We understand the concept of leading versus lagging indicators in theory, but our scorecard is still dominated by past results like closed revenue and monthly billings. How do we practically convert a lagging financial result into a predictive, weekly leading indicator?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Lagging indicators tell you what already happened. You cannot change them. To build a predictive weekly scorecard, you must work backward from your lagging goals to find the activities that create those outcomes. If your goal is closing one hundred thousand dollars in weekly revenue, you must identify the exact sequence of events that leads to a closed deal. This requires mapping your customer journey and calculating your conversion ratios. For example, if it takes ten introductory calls to secure two qualified proposals, and two proposals to close one sale worth twenty thousand dollars, then your leading indicators are introductory calls and qualified proposals. Track those activities weekly instead of just tracking the final closed revenue. If your calls drop this week, you can predict with mathematical certainty that your revenue will drop in four weeks. This foresight gives your leadership team the chance to run IDS® on the issue and correct the behavior before it hurts your cash flow. Stop measuring the scoreboard and start measuring the swings of the bat. Every department has these activity-based inputs. If you cannot find them, look at the daily routines of your top performers to see what actions they repeat consistently to achieve their targets.