service that matches with this archetype. A dashboard is the best way to do that.
The secondary benefit is that it gives you a chance to leverage good visual design. Good visual design projects credibility. See the example below:
Pretty cool right? Well this is just a random collection of charts and metrics from one of my template kits. It’s far from being actionable but people rarely notice that because it’s so darn visually pleasing.
Getting started
There are countless systems out there to help you build a dashboard with virtually any type of data. Many of them are incredibly easy to use (even if you’re a total novice) and either free or extremely low price.
Once you’ve chosen a system to use, you need to decide what to include. Here’s a quick rundown of my thought process when putting together a dashboard for a new client:
- Dashboards are the shiny object
We’re looking for the easiest and cheapest way to get a visualization into your sales cycle. It doesn’t need to replace your product. If done right, it should barely expand the scope of your project at all. For your situation it’s okay if it is simply the shiny object to get the client’s attention and close a deal. - Who are the stakeholders
First figure out who is actually going to be using what you sell.
Second figure out who is paying for whatever you’re selling.
They’re not always the same person.
For both of these people, figure out what need you’re addressing. Use this as your guide for whatever you include in your dashboard. - Don’t just focus on the business need, focus on the person
Everyone I’ve ever presented to wanted three things
•To save time and skip the tedium: Does your dashboard make their life easier?
•To save or make more money: Does your dashboard get them a raise or increase their personal commissions?
•To build their career: Will your dashboard get them promoted or build their personal brand? - Keep it simple. Set internal and external expectations
At this stage the goal isn’t building a final set of perfect fully validated dashboards. It’s to aid in the process of closing a deal.
•We are illustrating possibilities
•An imperfect dashboard mockup is better than showing no visual examples.
•If you don’t have data access yet or don’t know where to start then just grab a template for a common data source you know you can access (e.g. social or google ads). Swap out your brand colors and add your logo. Show where you could include your new data side by side. Think wireframes not final deliverables. - Don’t sweat the KPIs… yet
•In the spirit of illustrating possibilities, don’t worry about having the perfect KPI at this stage.
•If you’ve set expectations properly, your audience is going to understand that any data included in your project is a placeholder.
•If you have a KPI you know will close a deal then manually pull it for now. Put that value in a spreadsheet. Every major visualization tool can use a spreadsheet as a data source. Figure out how to automate later. - Set up your stakeholders for success
•Give them everything they need to sell the project internally to other teams or to their leadership.
•That means great screenshots, powerpoint slides and anything else they need. - Prioritize design — wow factor matters
•This can be a struggle for those of us that have fought hard to help businesses make better decisions with their data — we know it’s all about choosing the right data and presenting it in a responsible way. Frills and vanity metrics can be dangerous…but right now we need immediate impact and are focused on perceptions. Save the nuance until after you’ve closed a deal.
•Spend the money to hire a designer. Use freelancers if you need to. Have a professional polish your look & feel.
That’s it! If you have any questions or want to discuss how to handle your own project feel free to contact me: cottrell (@) hey.com
I love hearing from folks in the community and am always happy to point people in the right direction.
If you got some value from this article you can support my work by checking out my Excel templates:
https://exceldashboardtemplate.com/
Or you can use my affiliate link for Supermetrics — a great tool for connecting Data to Google Sheets, Excel or Data Studio: https://supermetrics.idevaffiliate.com/idevaffiliate.php?id=2487&url=267
