How top promo distributors use commonsku to build pipeline, hit targets, and scale revenue.
Most sales reps use commonsku to manage orders. The best ones use it to drive revenue. Here's the difference.
Capture every deal before it's a deal. Lock in pipeline at the Opportunity stage, before a presentation even exists.
Let data drive your focus. Sales Analytics shows you pipeline health, margin by client, and progress to target all in one view.
Build revenue that works without you. Shops generate sales orders the instant a client checks out.
All of this is already in your commonsku account. This guide walks you through each one.
The Sales Rep's Playbook: Four Plays
The highest-impact features in commonsku and how to use them
Capture Every Deal as an Opportunity
Pre-sale details locked in before a presentation, automatically created when you start a project. ~ 3 min
Run Sales Analytics Weekly
Pipeline health, revenue vs. target, and your most profitable clients: all in one view. ~4 min
Make the Project Newsfeed Your Single Source of Truth
Notes, emails, tasks, and client feedback logged automatically in one place. ~2 min
Launch a Shop That Generates Revenue Without You
Clients order directly. Sales orders are created automatically at checkout. ~3 min
The result: a pipeline you can see, clients you can prioritize, and revenue that doesn't stop when you do.
The reps who win the most aren't better closers. They're better at never losing track of what's in play.
Most reps start tracking a deal when it becomes a project. Top reps start the moment a client expresses interest.
Opportunities are where you can capture, store, and share information about a potential sale before you begin working on a Presentation, Estimate, or Sales Order.
Your Opportunity captures the:
Project name
In-hands date
Budget
Event type
Initial client contact
Contacts, including the Client or Order rep
And, any notes and tasks
❌ Without Opportunities
✅ With Opportunities
A new opportunity is automatically created as soon as you start a project. When the client's ready, convert it in one click: Actions → Create Presentation, Estimate, or Sales Order. (Full details in the help docs.)
Sales Analytics gives reps a real-time view of pipeline health, revenue against target, and client profitability all in one place.
When you select Analytics in your Sales Tab, you will find key details — your pipeline, top clients, and your progress to target — ready to review.
Report 01
Sales Orders in Production → Pipeline Health Check
Tracks booked orders month-over-month and year-over-year. Click into any month to see which orders are in play and where the gaps to be filled exist.
Report 02
Invoices vs. Target → Revenue Accountability View
Shows how your monthly revenue compares to your sales target. The popup reveals which invoices were created in a given month, their status, and which ones are still pending payment or need to be sent.
Report 03
Margin by Client → Client Strategy View
Reveals your most profitable accounts — not just your biggest ones. The highest-revenue client and the highest-margin client are rarely the same person. (Full details in the help docs.)
💡 Filter Tip
Sales Analytics can display metrics by client rep, order rep, specific client, or client status. Use client status to segment your book and track trends in your highest-priority accounts separately from the rest.
⚠️ Plan Requirement
Sales Analytics is not available on the Essentials plan. The Advanced plan or higher is required. See all plan details.
The deals that stall are usually the ones where nobody knows what happened last.
Open any project. The Project Newsfeed automatically captures notes, tasks, emails, client feedback, status changes, and payment updates. No inbox archaeology. No "can you forward me that thread?"
The project email: your silent paper trail. Every project has a unique forwarding address. BCC it on every client communication and those emails post directly to the project overview along with any attachments. Your whole team has full context before any handoff.
Targeted team communication. Not every update needs to go to everyone. Add a note and use @ mentions to notify only the teammates you need without broadcasting to the whole team.
Tasks that follow the project. Tasks created in the newsfeed are automatically logged in the Projects tab and across all Dashboards — Sales, Production, Finance, and Management. Build follow-ups directly into the project and they surface everywhere you need them.
What the Newsfeed Logs Automatically
📧
Emails sent from or forwarded to the project
✅
Tasks assigned to you or a teammate
🔄
Status changes across all forms
💬
Client feedback submitted through the portal
💳
Payments received through QuickBooks Online
📎
Files and artwork uploaded to the project
The most scalable thing a sales rep can do is create a revenue channel that runs without them. Shops do that.
Shops let clients order directly from an online store. Sales orders are created the instant a shopper checks out. Three shop types, three use cases.
Which Shop Is Right for Your Client?
| 🛍️ Marketing Shop | 🎉 Pop-Up Shop | 🏢 Company Shop | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | New client acquisition | Group orders & gifting events | Ongoing merch programs |
| Client self-serves | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Credit card checkout | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Enforces min. quantities | — | — | ✓ |
| Embeddable on website | ✓ | — | — |
| Fee charged at | Sales order creation | Checkout | Checkout |
Not sure which fits your client? Use the Shops Wizard →
One Platform, Four Plays
Each play feeds the next — from first conversation to repeat revenue.
🎯
Play 1
Capture Early
Opportunity stage locks in deal context before any formal work begins
📊
Play 2
Measure Relentlessly
Sales Analytics surfaces where to focus — and where the gaps are
🗂️
Play 3
Centralize Everything
The project newsfeed replaces scattered emails and missed follow-ups
🛒
Play 4
Scale Beyond Yourself
Shops generate sales orders automatically — around the clock
commonsku manages your full sales workflow. These four plays are how the best reps make it work for them.
Create your next Opportunity from the Dashboard. Click New Project, set your Starting Stage to Opportunity, and fill in the basics. Get comfortable doing it in under two minutes and watch how it changes how you manage your pipeline.
Open Sales Analytics right now. Pull Sales Orders in Production for this month versus last year. If the numbers surprise you, that's a signal worth investigating before the end of the quarter.
BCC your project email on your next client message. Copy the address from your project overview and paste it into the BCC field. Do it once and you'll never go back.
Launch or review one Shop. If you have an active shop, check Invoices by Shop in Sales Analytics. If you don't: a Marketing Shop takes minutes to build and can start generating inbound orders immediately.
Have questions about your setup? Reach out to your CSM or email support@commonsku.com.
New to commonsku? See how the platform works.