As the economy begins to recover, marketing professionals who work for professional service firms are reviewing their “lead to close” statistics.

How do you track your statistics?

I got an advanced copy of a new book Professional Services Marketing: How the Best Firms Build Premier Brands, Thriving Lead Generation Engines, and Cultures of Business Development Success by Wellesley Hills Group and RainToday.com leaders Mike Schultz and John Doerr. It’s being published on July 27 and available here on Amazon.

As a business owner myself, I like the practical “how to” advice it contains. And as a marketing professional, I see some real application for professional service firms.

For example: they suggest that lead tracking should have seven measurable components and provides a formula to show you how to make those variables work for your business.

Only Seven Levers Matter
Boil it down, and only seven levers matter to increase your revenue:
1. Number and/or quality of targets.
2. Number of overall leads.
3. Number of qualified leads.
4. Number of pipeline opportunities converted to clients.
5. Revenue per client.
6. Revenue retention.
7. Growth rate per client.

The book outlines two examples of how minor changes in some of these variables can have a big effect on the outcome of your company’s revenues.

If you aren’t currently tracking your stats… now is the time to begin. You’ll especially be glad you did as the economy recovers and you see improvements. Which numbers do you currently track for your marketing reports?