Blog Feed
Intro to the COUNTIF Function in Excel
Much of spreadsheet data is a collection of individual transactions or instances that don't begin to offer meaning until they are organized and summarized in useful ways. Enter Excel's handy COUNTIF function. When categories of data are mixed together, or if you wish to understand your data based on certain…
Read More
The Pivot Table and Percentage of Total Calculations
Once you learn how to create an Excel PivotTable, you'll discover that organizing your information is only the first step in getting the most out of this useful feature. PivotTables then give you the ability to further manipulate the organized information. Value Field Settings let you perform different types of…
Read More
Excel Sort Formulas – How to Sort Dynamic Data
Excel includes powerful sort functionality in the Sort & Filter group on the Data tab. But what if your data changes frequently, or if you're simply tired of clicking through the Ribbon each time you generate a similar table? The answer might be to create a formula that does your…
Read More
Sales Pipeline Management
In a previous post (Sales Management Software Considerations), I discussed the basics of sales management software. As noted, there are many “must-have” benefits to such a system, not the least of which is something called pipeline management, or sales forecasting. Pre-CRM, sales forecasting was somewhat of an impossible exercise. At…
Read More
Sales Management Software Considerations
When I moved into sales management 20 years ago, the #1 rule preached in management class was: “Inspect what you expect.” Which, back then, was easier said than done. It required detailed review of every salesperson’s paper call reports, quotes and sales reports. From there I would “back into” the…
Read More
Taking the Mystery Out of the Sales Management Process
In my two other posts (Sales Management Software and Sales Pipeline management), I referenced processes — reinforcing the fact that sales is a process and not a magic art only imparted to the gifted few. This post details that process further. If you’ve witnessed the construction of a house or…
Read More
Finding Information with the Index Formula in Excel
About Excel's INDEX Function Sometimes useful functions like VLOOKUP just don't apply when the information you need is more about where in your table the information is than what the information is. The INDEX function returns the value of an element that is specified by position (row and column) in…
Read More
How to Create an Excel Funnel Chart
If you work in sales, marketing or any department that uses/receives reports from Business Intelligence software, you're probably familiar with the Sales Funnel Chart. If you are looking to create a funnel chart of your own, you might find that it's a bit of a trick. Excel gives you the…
Read More
Create Outstanding Pie Charts in Excel
Once you have gone to the effort of collecting, organizing and processing your data, you probably want to show it off! Tables do a nice job of presenting raw information, but a chart can bring your data to life. Charts create visual impact that conveys not only the data itself,…
Read More
Create a PivotTable Calculated Item in Excel
Excel's PivotTable feature allows you to organize information in such a way that you can answer many questions about your data that would otherwise require lots of formulas, functions and "IF" statements. To get even more answers out of your data, PivotTables offer Calculated Fields and Calculated Items. Calculated Fields…
Read More