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Revenue Funnel Metric Cheatsheets

Net New Movement

Conversion Rates

Velocity

Aging

Activities

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Why Net New Movement Matters?

Net new movement determines where to focus your efforts by capturing the constant motion of records through the revenue funnel. Marketing sees which funnel stages need topped off, while sales understands how many new records entered a sales stage and need activities scheduled to ensure they continue to progress through the funnel.

Net new movement is more than just the overall volume of records or volume by stage. By measuring if records have progressed from one stage to the next or skipped stages, this funnel metric allows you to predict revenue and make real-time adjustments that improve results.

Net New MovementCHEATSHEET

Definit ion (noun) net noo moov-muh-nt: Net new movement measures how many records are entering the funnel, where they enter (top, middle or bottom) and if the records are sequentially progressing or jumping between funnel stages.

Pro Tip:

Having a “net new” view of your funnel is like putting a GPS tracking device on your records. You know what enters and exits each stage of the funnel, but also where the records came from and where they went.

The Revenue Funnel

Prospect

Engaged

Marketing Qualified

Sales Accepted

Sales Qualified

Opportunity

Closed Won


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Pro Tip:

Three Ways to Capture Net New Movement 1. Set up snapshots and manually compare

what is changing and moving from priorsnapshots.

2. Turn on history tracking for fields in Salesforce objects to track every time afield value changes.

3. Invest in a platform to automaticallycalculate and analyze net newmovement, like FunnelWise.

Identify where the funnel needs filled. Marketing knows exactly where leads need generated when they leverage net new movement. If a large number of records skip a stage or “fizzle” out, this signals to marketing that more leads are needed to keep sales productive and on track to achieve goals.

Find patterns and trends. When comparing your funnel movement to last week, month, quarter or year, it allows you to see indicators for success or failure. This provides confirmation that you are on track to hit revenue goals. If not, net new movement gives you the opportunity to get back on track by making modifications.

Gain insight on which successes need repeated. When comparing net new movement across key dimensions, both teams know what efforts delivered the best results. Marketing can see which campaigns generated and moved forward the most leads. Sales can identify which touches kept records progressing into closed-won deals.

Confirm processes are being followed. If a large number of records continuously skip funnel stages, it signals that processes are possibly not being followed.

Determine where modifications are needed. In the opposite scenario, if records aren’t advancing or moving, this signals marketing or sales to investigate why and address the root cause. Maybe a sales rep left the company and the records weren’t re-assigned or maybe an email campaign proved ineffective.

Net New Movement Delivers Answers

This graph shows a fluctuation in the number of records in a funnel stage from January to September. Tracking net new movement and making comparisons allows you to identify trends and determine if action is needed.

Once net new movement is captured from the revenue funnel, you can begin to improve forecasting efforts and your bottom line. Here are some examples of how marketing and sales should leverage this revenue funnel metric.






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Calculating Net New Movement

When your revenue funnel is working properly, it is moving leads through funnel stages. Net new movement can be calculated for each stage in a funnel, but in the example below, you can see how it’s calculated for the Prospect Stage.

Prospect Stage ExampleTo calculate net new movement, select a period of time, such as the month of December, from the chart to the left (Figure 1).

1. Measure the number of leads at the end of thetime period (December 31).

2. Now subtract the number of leads at the startof the time period (December 1).

3. Divide that number by the number of leads atthe beginning of the time period (December 1).

4. Then multiply that number by 100 to calculatethe net new movement percentage.

Net New Movement Helps Predict RevenueThis type of movement provides critical insight and direction on where to focus your efforts and gives you a better understanding of constant records flowing in and out of your funnel. It provides value to your business by allowing you to visualize your data, determine how and when movement is occurring and ensure your efforts to replenish funnel stages are optimized. By measuring funnel movement you can accurately identify where to optimize and see a true “net new” view in your revenue funnel.

Figure 1

Net new movement equation:[(Day 31 Leads - Day 1 Leads) / Day 1 Leads] x 100 = Net New Movement

The equation for December’s data:[(1,160 - 1,122) / 1,122] x 100 = 3.4%

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When you do a month-to-month comparison, this bar graph shows net new movement from September to December. November had the highest net new movement with 7.7 percent, followed by October with 4.0 percent and December with 3.4 percent. Every company has a different sales cycle, so in this example, November may typically have a higher net new movement percentage than December due to seasonal trends.

3.4%

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Conversion RatesCHEATSHEET

Definition (noun) kuh n-vur-zhuh n reyt: Conversion rates measure the successful forward movement of records in the revenue funnel. Forward motion means records are moving to the subsequent stage or any successful stage further down the revenue funnel.

Why Do Conversion Rates Matter?

Monitoring conversion rates over time provides insight into how the revenue funnel is functioning. It establishes a benchmark to identify patterns and determines if the progression of records is dramatically changing. Ideally, conversion rates should be consistent or improving with subtle fluctuation. If rates are steadily decreasing, it is a sign the funnel needs evaluated and actions are needed to keep revenue on track.

Pro Tip:

Measuring conversion rates helps companies make sure their funnels are functioning properly and if records are moving forward as expected.

It answers critical questions that help marketing and sales find ways to increase conversions at each stage of the buyer’s journey.






Conversion Rates Deliver Answers

Monitoring conversion rates on a regular basis is sound practice. This metric helps organizations understand the health of their revenue funnels and if records are moving forward at a consistent and expected pace. Below are examples of how this metric provides a “status check” for the funnel:

Identify patterns and trends in sales cycle. Conversion rates, when viewed consistently over time, assist in determining if there are trends or patterns in the sales cycle. During certain months, a business may expect lower or higher conversion rates, but typically plateaus, or fairly level rates, means the funnel is functioning properly. If large peaks or valleys are consistently occurring, this could be a seasonal pattern that is expected or could indicate to investigate what needs adjusted or improved upon.

Establish benchmarks for setting goals. Similar to finding patterns and trends, being able to interpret them allows organizations to set goals based on the past performance of conversion rates. When calculated for funnel stages or sub funnels, marketing and sales can reference those previous measurements and set goals with clear visibility on how to achieve them.

Invest in initiatives with consistent or higher conversion rates. For example when calculating conversion rates by lead source, marketing may learn that website leads convert at a faster rate than ones from a webinar. They can better invest additional resources in initiatives that drive revenue.

Find the activities that convert records and provide the best return on investment. When there is a peak in conversion rates or if records are frequently converting to stages further down the funnel, marketing or sales can discover what activities moved them forward and capitalize on the success. If a certain sales activity is more effective, conversion rates will help tell that story.

Determine where coaching is needed. By calculating sales rep conversion rates, sale managers can find who is under-performing and provide additional coaching to help convert more records.

Identify who has capacity for more leads. Calculating the conversion rates for sales reps leads to better understanding of their bandwidth, which helps marketing provide the right coverage to enable success for the sales team.

Conversion Rates:

a Health Check for Your Revenue

Funnel





Confirms resources are in place for achieving goals. Using historical conversion rates can also assist in ensuring marketing and sales have the necessary resources to hit their goals. If the company plans to increase business over last year, using those past rates will confirm where resources are needed. For example, marketing can align its budget with how many more leads it needs to generate. Sales can verify it has enough reps to provide the proper number of touches to convert those additional leads.

Pinpoint records not converting and address the root cause. If conversion rates for certain funnel stages are showing a steady decrease every month, marketing or sales should identify why. For example if the “Marketing Qualified” stage conversion rates are consistently decreasing, marketing and sales need to address the root cause. Conversions could be dropping because service level agreements aren’t being met or there may be a quality issue causing a larger number of leads to be disqualified. It is important for marketing and sales to understand why.

Monthly comparison shows how the funnel is functioning at each stage. This type of analysis gives insight into the health of funnel stages when viewing them month over month (see Figure 1 to the left), and shows if and when action is needed to ensure goals will be achieved.

Provide transparency between marketing and sales. Marketing’s job is to provide qualified leads to sales, yet they often lack visibility into what happens once leads are handed off to sales. Calculating conversion rates further down the funnel provides data for which leads successfully (or unsuccessfully) converted, allowing marketing to determine which initiatives deliver leads that drive revenue, while sales can ensure the right follow-up is occurring.

The chart above gives a monthly comparison of conversion rates in the “Marketing Qualified” stage. For the months of November and December, this percentage substantially increased, which some businesses might expect due to seasonal trends. If not, they should investigate in order to repeat the success.

SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB

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Marketing Qualified Conversion Rates

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45%

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Figure 1: Monthly Comparison





Figure 2: Calculating Conversion Rates for March

Calculating Conversion Rates

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Opportunity Closed Won

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Conversion Rate Equation (Number of records that moved forward by end of period / Number of records at beginning of period) x 100

= Conversion Rate Percentage

Funnel Stage

Total number of records on March 1

Records that moved forward by March 31

Conversion Rate

Known (52/122) x 100 = 43%Engaged (35/95) x 100 = 37%Marketing Qualified (25/84) x 100 = 30%Sales Accepted (23/65) x 100 = 35%Sales Qualified (12/36) x 100 = 33%Opportunity Pursuit (5/13) x 100 = 38%

As one of the most commonly used funnel metrics, conversion rates are typically calculated on a monthly basis in order to determine what percentage of leads convert from one stage to the next.

This benchmark allows an organization to compare and determine if rates have increased or decreased. Using the conversion rate equation below, calculate rates in each funnel stage for the month of March as demonstrated in Figure 2.

Pro Tip: Sideways Movement

You can use conversion rates for each funnel stage to calculate overall conversion from the top of the funnel to closed won. However, if a large amount of records entered at the side of the funnel, as shown to the right, the conversion rate would spike in that stage where sideways movement occurred.

In this funnel, when 250 additional records entered the funnel in the second stage, the conversion rate skewed from 52 to 73 percent. 89

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1103 + 250 = 1353

185425059%

52%

44%

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73%RecordsEntering from the

Side





Figure 3: March Conversion Rates

Marketing Qualified Stage Total Number of Records on March 1 = 84

Week Number of Recordsthat Moved Forward

1 62 53 74 4

Total 22

In this example, the company calculates conversion rates on a monthly basis due to its sales cycle. The total number of records in the stage at the beginning of the March is 84 and the total number of records that moved forward is 22. The equation to calculate the conversion rate is: (22/84) x 100 = 26%

However, if the company were to calculate it at the end of Week 2, the number of records moving forward in equation would change. Using the chart above, the steps are mapped out below.

Records moving forward in Week 1 and 2: 6 + 5 = 11Total records at the beginning of March (no change): 84The new equation for this time period: (11/84) x 100 = 13%

Measuring the conversion rate at the end of Week 2 skewed the conversion rate to 13 percent. This percentage will not serve as a relevant benchmark to verify how the revenue funnel is functioning.

Time Impacts Conversion Rates

Conversion rates are also impacted by time, so it is best to monitor them at consistent intervals, look for fluctuations and verify that trends are showing what is expected. If a business calculates conversion rates on a monthly basis due to its sales cycle, the records that exit two days prior to the end of the month should not skew the average conversion rates. However, if the company decides to calculate them earlier in the month, Figure 3 demonstrates the impact this has to the conversion rate average. To leverage this metric, it is recommended that it is consistently measured based on an organization’s sales cycle.

Achieve revenue by using conversion rates to confirm forward movement

of leads and opportunities.





Why Velocity Matters?

Velocity is the key to revenue prediction. It predicts where you’ll finish in the race toward revenue goals. Without capturing, measuring and understanding velocity, you’ll never know why you finished first, last or in the middle of the pack.

Velocity measures the speed records are moving through your funnel and helps determine whether sales and marketing are speeding up or slowing down. It keeps you aware of when revenue goals will be achieved.

Definition (noun) vuh-los-i-tee: Velocity is the speed at which records move through your revenue funnel – their passage of time. FunnelWise measures overall velocity for the entire funnel, as well as specific stages within the funnel.

VelocityCHEATSHEET

Pro Tip:

Oftentimes, companies only look at volume and conversion rates. This is misleading if velocity is not part of the equation. For example, you may know you need 50 marketing qualified leads, but do you know “when” you need them? Do you know when sales reps have capacity to work them?





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Velocity SignalsCapturing velocity identifies the pace of records and signals action:

Slowing DownIdentify Investigate Issue Take Action

Speeding UpIdentifyInvestigate Success Repeat

Pro Tip:

Optimal velocity is achieved when the number of

days a record sits in a stage decreases. High velocity

equates to a low number. Five days is faster than 10

days when measuring velocity.

Velocity Delivers Answers

When velocity is captured, it answers critical questions to achieve and grow revenue. Here are two examples of how marketing and sales can leverage velocity:

Attribute Marketing SpendMarketing gains insight into which campaigns move records more quickly through the funnel. For example, marketing calculates that web leads average 30 days to move from marketing qualified to closed-won and trade show leads average 45 days. This signals marketing to invest more dollars into website leads, and evaluate their future trade shows spend or follow-up process.

Evaluate Sales PerformanceSales can evaluate performance by determining which sales reps are moving opportunities through the funnel faster. If calculating velocity for a specific stage, such as “Completed Demo,” it shows records were taking five days longer to close than expected. This signals sales to identify which records didn’t move as quickly and why. Maybe a new sales rep needs additional coaching, or an experienced rep has too many opportunities.

In both of these scenarios, velocity signaled how modifications could grow revenue faster.







Calculating Velocity

Tracking VelocityBy its nature, velocity is not easy to track, as it requires knowing when each lead enters a stage, exits a stage or skips between them. That’s a lot of data.

For Salesforce and marketing automation users, it is a challenge as these aren’t natively tracked. In Salesforce, the field history tracking must be turned on for the necessary standard objects and custom objects.

Once these data points are tracked, there are several ways to calculate funnel velocity.

Average Velocity isn’t EnoughTracking average funnel velocity does not provide the insights on whether your funnel is speeding up or slowing down.

Using Figures 1 and 2, both have an identical average funnel velocity of 5 days. But careful review of data shows that some leads went through in 1-2 days while others took longer, 8-9 days. Both have an average of 5 days, but tell a completely different story of velocity.

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Figure 4

Average Velocity by Stage January February

Prospect 5 8Engaged 10 10Marketing Qualified 5 5Sales Accepted 15 15Sales Qualified 10 10Opportunity 15 18Closed Won - -Total Days 60 66

The chart outlines the average velocity for each stage in January and February. The highlighted days in February signaled a slowdown in velocity.

To understand the story velocity tells, calculating average velocity by stage helps understand the true distribution of records.

Doing the MathTo calculate average velocity for each stage, select a time period to measure. We’ll use the month of January (Figure 3).

In January, records spent an average of 5 days in the Prospect stage before moving to Engaged, where they spent an average of 10 days before moving to Marketing Qualified and so on. During January, it took 60 days on average for records to move completely through the funnel, with an average velocity of 10 days per stage.

Insights Through ComparisonsNow we can go a step further and compare average velocity by stage to gain insights about the funnel.

In Figure 4, we compare the average velocity for each stage against February, where total average velocity increased to 66 days. Six additional days may seem minor, but it equates to a 10 percent slowdown in velocity. Leaving us to assume that if nothing else changes, we are in danger of losing 10 percent of revenue. Most organizations cannot afford a 10 percent decrease in revenue.

Looking at the average velocity of each stage provides those signals for what is slowing down or speeding up. Prospect and Opportunity stages both took 3 additional days.

Predict & Grow RevenueVelocity helps understand when revenue will be realized. When you calculate velocity, determine distribution and make comparisons, insight is gained on how to optimize velocity and grow revenue.

The Revenue Funnel

Prospect

Engaged

Marketing Qualified

Sales Accepted

Sales Qualified

Opportunity

Closed Won

January AverageNo. of Days in Each Stage

510

515

1015

Total Average Velocity = 60 DaysAverage Stage Velocity = 10 Days

Figure 3

Grow revenue faster by leveraging velocity.

Calculating Average Velocity by Stage







Definition (verb) eyg-ing: Aging is the duration of time a record has sat in a particular funnel stage. It is critical that records are consistently moving within the revenue funnel stages. Measuring aging by stage assists in determining where records are getting stuck to identify bottlenecks or where a breakdown in process is occurring.

AgingCHEATSHEET

Why Does Aging Matter?

Aging is critical for predicting revenue. Records have a shelf life that diminishes with time; therefore, aging helps determine how much revenue is at risk. Companies must understand how long records spend in each stage. This understanding allows businesses to discover why records are not moving in order to take the appropriate action and move the records to the right place.

Pro Tip:

Tracking Aging Against Activities

Activities fuel record movement through the funnel. Therefore, if a record sits in a stage for a certain amount of time, one of the first aspects marketing or sales should identify is when the last time the aged record had an activity completed and what type of activity. If the record is actively being worked, then it is possible a different type of engagement or touch is required. If no activities were recently completed or are scheduled, marketing or sales need to decide if a service level agreement is needed or if one wasn’t followed. Once that determination is made, they can better address why the record wasn’t moved out after it turned a certain age.



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Verify data cleanliness. Aging puts data in the spotlight. It helps both marketing and sales diagnose if “dirty data” is the problem. For example, if records were not reassigned when a sales rep left the company, aging helps identify those records. Also, if records haven’t moved from a stage at the top of funnel because a required field was not populated (such as an email address, which excludes them from receiving a marketing email), aging uncovers these records. Aging helps locate bad or missing data for records, allows marketing and sales to determine if the information can be populated to keep records viable, or if the records needs removed from the database. Quality data management starts with aging.

Pro Tip: Handoff Stage

Aging is important to review for each stage in the revenue funnel; however, the handoff between marketing and sales is a transition stage where records should be accepted by sales or moved into a recycled stage. If records sit in this stage for more than a few hours or days, marketing questions why sales has not accepted the leads. Money was invested to generate those records and both sales and marketing are accountable for showing a return on investment.

In the handoff stage, marketing and sales needs to understand why records grew stale: Who was assigned the records and did they have capacity to work those records? Was there a breakdown in the lead routing process or was automation not working as expected?

Other transition stages companies should pay close attention to include the handoff between marketing and sales development and from sales development to sales, if applicable. This ensures business areas are responding to each record at the appropriate time as it moves within the funnel.

Improve pipeline health. The longer a record sits, the lower the likelihood of converting it, which affects pipeline health. Aging can improve the pipeline in two ways: One way is by determining which opportunities are no longer viable and need removed from the sales forecast. If a company’s sales cycle is three months and records have sat in a particular stage for six months, they need evaluated to ensure accurate forecasting. The second way is if a company isn’t ready to remove the opportunity from a particular stage, it can also apply a lower success rate percentage to older opportunities than newer ones to improve accurate forecasting. Both of these options improve pipeline health and create higher forecast accuracy.

Aging Delivers Answers

Aging tells the truth. When records are not moving, aging identifies them and allows companies to resolve bottlenecks in the funnel. Below are some examples of how aging shines a light on the health of the revenue funnel.


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Pro-Tip:

Weighing Aging Against Velocity

Sales professionals need to have opportunities in their pipeline. Because of this, they might keep opportunities open that truly should be closed.

This tendency is why it is important for sales reps to understand the velocity of successful records. Knowing the average velocity of records in opportunity stages and comparing it to aging indicates when records are no longer workable.

For example, if most opportunities move forward after 10 days and an opportunity has sat for two months, the sales rep needs to acknowledge the success rate of moving that opportunity to closed lost and adding it to a nurture campaign.

The chance to win business down the road is only possible when the proper engagement continues to occur.

Serve as a coaching tool. Sales managers can use aging to help sales reps understand why it is important to not let records sit in stages past the expected sales cycle duration. When determining which records have sat in an opportunity stage, well past the average sales cycle duration, sales managers can view this data by sales rep and understand which ones are not properly moving their records. Aging becomes a coaching resource for a sales manager to help their team recognize when it’s time to collaborate with marketing and determine a nurture strategy for records that reach a certain age.

Improve marketing spend. Marketing can invest in the lead sources consistently generating records that move through the revenue funnel. For example, if records from a purchased list never move from top-of-funnel stages, marketing can adjust and better leverage its budget to invest in sources that produce records that convert further in the funnel. If certain sources move faster or prompt a higher sale amount, marketing would look to adjust investments in these areas to leverage the success.

Determine if service level agreements (SLAs) are being followed. SLAs serve two purposes: They ensure records receive the proper follow-up based on the funnel stage and record criteria, and they determine when records should be moved after they reach a certain age. If records have reached a certain age in a stage, this may indicate that SLAs are not being followed. When SLAs are not being followed, marketing and sales need to determine who is accountable. If the record is sitting in the top of the funnel, marketing needs to investigate why the record didn’t move. One possibility could be that lead scoring is not functioning properly. If a record is sitting in a sales stage, sales needs to determine if the record owner is completing activities within the determined time frame or if the sales rep doesn’t have the bandwidth and some of the records need reassigned.

Create strategies to convert older records in the future. Once marketing or sales locate records that have sat in a stage beyond the expected duration, they can work together to determine how to best re-engage the record or if an SLA needs created or revised. Taking these steps allows viable records to begin receiving the appropriate touch to secure future revenue.





Aging keeps records viable and people accountable in order to accurately predict and achieve revenue.

973Known 385125 152

62310276 99Engaged

Marketing Qualified 1,954911178 400

Sales Accepted

Sales Qualified

Open Opportunity

366211298 293

597551 74

2007135 40

Measuring Aging by Stage

In order to leverage this metric, companies need to measure a record’s age within each stage of the funnel. The diagram below is an example of how tracking age by funnel stage assists with pinpointing the bottlenecks and making decisions about where records needs moved, which ultimately helps create an accurate forecast.

Revenue Funnel DiagramThe following diagram provides three examples of the types of insights companies gain into why records are not moving when they view the the number and age of records in each stage of the revenue funnel.

3. Open OpportunityIn this stage, opportunitiesshould move based on theexpected sales cycle.

If the average sales cycle is six months, the 200 records that have sat in this stage for 271+ days will greatly impact pipeline reporting due to their likelihood to convert. It also indicates sales reps may need coached on when opportunities need moved to Closed Lost for nurturing and proper engagement.

LEGEND(Number of Days in Stage)

0-90 Days

91-180 Days

181-270 Days

271+ Days

2. Sales AcceptedAt this stage, records wereaccepted by sales andshould progress forward orbe recycled.

For even 293 records to reach 91+ days, along with the other records sitting there even longer, it indicates sales may not have capacity, a lead routing strategy is needed or needs modified or data is not being properly managed to ensure records are being worked.

1. Marketing QualifiedThis is the critical handoffstage where leads shouldnever stay too long.Marketing hands thequalified leads to sales, andthen sales needs to acceptor recycle them.

In this example, 2,865 records are older than 181 days, this indicates there could be an issue with automation, SLAs not being followed or need created or sales does not have the bandwidth to provide proper follow-up.





Definition (noun) ak-tiv-i-tees: Activities are the sales and marketing efforts that drive records through the revenue funnel. Each email sent, website visit, sales call made or meeting held plays a role in moving records forward in the funnel, allowing to companies to trace revenue growth back to the successful activities.

ActivitiesCHEATSHEET

Why Do Activities Matter?

Without activities, records would not move through the funnel and revenue would never be achieved. Measuring activities for each funnel stage provides insight into the true effort needed to acquire a customer. Sales and marketing can directly connect their actions to how revenue is realized and determine what future activities provide the best return.

Pro Tip:

When reviewing activities, it’s important to look at four key elements for each stage of the funnel, but even more critical to review at the handoff between marketing and sales. Common breakdown or miscommunication happens here, so tracking activities and these elements at this stage is crucial for achieving revenue.

Four Key Elements:• Time to first touch• Type of touches• Total number of touches• Result of effort






Pro Tip:

Tracing ActivitiesBackwards Through the Revenue Funnel

Companies that have adopted the Revenue Funnel Science methodology often leverage a bottom-up approach to calculateactivities.

For each closed-won deal, measure and analyze the activities, from the bottom of the funnel to the top. This allows both marketing and sales to understand the time and resources required to acquire a new customer.

Gain Insight into Successful Activities

When measuring activities, it’s valuable that both marketing and sales efforts correlate to each funnel stage and the overall movement in the revenue funnel. Making this connection allows teams to gain insight into which activities successfully move records through each funnel stage. Without this knowledge, it’s simply a guessing game.

Marketing activities are communications and interactions with leads and contacts, typically through marketing programs or campaigns (email sent, opened, clicked, website visits, form submissions, event attendance, content downloads and more). Using a marketing automation platform helps automate and track these types of activities.

Sales activities include calls, emails, demonstrations, meetings and other interactions between the sales team and prospective customers. Customer relationship management (CRM) software tracks these efforts.

These platforms typically do not track activities by funnel stage, instead they track all activities at the lead or contact level. This makes the correlation between which activities increase conversion or improve velocity by stage a time-consuming process that requires manual exportation and compilation of data. By investing in funnel intelligence software, companies are able to measure activities by funnel stage and determine which activities best move records forward in the funnel.





Activities Deliver Answers

Effective activities move records through the funnel, while ineffective ones push them out or leave them to grow stale. Knowing which activities are effective and how many are needed can only be achieved by measuring and analyzing past efforts. Using this past knowledge allows companies to provide forward-looking answers:

Find the activities that provide the best return on investment. Marketing and sales can identify the activities that consistently convert records and if certain ones improve velocity. This insight allows a company to capitalize on successful activities.

Confirm resources are in place for achieving goals. If the number of activities it takes to convert records is measured, it helps sales and marketing determine and align appropriate resources and budget to achieve their goals. For example, sales can verify it has enough reps to complete the proper number of activities at each funnel stage to keep records moving forward. Marketing can invest in programs that move records forward consistently and as expected.

Calculate how much time passed before an activity is completed. If activities are not completed in a timely manner, records won’t move or worse, move forward. Knowing this metric holds team members accountable to ensure a smooth transition and future revenue. This is important to measure for all funnel stages, but is vital in the handoff stage between marketing and sales to ensure the proper follow-up at the right time.

Determine if records aren’t moving due to number of activities. Tracking activities helps determine if processes are being followed. If records are sitting too long in funnel stages and no activities have occurred, marketing and sales can then determine the root cause. For example, if records were assigned to a sales rep who is no longer with the company, a lack of activity would indicate records need reassigned. Or if records remain in the “Engaged” stage and emails are never opened, marketing should re-evaluate its programs.

Verify service level agreements (SLAs) are being followed. Some companies have specific SLAs for certain types of records to ensure the proper follow-up. Whether it’s one hour or one day, measuring activities helps communicate expectations to the team.





Activities fuel your revenue engine. Without it, records do not move forward in the funnel.

Increase Success with Service Level Agreements

As a recommended practice, companies should implement service level agreements (SLAs) for critical funnel stages. By reviewing historical performance of activities using funnel metrics, such as Net New Movement, Velocity and Conversion Rates, companies can create SLAs backed by data and know which activities should occur and when to move records forward. An effective SLA defines these activity measurements and may vary based on the lead source:

Time to first completed activity. Determine what the time frame is for sales to contact a qualified lead. For example, some companies may require follow-up within one hour, while other SLAs may state that sales must make contact within the first 24 hours.

Total number of activities that should occur in a funnel stage prior to recycling. Not all leads are equal and an effective SLA takes that into consideration. Depending on the lead source and other business aspects, a sales rep should know the expected number of touches to execute. If none of the activities were effective, the SLA would determine if the lead would need moved to a nurture or recycled stage.

Types of activities that should occur by sales. Using funnel metrics can help determine which types of activities are moving records forward and if it varies by lead demographics, product line or other characteristics. The SLA should reflect this insight to keep moving records forward.

How sales is notified when news leads are ready. Marketing and sales must agree how sales is informed when there is a new record requiring action. It is typically recommended that this notification is automated in a marketing automation or CRM platform to ensure real-time notification.

Requires sales to provide feedback to marketing on each lead. The only way marketing can improve the quality of leads it provides to sales is for sales to give feedback on those leads. This must be documented and measured. If one lead source continues to generate leads that are disqualified, then marketing needs to know and change its approach.




http://info.funnelwise.com/rs/514-IQG-800/images/FunnelWise%20Net%20New%20Movement%20Cheatsheet.pdf

http://info.funnelwise.com/rs/514-IQG-800/images/FunnelWise%20Velocity%20Cheatsheet.pdf

http://info.funnelwise.com/rs/514-IQG-800/images/FunnelWise%20Conversion%20Rates%20Cheatsheet.pdf

Documents

Revenue Funnel Metric Cheatsheets · Revenue Funnel Metric Cheatsheets Net New Movement Conversion Rates Velocity Aging ... sales find ways to increase conversions at each stage of