ABCABC CompanyRevScoreboard · the ten things
ABC Company is fictional. Figures come from a real sales organization; every name has been changed.
05 of 10 · The Diagnostic

Channel ROI

Closed-won revenue per 100 opportunities, by source.

1The question

What is a lead from each source actually worth?

2Why it matters

Lead counts flatter busy channels. Two sources can deliver the same number of leads and differ several-fold in closed revenue, and the monthly report never shows it because it stops at the lead.

This is the analysis that says which channels deserve more effort, which deserve less, and which are volume without yield. It is the one most likely to contradict the current budget.

What the research says

Reps don't pursue about 70% of the leads marketing generates. Across 461 reps in four firms, follow-up depended on lead prequalification and on managers tracking follow-up. Stamp the source and track the follow-up.

Sabnis, Chatterjee, Grewal & Lilien (2013), Journal of Marketing 77(1), 52–67 · doi.org/10.1509/jm.10.0047

Their study was about choosing customers by measured value. We apply the same logic to channels: allocate effort by value per opportunity, not by volume.

Venkatesan & Kumar (2004), Journal of Marketing 68(4), 106–125 · doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.68.4.106.42728
BEvidence grade B. One strong study, or an established framework in wide use. The grade rests on why source and follow-up must be measured. The won-$-per-100 ratio itself is craft.
What it doesn't settle. Won dollars per 100 opportunities is a ratio we defined. No study validates it. Speed-to-lead multipliers that circulate in the industry come from vendor sources, not peer review, and don't appear here as evidence.

3What to collect, every time

Input A number the CRM can't give you: the plan, quotas, working weeks, spend.Field Does the field exist, is it required, and who fills it in?Definition Your own definition of a thing we then compute against.Prediction Your answer now, in writing, checked against the record later.
Field
Lead source: one field, required at creation, from a picklistFree text and two competing fields both break this table.
Definition
First touch or last touch, and who stamps itDecides what “source” means.
Input
Spend by channel, last twelve monthsWith it, cost per won dollar. Without it, yield only, and the page says so.
Prediction
Which channel produces your best customers? Which gets the most effort?Placed side by side.

4How it's computed

  1. For each source: closed deals, wins, and won dollars.
  2. Win rate = won ÷ closed. Won $ per 100 = won dollars ÷ closed deals × 100.
  3. Compare each source's share of deals with its share of won dollars.

5What ABC's record shows

What a lead is worth, by source

Closed deals created Jan 2024–Jul 2026
Won $ per 100 opportunities
Referral - Client
$498K
Referral - Channel Partner
$437K
Networking
$248K
Web
$213K
Cold Call
$204K
Broker
$203K
Call In
$143K
Inside Sales
$70K
Referral - Personal Network
$38K
Other
$0
Share of deals vs. share of won dollars
SourceDealsWon $Win rate
Inside Sales24.6%9.2%3.6%
Broker20.0%21.7%14.6%
Referral - Personal Network9.6%1.9%3.2%
Web7.2%8.2%20.2%
Referral - Channel Partner5.7%13.3%17.8%
Referral - Client5.3%14.0%35.3%
Cold Call4.0%4.4%8.9%
Call In4.0%3.0%19.1%
Networking3.9%5.1%9.2%
Other3.3%0.0%0.0%
Inside Sales: 24.6% of deals, 3.6% win rate. Per 100 opportunities, channel partner returns 6.2×, broker returns 2.9×, client returns 7.1× what Inside Sales does.
Cost per won dollar: not computable. Spend by channel wasn't provided. With twelve months of spend, this becomes cost per won dollar.
Two source fields. The weekly report carries two lead-source fields. Where both are filled, they agree on 62% of deals; one is blank on 42% of records, the other on 8%. Pick one, require it, retire the other.

6What a sales leader does Monday

  • Move one block of seller time from the lowest-yield source to the highest for a quarter.
  • Collapse duplicate source fields into one required picklist.

7The founder version

Building your first CRM? Do this now, so you can answer the question in a year.

  • Pick 6–8 source values and lock them in a picklist on day one.
  • Ask every new customer how they found you, and record it on the deal.