Many businesses allocate lead dollars by cost/lead, rather than determining whether the lead is generating profitable customers. This slide shows how to lay out lead profitability, to optimize for profitable customers.
The analysis generally requires that you pull reports for a reasonable period of time, which depends on your product. The appropriate length of time will depend on several things:
Lead volume: Period of time to have a big enough sample of leads across your vendors to make real decisions
Time to conversion: Time it takes for the lead to convert to a sale. Used to calculate lead conversion
Customer lifetime value: Time to determine the overall value of that new customer to your business. Used to calculate revenue/ household
The results of this analysis are usually helpful in determining which lead sources are the most profitable for you…which generally helps you to rank your lead sources or change the types of leads purchased from them. This also can quickly to help you stop the losses from the worst sources right away, which can immediately improve the bottom line!
The Gantt chart is a staple of project management today. It allows for the easy-to-communicate view of major workstreams and the interconnections of key milestones across workstreams. When paired with a weekly project status update, the Gantt chart is a key tool to keeping projects on track.
Beware, however, with Gantt charts that you keep the functional requirements in mind– I’ve seen too many projects where project managers deliver on time with something that doesn’t meet the needed objectives. A dead-on-arrival deliverable isn’t helpful to anyone.
How it works:
The Gantt chart is used to show timelines against major workstreams and deliverables.
Workstreams: Workstreams are the major, bolded segments in the left column. Each workstream will have associated deliverables and milestones
Deliverables: These are the concrete tasks and building blocks that need to be delivered.
Timelines: These are the times you expect the tasks to be in progress, with a marker for key milestones. A solid line generally means a major focus, with dotted lines sometimes indicating followon work or potential for some secondary deliverables.
Lead/ Resources: Highlights who is accountable for delivering the work. This is most helpful when tied to a functional budget, which lays out resources involved, key people/ assets engaged, and budget allocated
The Gantt chart gets its name from Henry Gantt, who popularized its use in the 1910-1915 period, where it was seen as a major breakthrough.
Today, the Gantt chart competes with other means of tracking projects, including software like Microsoft Project, online tools like Basecamp, and alternate forms of project management including Agile development.
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