That doesn’t change the fact that its true.

You’re guessing if you can objectively analyze how leads flow through your marketing and sales machine.  If you’re guessing, you’re going to be wrong a lot.

It’s my belief that its not as hard as it seems.  Its just like every other challenge you’ve overcome in building your business – you finally have to buckle down and decide to get it done, no matter what.

Here’s an example of the kind of thing we’re looking for:

Click here if you can’t see the image  for an example of what I’m talking about.  You can download the actual Excel sheet here.

If you can’t answer these questions – you’ve got problems:

• How many leads came in last month from each primary source – Cold Calls, Website, Direct Mail, etc.?
• How many of those took your desired action – talked to sales, signed up for the webinar, etc.?
• How many of those were qualified as a real prospect by your sales team?
• How many of those are in your current deal pipeline and for how much money?
• How many have closed?
• How many have you lost and to which competitor?

With this kind of information, you can determine what the value of each lead, from each advertising source, is worth?  How many of them close and for what average value?

I know you understand how valuable this information is.  The problem is that your marketing and sales processes are not organized enough to measure the data.

So here’s my advice – STOP MAKING EXCUSES!  Just do it!

If you have to, log it all in a spreadsheet.  If you clear your calendar for a week and just walk around asking sales people about each lead, you’re going to learn a ton that you don’t know and you’ll get this done.

All you really need to do is to start logging every new lead into a spreadsheet or database somewhere and then updating with info about what happens to each lead.

When you start out, you’ll probably be able to measure only one or two points in the process accurately.  That’s OK.  That’s progress!

As you begin to track things, you’ll be able to identify ways to track the process more thoroughly.  You can add columns to your spreadsheet or fields to your database as you go.

I can tell you from first hand experience that you’re going to be surprised by what you learn from this process.  Things you’re currently assuming about which leads are most valuable and which aren’t are going to be turned upside down.

Measuring your marketing and sales funnel in this way is going to unlock tremendous value in your business!

Let me know how it goes!

Craig Klein

Related posts:

1. You Can’t Automate What You Don’t Understand
2. Marketing Opportunities are Passing You By
3. When to say its “Over”