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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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