The ten things you need to understand about a sales engine
Your own history is the ruler. Write predictions first. Grade the evidence. Say “not computable” when it is. Show the math.
| # | Thing | The question | Collect every time | The research | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | CRM Hygiene | Can you trust what your CRM says right now? | Next step and its date · Close date · Date the deal entered its current stage | Wang & Strong (1996); Kluger & DeNisi (1996) | A |
| 02 | Sales Conversion Rates | Where exactly do your deals die? | Your stages, in order, with what must be true about the BUYER to leave each one · When a lead becomes an opportunity, and who decides · A dated milestone for each stage | Fischhoff (1975); Nosek (2018) | C |
| 03 | Pipeline Coverage Ratio | Is there enough pipeline to hit the number, by your math? | The annual plan, in writing, and whether it includes renewals · What “revenue” means in that number · Who carries a quota, and the quotas by month | Tversky & Kahneman (1974); Lawrence (2006) | C |
| 04 | Ideal Customer & Segments | Who do you really win with? | Which cuts matter: size, industry, geography, service line · Who fills in industry and company size, and when · Segments deliberately entered or exited | Venkatesan & Kumar (2004); Tversky & Kahneman (1974) | B |
| 05 | Channel ROI | What is a lead from each source actually worth? | Lead source: one field, required at creation, from a picklist · First touch or last touch, and who stamps it · Spend by channel, last twelve months | Sabnis (2013); Venkatesan & Kumar (2004) | B |
| 06 | Activity Mix | What does a week of selling actually consist of here? | What counts as a touch: call, email, meeting, note · Which touches are captured automatically and which are typed · Email and calendar sync: everyone, or only opt-ins? | Verbeke (2011); Churchill (1985) | A |
| 07 | The Win-Signal Regression | Which of your beliefs about winning hold up? | How many deals have closed, won or lost, in three years · Anything that broke comparability mid-history · A recorded reason on every lost deal | Grove (2000); Dawes (1989) | A |
| 08 | Forecast Integrity | Is the forecast evidence or optimism? | How the forecast is built: who submits, who rolls up, who signs · What “qualified” means, in one sentence, from two people · Close-date history (push count) | Grove et al. (2000); Larkin (2014) | B |
| 09 | The Weekly Sales Scorecard | Does each seller know their number this week? | What a seller is expected to do each week, in writing · What happens today when a week is missed · Who enforces the floor, and are they willing | Locke & Latham (2002); Kluger & DeNisi (1996) | A |
| 10 | The Same-Story Test | Does everyone tell the same story? | The interview set: sellers, the sales leader, the executive, operations, 2–3 clients, a partner · The non-attribution commitment, said out loud in front of the team · Any history that would make people guarded | Argyris & Schön (1974); Edmondson (1999) | B |
Worked example with real (disguised) data: abccompany.revscoreboard.com · Every citation with its DOI is on each thing's page. © Richard LeDuc