The more I have become addicted to marketing metrics the more I find that it is important to step back and take a big picture look at the reports I am running. When I first began developing marketing metrics many years ago it seemed that I was generating great data, but it was not always actionable data. Over time I have learned how to focus on developing data and metrics that drive better decisions and revenue. This past week I have been thinking about the reports that I will be running over the next 12 months with a focus on producing data that can be acted on to help drive profits. Below is a listing of some of those reports and I hope many of you will find the list beneficial. I would love to hear if you have additional reports that you are running to help drive top line growth.
Monthly Reports
- Revenue Forecasting
- Lead Reporting
- Pipeline Reports (Fee proposals and qualification based proposals)
- New Business Reports (New work signed by month)
- Backlog Report (Volume of contracts signed but not yet billed)
Quarterly Reports
- Marketing/BD Costs by group, division, and companywide
- Marketing Labor Costs (Marketing personnel Only)
- Marketing Labor Costs (Non-marketing personnel)
- Business Development Labor Costs
- Marketing/BD Non-Labor Costs
- Hit Rates by group, division, companywide, and most importantly by opportunity owner
- Proposal to Awarded
- Shortlisted to Awarded
Bi-Annual Reports (1/1 and 7/1)
- Revenue Comparison Report (Compare revenues for Top 100 clients to prior 3 years revenues from those same clients)
- Identify growth and losses for top clients
- Reversible or Inevitable?
- Identify growth and losses for top clients
- Identify Client Managers and set meetings regarding relationships that are losing ground
Annual Reports
- Project Size Report
- Project profitability by project size and as portion of total profitability
- Project size as portion of total revenue
- Repeat Clientele Percentage (percentage of clients that are New vs. Repeat)
cofebuz 
One of the best books I’ve read recently was “Moneyball,” about a metrics-heavy approach to baseball. It was all about doing the right things, regardless of the results, and eventually good things will happen. So I think that in business, too, it’s important to track inputs — what you’re doing to build success — rather than outcomes. This would include the numbers of sales meetings requested, the number actually held, the number of requests for information from the company and other leading edge indicators. Do you agree? What can companies do to track more indications that the right efforts are being made?