Custom list views in Salesforce are a powerful way to enhance sales productivity and increase visibility into your Salesforce data. 

Whether you’re a sales development representative managing leads, an account executive managing opportunities, or a sales manager or sales leader looking for ways to help your team improve overall performance, list views allow anyone on the go-to-market (GTM) team access relevant data quickly without having to sift through layers of reports and different screens. 

In this article, we’ll show you a step-by-step guide to creating and customizing list views in Salesforce. We’ll also explain use cases for each role in a sales organization, and offer an alternative that can provide even more value to your sales team than typical list views in Salesforce.

Let’s dive in.

Why Are List Views Important for Different Sales Personas?

List views in Salesforce give sales teams the ability to filter and view data in a way that’s tailored to their roles and responsibilities. 

This can not only enhance sales productivity, but also increase visibility into relevant and critical information for better cross-team collaboration and foster more effective coaching opportunities and forecasting capabilities for leadership teams.

Here’s how different roles on a GTM team can use list views to their advantage:

1. Account Executives

Account executives are responsible for prospecting and closing new customers for the organization. This means that they need to have the ability to track all of their active opportunities in one place so they can stay organized and compliant according to their organization’s sales process. 

List views allow them to filter and view opportunities by different metrics like deal stage, size, expected close date, or other metrics so they are always prepared for pipeline and forecast reviews with their managers and they can prioritize and focus efforts on the most promising deals on their own.

It’s also a great way for them to stay on top of next steps and follow-up dates so they don’t miss a beat as some Account Executives may be managing up to 50 opportunities at a time.

2. Sales Development Representatives (SDRs)

SDRs can use list views to aid in their lead generation and follow-up processes. 

Since an SDR is responsible for generating new opportunities for Account Executives, they’re often responsible for managing even more contacts at a single time so having a one place where they can track everything and stay on top of their daily tasks is even more crucial. 

They can create custom list views for new leads, filter by the source of their leads, and even leads that require follow-up calls or touchpoints. This helps them funnel their leads through the sales pipeline and into the Account Executives hands smoothly and efficiently.

3. Sales Managers

Whether you’re managing SDRs or account executives, sales managers need to have visibility into their reps’ pipelines in order to coach them effectively and help guide leads and opportunities through the pipeline. 

Custom list views in Salesforce help them achieve this by providing insights into team performance and pipeline health with data that is filtered by activity, deal progress, forecasted sales, or whatever they need to track at that specific time.

4. Sales Leaders

Similarly to sales managers, sales leaders use Salesforce list views to track opportunities, but at a higher-level overview. As with all of the roles above, sales leaders do not solely rely on list views, but they are even less likely to use them because they will generally refer to Salesforce reports.

That being said, custom list views are still helpful to sales leaders because they are also responsible for inspecting deals just as their sales managers do so they can have a deep understanding of their organization’s pipeline for forecasting and strategic planning. 

They can also aggregate data from various teams and regions to monitor overall sales trends and compare performance across different segments of their organization for resource allocation and long-term strategic improvement. 

How to Create a List View in Salesforce

Creating custom list views in Salesforce is a straightforward process that can be completed in a few steps. Here is a step-by-step guide to walk you through each step efficiently: 

1. Access the Object Home Page

1. Select the object you want to base your list view in Salesforce around such as accounts, contacts, opportunities, or leads.

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2. Create a New List View

1. Click on the gear icon and select “New” to create a new list view.

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2. From here, you can name your list view and give it a description if you want to.

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3. Next, you can decide who can view the list view. Basically, do you want it to be private to yourself, available for just your team or certain individuals, or visible to your entire organization.

3. Define the Filter Criteria

1. Set your filter conditions to only display the records that you want in your list view. For example, if you’re creating a view for opportunities with the biggest potential revenue amount, include conditions that reflect that. 

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2. Sometimes if you're using multiple conditions, you can specify filter logic to refine which records appear. For example, using "1 AND 2" or "1 OR 2" helps in defining complex filtering rules.

4. Choose the Fields to Display

1. Click on ‘Select Fields to Display’ to choose which fields/columns should be visible in your list view.

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2. Then you can arrange the order of the fields as you want them to appear in the list by dragging them up or down.

5. Utilize the List View

1. Once you’ve saved your view, you can access it in the dropdown menu of list views for that object (objects meaning opportunities, leads, contacts, etc.). 
2. Use the list view to perform mass actions like sending emails, updating records, or exporting data, making your workflows more efficient.

While creating custom list views in Salesforce are fairly straightforward, getting your data into Salesforce is not. 

Sales reps struggle to update objects and records in Salesforce because while it’s an incredibly powerful CRM (Customer Relationship Management tool), it’s not designed for the way salespeople work. 

As a result, salespeople will often rely on spreadsheets and note-taking apps to manage their leads and opportunities which is a problem because these solutions aren’t connected to Salesforce and when sales managers and leaders can’t trust the data in Salesforce is accurate and up-to-date, it slows down productivity and ruins forecasts.

Thankfully, there’s a Salesforce add-on that is designed for the way salespeople work and automatically synced to Salesforce ensuring that the CRM is an organization’s single source of truth.

Want to find out what it is?

Scratchpad: The Best Salesforce Investment You Can Make

Scratchpad is the ultimate partner for sales teams because it’s engineered to amplify collaboration and data visibility. 

Its seamless integration with your existing Salesforce environment eliminates the hassle of juggling multiple platforms and streamlines pipeline management without disrupting established workflows.

With Scratchpad’s intuitive interface, tracking deal progression, visualizing your sales pipeline, and understanding the dynamics of changes within it becomes effortless. The simplicity of updating vital sales data, coupled with the ability to automate forecasting, empowers your sales strategy to consistently lead the market.

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There’s even an improved version of list views in Salesforce that Scratchpad offers. Advanced Grid Views is the fastest and easiest way to update next steps, any field, or any object in Salesforce. No more switching between tabs, waiting for pages to load, or having to remember to click save.

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Here are some other key features that make Scratchpad a must-have for your sales organization:

• Transcribe every sales call with Scratchpad’s dynamic AI Sales Assistant, which delivers AI-generated transcripts, summaries, and auto-filled Salesforce fields so you can catch every critical detail.
• Highlight the moments that matter most with call intelligence to significantly enhance sales training and customer engagement.
• Simplify your operations with straightforward no-code automations that boost team collaboration, improve data accuracy, and enhance overall pipeline visibility.
• Use deal spotlights to quickly identify pipeline gaps, ensuring accurate forecasts and guiding you confidently towards quota attainment without surprises.
• Keep your sales force unified and in sync by managing, sharing, and integrating sales comments and notes directly within Salesforce.
• Maximize opportunity oversight with Scratchpad Zero Boards, which provides leaders and reps a clear view of compliance issues, ensuring no deal misses its next step or goes without proper follow-up.

If you’d like to learn more — or try Scratchpad for free now - schedule a 1:1 meeting with a product specialist to learn how you can maximize the potential of your sales team and operations.

FAQs About List Views in Salesforce

1. Can I share my custom list views with other users in Salesforce?

Yes, you can share custom list views with other users, provided you have the necessary permissions to do so. When creating or editing a list view, you can set its visibility to 'All users', 'Groups of users', or 'Only to me'. If you select 'Groups of users', you can specify which groups or roles should have access to the list view. This feature is particularly useful for teams who need to access the same data consistently.

2. How can I ensure that my list views remain relevant as our database grows?

To ensure that your list views remain relevant and useful as your database grows, regularly update and review the filters and conditions you've set. Consider the evolving needs of your team or company and adjust the list views accordingly. 

Additionally, Salesforce allows you to use dynamic filters (like "Current Fiscal Quarter") that automatically adjust based on changes over time, helping to keep your views up-to-date without manual intervention.

3. What is the difference between a list view and a report in Salesforce?

While both list views and reports in Salesforce display sets of data based on specific criteria, they serve different purposes and offer different functionalities:

• List Views are simpler and designed for quick access and daily use, such as monitoring real-time data or managing routine tasks. They allow you to see a filtered list of records like all opportunities closing this month or contacts in a particular region.
• Reports are more complex and provide comprehensive analysis and detailed insights. They can aggregate data across multiple objects, summarize information, and be scheduled to run at specific intervals. Reports are better suited for in-depth analysis, trend tracking, and decision-making processes where summarization and formatting are key.