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.

From Lagging to Leading

If your goal is to close $100,000 in weekly revenue, you must identify the exact sequence of events that leads to a closed deal. This requires two key steps:

1. Mapping your customer journey: Understand the stages a potential customer goes through from initial contact to becoming a paying client.
2. Calculating your conversion ratios: Determine how many activities at one stage are needed to move to the next stage.

Example: Revenue Prediction

Let's illustrate with an example:

• It takes ten introductory calls to secure two qualified proposals.
• It takes two qualified proposals to close one sale worth $20,000.

In this scenario, your leading indicators are:

• Introductory calls
• Qualified proposals

Instead of just tracking the final closed revenue, track these activities weekly. If your introductory 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® (Identify, Discuss, Solve) on the issue and correct the behavior before it hurts your cash flow. This proactive approach helps in avoiding situations where teams are just "reading the scorecard" rather than acting on it, as discussed in [How do we review our weekly scorecard in under five minutes?](/qa/how-to-review-scorecard-under-five-minutes).

The Power of Activity-Based Inputs

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. Identifying these weekly measurables is crucial, even for [back-office weekly scorecard measurables](/qa/back-office-weekly-scorecard-measurables) which might seem harder to quantify.

This method helps your team shift focus from merely reacting to past results to proactively shaping future outcomes, which is key for [shifting our focus from lagging results to weekly leading indicators](/qa/leading-vs-lagging-scorecard-metrics). It also supports effective target setting, particularly when trying to [set realistic weekly goals without just guessing](/qa/setting-scorecard-targets-without-historical-data).

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