How to choose sales analytics for your CRM: a 7-point checklist
There are dozens of CRM analytics services, from simple widgets to BI platforms. This checklist has 7 criteria to compare them on and the questions to ask a vendor before you pay. Written by the Achilles Analytics team: we are all for an informed choice, even if it is not us.
1. Ready dashboards or a builder
BI platforms (Power BI, DataLens) give you a builder: assemble whatever you want — if you have an analyst and a month. Specialized services give ready sales reports for your CRM on day one.
Ask the vendor: “What will I see in the dashboard on the first day, with no setup?”
2. Depth of CRM integration
The minimum is deals and funnels. Better is also calls, tasks, events, loss reasons and stage history. The most useful reports are built on that “deep” data: missed calls, rep activity, loss reasons.
Ask the vendor: “Do you see calls, loss reasons and deal events — or only amounts and stages?”
3. Setup speed and method
The norm for a specialized service is 30 minutes, via the CRM’s official API, with no developer on your side. If rollout is measured in weeks and needs a spec, it is a project, not a service.
Ask the vendor: “What do you need from us besides CRM admin access?”
4. AI: insights and call quality
A new generation of analytics does not just show numbers, it reads them for you: “stage conversion dropped,” “rep X misses calls,” “average deal fell 15%.” A separate class is AI call quality: transcription and scoring of every call against a checklist, with no manual listening.
Ask the vendor: “What will the system tell me on its own, without me asking?”
5. Norms and alerts
A report is useful when a number has a norm: no more than 10% missed calls, a proposal stuck no longer than 3 days. Look for a service where norms are configurable and deviations are flagged without your involvement.
6. Price and pricing model
Common models: per user (scales transparently), per data volume (watch your base grow), or flat (good for large teams). Clarify who counts as a user: all CRM employees or only those who open the analytics. With Achilles it is only those who use the dashboards: plans from 7,900 ₽/mo.
Ask the vendor: “If I have 20 reps in the CRM but only three look at dashboards — how many do I pay for?”
7. Where the data is stored
Check that the service meets your data-residency and privacy requirements, and that access to your CRM can be revoked at any time.
How to check it all in one trial
Take the free period and run the checklist on your data: what is visible on day one, which insights the system found on its own, whether the numbers match your gut. Achilles gives you 7 days of full access without a card for exactly this — which is enough.