As you know, field filters help refine data using fields available in a report. But, sometimes you want to filter by what’s not there. For example, you might want to know which accounts are missing contacts. To get that kind of insight, you need to filter by child objects. Cross filters let you do that!

In the next couple of examples, we’ll see how cross filters help you quickly identify accounts that need attention and find profitable up-sell opportunities.

Neglected Accounts

As Account Manager for your region, you know that to maintain healthy relationships, accounts need frequent touchpoints. This means looking for accounts that have stayed inactive in the last 30 days.

To find them, pull up an accounts report for your team in the current fiscal year. Add a cross filter on the Activities object. You can filter by Activities because it’s a child of Accounts.

1. From the Filters drop-down, click Cross Filter.
2. Add a cross filter for Accounts without Activities. This returns all accounts that have no activities.
3. Since you want to narrow the list to those without activities in the last month, add a subfilter on activities’ Created Date. You can add up to five subfilters per cross filter and have up to three cross filters in the report.

You can now raise visibility of these accounts with the account executives so they can take action.

Up-Sell Opportunities for Products

Let’s look at a scenario for up-sell opportunities in the current sales pipeline. In this quarter’s report on open opportunities, find out which high quality opportunities that sell ABC Systems can also be sold Premier Support services.

1. Add a cross filter for Opportunities with Products where Product Name is ABC Systems. This returns all open opportunities that are being sold licenses for ABC Systems.

   TIP: To make Product Name available as an Opportunity Product field, create a custom formula field called Product Name with this formula: PricebookEntry.Product2.Name.

2. Add a second cross filter for Opportunities without Products where Product Name is Premier Support. This zeroes in on just those opportunities that are buying ABC Systems without a premier support package.

Now look for high quality opportunities by adding field filters to only include those opportunities closing with a high Probability with an Expected Revenue of over 500K. Your report looks like this:

As these simple examples show, cross filters adds a powerful new dimension to your reports — the ability to filter by related objects and fields. Find new cross-sell and up-sell opportunities, keep your accounts healthy by monitoring activities, or figure out which accounts are missing contacts. How will you use cross filters in your business?

For practice, check out other examples in the Analytics Workbook or watch this video.