I baseline. Now we can really - Turnaround Tour ShopPros...- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, British...

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Determining "Where Are We Now? " SNAPSHOT

in Lead Generation The E-Myth Mastery Programn" Module 7: Foundations of E-Myth Lead Generation

Business Development Process: LG-0010 ---

"It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, British physician and novelist

Creating a baseline for the essential processes in There are four key your business is the key to getting your 'house in indicators of your lead order." Your baseline lets you know what you have

and where you are. And while it may look like generation process that will give you a foundation

taking inventory, there's a crucial difference. Describe Inputs, for assessing its Determining the baseline for any process or effectiveness. You may system will not only give you an objective view of identify additional key what's there, it will help you to see what isn't. indicators as you create Evaluate Importance & Your lead generation baseline will give you a firm your baseline. The basic Effectiveness foundation for evaluating and later innovating your four are:

lead generation process. First, you'll determine exactly what lead generation is in your business and whether or not your process is effective. Then you'll identify what activities and results should be tracked to give you the best picture of how well your process is working.

With the completion of your lead generation baseline, you have an objective, reliable way to

= Total number of people reached in your target lndicators

market

How many leads result Document Baseline

Cost per lead I Total lead generation

Track and Review r Kev Indicators I -. cost 1

keep your fingers on the pulse of the entire chain of activities and events that creates your products and services, and puts them the hands of your e m e e e e e m m m m m m m m m m

customers. You have baselines, and a way to track and evaluate your client fulfillment (production, delivery, and customer service), lead conversion, and lead generation processes. You can track and evaluate everything your business does that directly impacts your customers.

A Business Development

Okay, we've got our baseline. Now we can really I get down to business! 1

Publication of

E-Myth Worldwide Putting the Pieces Togetherm

Santa Rosa, California, USA

This document is conf~dent~al and proplietary to E-Myth Worldwide and cannot be used, disclosed or duplicated without the prior written consent of E-Myth Worldwide. Thls is an unpubl~shed work protected by federal copyright laws and no unauthorized copying, adaptation, distribution or display is permitted.

The E-Myth Mastery ProgramTM Module 7: Foundations of E-Myth Lead Generation Business Development Process: LG-0010 Page 1

Determining "Where Are We Now?" In Lead Generation

"It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, British physician and novelist

DejA Vcr Ail Over Again

You've done it before so there shouldn't be any surprises. And it's not like you don't do it every day in ways you probably don't think much about. Because whether or not you realize it, every time you start something new or re-group and plan your next step or try to get your bearings in some other way, you're looking for your baseline. For the solid ground under your feet that tells you what you've got and where you're starting from.

In your business, this means taking stock. Counting, measuring, calculating, estimating, computing and otherwise assessing what you have. But it's not exactly like taking inventory, because while you're looking for what's there, you're doing it so you can better see what isnk You're doing it with an eye toward identifying what may or may not be working, how you're going to tell, and what you can track over time to see if it's getting any better.

If you're tempted to roll through this step because you think you already know where you are, think about this. You are already running a business and you have done this work before. But there's always more to learn, there are always more surprises, and you can't afford to miss anything - especially about lead generation. So do the work. Take your current lead generation system apart and look at the pieces. Name those things in the system think should be tracked (your key indicators), and give your efforts to put your lead generation house in order the firm foundation they deserve.

Firading Square One

Like any large-scale process in your business, lead generation is comprised of multiple systems. Some of them, like advertising or public relations, are so complex they look like separate processes themselves and, in fact, are systems made up of many smaller systems. Others, like business location or word-of-mouth referrals, may look incidental and not part of a formal lead generation system or process at all. So, for the purpose of creating your lead generation baseline, where do you draw the line? What needs to be included to give you the objective point of reference you need to clearly "see" this part of your business?

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The E-Myth Mastery Program Module 7: Foundations of E-Myth Lead Generation Business Development Process: LG-0010

1 otir I . c i~( l ( ; c t~ t sr ;~ t io t t I:;I .I . \ !~IIV Page 2

p f/ Simply put, your lead generation process consists of everything k you do to position, prepare, and broadcast your offer to your market. The first step in lead generation usually starts with the decisions you make about your lead generation objectives and the development of the budget that will support them. It also requires preparation of your message and selection of the lead generation channels that will best reach your market. Your lead generation process might include print, broadcast, electronic, display or outdoor advertising, direct response marketing, promotional events and activities, public relations and word-of mouth, or published publicity. This is by no means an exhaustive description of lead generation activities, and may not include unique ways you've found to organize your process or convey your message. But it's a place to start. The last step in your process should provide for the evaluation of your lead generation results.

Remember, the true test of egective lead generation is what works for your business and your target market. The only real limit to your lead generation activities is the scope of your imagination!

With this outline to help you identify your lead generation process, take the following steps to establish your lead generation baseline.

Describe Inputs,

I Identify your lead generation process. The first task is to identify the boundaries and the main milestones of the

process. The easiest way to do this for lead generation is to start importance & by finding the first step in the chain of events that creates enough Effectiveness interest in your target market to produce "leads" - people who

demonstrate interest in learning more about your offer. The last step in your process will reflect how those people demonstrate their interest - by walking in your door, for example, or by returning a coupon, or calling, faxing, or e-mailing for more

Document Baseline information.

Track and Review Key Indicators

Use the Process Identification worksheet in the Worksheets section of this booklet to define the boundaries and content of your current lead generation process.

r) Identify and describe inputs, outputs, and costs. If you - haven't "seen" your system before, this will bring it into sharp relief. Think of it as an "x-ray" of your process. Once you take the time to really look at all the resources your current process uses, what results you get from it, and how much it's costing you, you'll be in a better position to decide if it needs innovation. Being objective and specific is the key to success in this step.

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You've done this before. You express the inputs, outputs, and costs of your lead generation process in terms of their "QQT&I": quantity, quality, timing, and intangibles ("intangibles" are those aspects of the system you can observe and describe but can't measure directly). The Systems Evaluation worksheet at the back of this booklet will guide you. One of the most valuable results of this approach will be the identification of quantifiable indicators you can track to see if the system is meeting your goals. The indicators that tell you the most about the system's performance are the key indicators of your lead generation system. Once you identify them, you'll be able to check the health of the whole system quickly and easily just by checking these "pulse points."

3 Evaluate the importance and effectiveness of your lead -7 generation process. Now that you know what it is and what it takes to run it, do you know if your system is important and effective? The importance of something like lead generation is usually a given - every business needs leads to convert into customers - but your system may not be effective. How will you know? Ask yourself if your system is ROBUST. Does it produce the result you want? Does it ~ptimize the resources you've dedicated to it? Are inputs, outputs, and costs in balance with the result it produces? Is it user friendly for the people who operate it? Is it ..mple to understand and to operate? And is it quantified and monitored so you can track it?

Record your answers on the appropriate section of the Systems Evaluation worksheet.

4 Select key indicators. There are four key indicators that are fundamental to any lead generation system: how much of

your target market is reached by your lead generation efforts and how often, the number of leads generated, the cost per lead, and your total lead generation costs. Tracking these four indicators alone will give you a good handle on how your system is functioning, but there are probably other "pulse points" specific to your business. You'll identify them as you complete your baseline. Think in terms of rates, ratios, and costs per unit as you review the "QQT&I" of your process, and additional key indicators may suggest themselves.

5 Establish and document your lead generation baseline. - Here's where the picture of your current lead generation process comes into clear focus. You know what your process looks like, what resources it uses, what it produces, and what key indicators you'll use to tell you how well you're doing. Now it's

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\ 'O[II . l . t . i ~ t l C ; r ~ ~ c r . a t i c 1 1 1 1Saseline Page 4

time to fill in the blanks and see it in black and white. The Key Indicators worksheet in the back of this booklet will record your efforts and document the baseline of your lead conversion system. When you fill it out, you'll know where you are in an objective and quantifiable way.

Track and review the key indicators periodically. Nothing ever stays the same, and sometimes it shouldn't, so you've

got to have a handle on changing conditions. Establishing the baseline for your process will give you a reference point for interpreting its performance, and a foundation for the innovation, quantification, and orchestration of your continuing business development. So review the key indicators you'll develop in this process on a regular basis. They'll allow you to measure your efforts and to make the ongoing course corrections that will take you most directly to your goals.

This document is conf~dential and proprietary to E-Myth Worldwide and cannot be used, disclosed or duplicated withoul the prior wriien consent of E-Myth Worldwide. This is an unpublished work protected by federal copyright laws and no unauthorized copymg, adaptation, distribution or display is permitted.


IO~II- i . V : I ~ ( , C I I C ~ ; I ~ ~ ~ I I l ; ; ~ ~ c ~ i i i t c ~

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Chan's Deleeiabies

May Chan owns the best gourmet deli and gift store in her community. She has a reputation based primarily on word of mouth, although she does do some institutional advertising once or twice a year when an enterprising media salesperson can get her attention. Her ads have featured the range of domestic and imported products she carries; they look like a laundry list of Europe and America's best food manufacturers. May's word of mouth reputation "just happened" according to her recollection. People liked the store, liked her products, and liked her staff. "I guess they told their friends," she says.

May knows she should have a better handle on her lead generation activities, but it hasn't been a top priority. Now that her business is growing, she wants to take a more systematic look at how her customers come to her. With the Systems Evaluation worksheet in hand, May tries to visualize her current lead generation process in sequence and finds she can't. She does place a few ads and she's donated some products to a charity auction, but she sees right up front that she doesn't have any lead generation systems at all! She really doesn't do anything regularly to insure a constant flow of customers. They've always just been there.

IDENTIFY THE PROCESS

Since you have to start somewhere, May lists the writing of her ads as the first step in her lead generation process. It seems clear to her that the last step for any retail business would be getting a customer in the door, so she notes that on the Systems Evaluation worksheet. Now that the boundaries of her lead generation process are understood, May gets a clearer picture of other benchmarks in the process. After she decides on content and writes the ads, May usually meets with a graphic artist from the newspaper or magazine where she advertises. Together they work out an appropriate presentation. The artist submits it for approval and then shepherds it through the production process at the newspaper or magazine. After May's final approval, the ad is published.

May feels she's captured part of her lead generation process on paper, but ads aren't her only lead generator. She realizes that the charity auction and a few other events she's supported also resulted in a good number of new customers. So these things are part of her lead generation system, too. Where do they fit?

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'1 l ' t :. ! c , . c t i j t . a ~ : : , i - ; ~ t I ~ I I I ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ - I I I I C ~

May sees that she may have several lead generation systems, but wonders if there shouldn't be an overall system. One that contains all her efforts to attract customers. She chooses the writing of ads as the starting point of her lead generation system, and the customer walking in her door as the end of it. Main steps include the meeting with the graphic artist to develop and, later, approve the ad. The public relations events don't figure into this scheme yet, but May has already seen how fragmented her lead generation efforts are. When she gets to systems innovation, she'll have a lot to work with.

Even though May is having difficulty finding the first step in her lead generation system, choosing a working definition allows her to look at whether her process is important and effective. Lead generation is so obviously necessary to any business that May never doubts its importance. Even the incomplete system she has is better than none at all. But she suspects that whatever she is doing is only minimally effective, so she decides to give her process the ROBUST test. To do that, she needs to identify the inputs, outputs, and costs of her process, and then look at the quantity, quality, timing, and intangibles of all three.

IDENTIFY & DESCRIBE INPUTS, OUTPUTS & COSTS

EVALUATE IMPORTANCE &

EFFECTIVENESS

First, May looks for her lead generation inputs - elements in her current process that use staff, space and facilities, materials, supplies, or information. Her time is the chief input because she writes the ads and meets with the graphic artist. As she walks through the rest of the process in her mind, she doesn't see much use of other inputs except information. May uses lists of product inventory, prices, and information from her vendors when constructing her ads because she wants to be sure the copy is accurate. Her time and product information appear to be the two major inputs to her lead generation system.

May thinks the only output of her lead generation system is a finished ad. Since a system's output is the result it produces plus any by-products or waste it may generate - and May has limited the definition of her lead generation system to the placement of ads - the result is a finished advertisement. When May redefines her lead generation system to include all the efforts she makes to broadcast her offer to her market, the result of the system will be the leads her system produces.

It's now time for the ROBUST test, and when May applies it, the picture becomes clear. She doesn't know if her efforts produce the results she wants because she's not really sure what she wants. That makes it hard for her to know if her time and

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10111. I .e;lrl (;c.rlc.t-a tion I l ; ~ \ c l l i ~ ~ c .

SELECT KEY INDICATORS

ESTABLISH & DOCUMENT BASELINE

TRACK & REVIEW KEY INDICATORS

money are well spent or whether the system is in balance. It is a simple, user-friendly system, however, because it doesn't require much of her and she only uses it when she wants. So, really, it's no system at all. And it's definitely not trackable, even if it were. May looks at her lead generation system and thinks, "This system is anemic! There's no way it's ROBUST!"

Although she doesn't have much to work with, May wants to at least track the basic four key indicators of her lead generation system: how many people in her target market are reached by her ads, how many leads result, how much it costs per lead, and her total lead generation costs. As she develops her lead generation activity, she knows there'll be more indicators. But this is a good start. Even if she never innovates her system, she'll be able to evaluate the success of whatever she's doing in a way she never could before.

But that's not the plan. May is establishing her baseline so she can put her lead generation system in real order. For her, that means creating a lead generation process that maximizes all the appropriate avenues for business promotion - in a systematic way. So she enters these first four key indicators on her Key Indicators worksheet in real anticipation. "Well, at least I know where I am," she says. "Now I can watch these numbers grow!"

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Clarence Washington is an independent distributor for one of the country's largest manufacturers of household appliances. During the twenty years of their association, Clarence and his client manufacturer have met regularly to map out joint advertising and promotional programs to generate leads for their product. The manufacturer is marketing both to the consumer and to distributors like Clarence. Clarence's target market is all the appliance retailers in his territory. Their common interest, the promotion of the product, suggests a cooperative lead generation strategy, and they meet once a year to construct it. Clarence sees this meeting as the first step in his lead generation process. He and his client's sales manager develop a strategy, negotiate a joint budget, and create an advertising and promotion calendar. "It's amazing how well this works," says Clarence. "It really helps to have a plan."

IDENTIFY THE PROCESS

A "lead" for Clarence is a retailer in his territory who has expressed interest in carrying his product and has accepted a sales appointment with one of his representatives. Clarence develops his leads in a number of ways, but the end point of his lead generation process is the appointment set by his staff. Significant benchmarks along the way include the budget setting that is part of his negotiation with his client manufacturer, the selection of the channels he'll use to reach his target market - some of which he'll use in conjunction with his client and some on his own - and the response to potential leads when they identify themselves.

There's never been any question that Western Distributors' lead generation system is important. Without it, Clarence wouldn't have a business. As a distributor, he's only visible to people who know he's there. Although he gets referrals from the manufacturer when they receive direct inquiries, retailers won't think about Clarence unless they're already committed to carrying his product or he creates the demand by developing the leads. Unlike May Chan's business, which has depended primarily on walk-ins and word of mouth, without a good lead generation system, Clarence's business wouldn't exist.

So the importance of Clarence's lead generation process is a given. But is his system effective? As well developed as it is, is it ROBUST? Clarence now looks to identifying the inputs, outputs, and costs of his system so he can look at it objectively.

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It's clear that staff time is one of the largest inputs. His sales and marketing department includes six sales representatives, three telemarketers, a desktop publisher, and a half-time clerical support person. The lead generation process also uses facilities

IDENTIFY and space - telephones, office furniture, ten computers, a fax & DESCRIBE machine, and three offices. Other inputs to the system include

INPUTS, OUTPUTS the information the manufacturer provides about the product & COSTS and its pricing. And, because output from other systems are

inputs to this system, the marketing strategy he develops in conjunction with his client manufacturer, and the broader marketing strategy that he and his sales staff build around it, are also inputs to the system. As Clarence reviews the inputs to his system, he tries to define them in terms of the quantity, quality, timing, and intangibles of each element so that he can develop as objective a picture as possible.

Clarence now looks at the output of his lead generation system and he thinks about quantity, quality, timing, and intangibles once again. His first thought is the number of sales appointments scheduled. Since this is Western Distributors' definition of a generated lead, this is what the system is designed to produce. But Clarence's process also produces written materials (product brochures, product specifications, and price lists) that are as useful for lead conversion as they are for lead generation.

Lead generation costs are much easier to define, and Clarence immediately identifies his saleslmarketing payroll as his most significant lead generation outlay. But the equipment - computers, phone system, fax machine - and the total square footage used by the saleslmarketing department are a close second. Clarence and the sales staff track the number of leads they generate and he takes this opportunity to calculate how much it's really costing him (in salary, equipment, and pro-rated rent) to produce those leads. Western Distributors has been very successful and it's never been necessary to do this kind of analysis for cost cutting or any other reason before. It turns out to be a real eye opener. When Clarence looks at the figures he finds that his leads are as good as gold - and almost as expensive! This has been a valuable exercise already.

With this information, Clarence can now decide whether his EVALUATE system is ROBUST. There are certainly enough leads to

IMPORTANCE & EFFECTIVENESS

provide financial success, and his partnership with his client manufacturer has been particularly productive in helping him finance and develop his marketing strategy. So Clarence is getting the result he wants, but his initial baseline work is

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1 l * k i i - i t *< : ( i , t ~ ~ ~ t ~ t , ; ! { i ~ ~ r t ! ~ , i \ ~ ~ l i i i ~ ~

indicating that his system may not be optimizing all the resources it's using. The average cost of his leads is emerging as a surprise and a concern. Inputs, outputs, and costs may not be in balance with the result hi's getting, even though that result has been satisfactory. But the system does seem to be user friendly. Everyone seems to understand what he or she is supposed to do and to feel comfortable in offering suggestions for change. It's not a complicated system and accountabilities are straightforward and documented. Everyone has a position

I contract and an overall picture of how their jobs relate to all the others. But Clarence's lead generation system is not really being tracked. At least not in a way that's revealed its inefficiencies before! The sales staff does keep track of its appointments and completed sales, but that tells them more "" d*yyb about their lead conversion than their success at generating leads. It's clear that Clarence's system isn't producing the kinds of information that will let him track the system's effectiveness.

SELECT KEY ZNDZCA TORS


The next step in creating the baseline for his lead generation process will start to give Clarence what he needs to know to figure out where he really stands - the key indicators for his system. For a lead generation process, what he really wants to know is how much of his target market he's covering with his lead generation, how many leads they're producing, what each lead costs, and his total costs for all his lead generation. He also wants to track each separate lead generation activity - advertisements, promotions, and mailings - but he can only get all this information if he's tracking the direct results of those efforts and the system's total costs. Western Distributors wasn't. As a result, they didn't have any place to start in deciding how well they were performing given the costs of the process, or where they might want to improve. It hasn't been important in the past because business has been good. But could it have been better? And what happens if profit margins begin to slip and they need to know where they could lower their costs or make their system more efficient and effective?

Clarence and his staff identify the first three key indicators for their lead generation system as numbers of potential customers reached by their lead generation, the number of leads generated, and cost of each lead. But they're already talking about more. As they begin to document their key indicators on the Key Indicators worksheet, ideas flow. One of Clarence's representative's thinks it would be useful to know if the percentage of budget dedicated to a particular advertising channel reflects the percentage of leads that channel generates.

This document is confidential and proprietary to E-Mylh Worldwide and cannot be used, disclosed or duplicated wdhout the prior wrinen consent ol E-Mylh Worldw~de. This is an unpublished work protected by federal copyright laws and no unauthorized copying, adaptation, distribution or display is permitted.


fl!iI . 1 . t * a ( I ( Z ~ ~ I I ~ ~ ~ : I ~ I O I I I ; a ~ ~ ~ l i t ~ t ~

TRACK & REVIE W KEY INDICATORS

The desktop publisher wants some way to track the effect of various ads and promotions by the particular message they're using. The secretary is interested in how many unsolicited inquires turn into sales appointments because she's been working on making those calls more productive. It's clear there's a lot to know and a lot of interest in creating a system to track their results. Clarence and his crew resolve to expand the Key Indicators worksheet and to review their results on a quarterly basis.

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'The E-Myth Mastery Program Module 7: Foundations of E-Myth Lead Generation Business Development Process: LG-0010

i otir 1 , ( n i ~ d ( ~ ~ . ~ r ~ t ~ : - : i ~ i t ~ ~ ~ l < i t \ t s l i IIC

. . . - . -- . -. .. . . - . . . .. . -

Swenson & Sor~s

Mike Swenson's family has been manufacturing exercise and athletic equipment for three generations. They had hoped to be a household name by now, but Mike's father and grandfather

I \ > 4

could never agree on which market to pursue, and the company has lost a lot of time to false starts and misdirected marketing plans. They've maintained sales by aggressive pricing, something they've been able to do because their manufacturing processes are extremely efficient and well managed. They only wish they could say the same for their lead generation. Sales are not what they should be in spite of the significant funds that are devoted to advertising and other promotions each year. Mike is determined to change all that. "There's no reason we can't be the premiere manufacturer in our market, but something is standing in our way and I'm not sure what it is. We should have more customers and I don't know why we don't. Maybe this will tell us what we're doing wrong."

Mike knows exactly where his lead generation system starts - with development of the company's strategic marketing plan by senior management and the sales staff each year. By the time

IDENTIFY THE PROCESS they're done with their annual meeting, they've reviewed the demographics of their market and their sales performance for the past year, created a media budget and calendar, reviewed and amended or approved a proposal from their public relations consultant, and chosen a plan to reward referrals from their current customers. Mike starts to draw the system and designates the end point as the time when ads are finally placed in the various media, and public relations events are planned and confirmed. Benchmarks along the way include negotiation and approval of their advertising copy with their media outlets, accomplishment of public relations events and contracts, and some tracking of advertising results. When he sees this on paper, Mike shakes his head and smiles. "It seems like a little thing, really. It's the retailer's response that should be the end point of the system, not the completion of the ad campaigns. I mean, we know that, but we're so focused on the means, we somehow always see it as the end. I wonder if this is affecting our outcome?"

Mike now moves on to the importance and effectiveness of his system. Like any other business, Swenson and Sons needs customers. But manufacturers, like distributors, can be especially invisible without effective lead generation. So, Mike knows his lead generation process is important, and that's reflected in the budget the company allots to it each year. But is

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\ r l u r - I .virti ( ,t.*l~t.t.iitio~l 15~1st.lir1t.

IDENTIFY & DESCRIBE INPUTS, OUTPUTS & COSTS

his system effective? He suspects it isn't as effective as it should be, but he doesn't know why. Given all the time and attention lead generation gets, it seems sales should be better.

Mike sees that effectiveness is the real issue and uses the ROBUST test to get a handle on where the system may be off track. To do that, he starts mapping inputs, outputs, and costs.

- -

The first input is money. Not only the costs of salaries, equipment and facilities, but advertising fees, the retainer for the public relations representative, and the costs of the incentive program for referrals from their current customers. Staff time is also a significant input. Mike employs a sales manager, five sales representatives, and two sales support administrators. In addition, Swenson and Sons is represented by four independent regional distributors whose requirements for promotional information and sample equipment create additional inputs (and outputs and costs) for their lead generation system. The marketing planning process, a separate system, also feeds into the lead generation process as an input. Mike reviews all these inputs, and then begins to express them in terms of their quantity, quality, timing, and intangibles on his Systems Evaluation worksheet.

Outputs from Mike's lead generation system seem obvious - interested retailers who are willing and able to buy his product. That's the result he wants and that's the result he gets, although not nearly in the quantities he'd like. Now Mike looks at what else he gets from his current lead generation system. He remembers that his salespeople use many of the promotional materials they create for lead generation in their lead conversion process. So this by-product of his lead generation activity becomes an input to another system (in this case Swensons and Sons' lead conversion). The idea of waste as an output intrigues Mike and he starts to think about what waste might be in a non- production system like lead generation. He's immediately struck with an example from the history of Swenson's marketing plan. Although the content of print advertising is discussed in some detail at the marketing planning session, even to the point of sketching sample ads for the graphic artist and copywriter to draw on, the finished product rarely resembles the profiles that are so carefully constructed during the strategy process. Mike's not sure exactly what happens, but it always seems such a waste of time. In this case, many well-paid people's time. It's been an ongoing frustration, but Mike's never seen it as a systems issue before. He thinks it will be very interesting to take a closer look at what else seems "wasted in his lead generation process.

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\ o t r ~ . I . t . ' i c l ( ; c . t i c . ~ . ; ~ t i t , i k I :ahc . l i~rc .

- - - - - - . -- -- - - -- - - - - - - -- - -- . .- - - - - -- - --.

Finally, Mike looks at the costs of his lead generation system. Swenson's budget gives him the big picture so he knows how much he's spending for salaries, facilities, and equipment for the sales and marketing effort. He also has a detailed breakdown of the cost of all his advertising channels, his public relations efforts, and the costs associated with lead generation support for his independent distributors. Mike enters these on his Systems Evaluation worksheet by category (advertising, public relations, marketing materials, salaries, equipment, facilities), and then tries to calculate the average cost of his leads. One problem he immediately encounters is that Swenson and Sons really doesn't tally leads in any systematic way. They make their judgments about lead generation strategy by looking at total sales. If sales exceed costs and create a profit, they assume that their lead generation is effective. But sales haven't provided the level of profit they expect in proportion to the outlay for lead generation and they want to know why. Unfortunately, there's no way to tell. No one knows with any certainty whether any particular channel is producing the results they expect. No one knows what the results of their marketing strategy really are -just that it's not meeting their goals. So Mike doesn't know what a lead costs him, and if he doesn't know that, he doesn't know whether his lead generation system is efficient or effective.

The ROBUST test, based on the key indicators of Swenson and Sons' input, output, and costs tells Mike how much he doesn't

EVALUATE know about his lead generation system. It's getting a result, IMPORTANCE & sales are certainly sufficient, but it's not getting the result that

EFFECTIVENESS Mike and everyone in the company want - more profit to fuel wider growth and better benefits. It optimizes most resources, but wastes some that Mike thinks are valuable. Inputs, outputs, and costs seem to be in balance, but there's no way to really know until lead generation can be further quantified. The system appears to be user friendly except for this nagging problem of the marketing strategy that seems to disappear on the way to advertising. Mike's not sure what that's about, but something isn't working to translate the work of the marketing committee into lead generation. Swenson's lead generation system is easy to understand because it's well documented. They've been following the same process for a number of years, and everyone seems to know what to do and when. But what has become clear is that the system is not being quantified and tracked in a way that tells them some fundamental truths about its health. On the whole, it's a mixed bag. The system works, has some real advantages, and is tried and true in many ways.

This document is confidential and proprietary to E-Mylh Worldwide and cannot be used, disclosed or duplicated without the prior writlen consenl of E-Mylh Worldwide. This is an unpublished work potected by federal copyright laws and no unauthorized copying, adaptation, distribut~on or display is penined.


But it, doesn't provide Swenson and Sons with what it needs to accomplish its current goals.

SELECT KEY INDICATORS


Mike and the senior staff document the current picture of Swenson's lead generation system on the Key Indicators worksheet. They've chosen the four basic key indicators of lead generation (number of people in their target market reached by their ads, the number of leads generated, the cost of each lead, and their total lead generation costs), and added numbers of qualified leads, categories of leads by institution and industry, and costs of the leads generated by distributors as compared to their own. This information will be tracked each month and reviewed at the quarterly management meeting along with sales and production results. Mike is relieved to have this emerging picture of Swenson's lead generation system. "It's always seemed to be such a professional process that it's a real surprise to see how little we really know about our lead generation. Systems just grow up around your activities, and if they work

TRACK & REVIEWKEY pretty well, you never really look at them again. I don't think I INDICATORS would have looked at our lead generation this way if it weren't

for this process. And that's a scary thought! Look at how much we didn't know! But now, all I can think about is how much more there is to learn. If there's a way to see all these problems, there's a way to solve them!"

This document is confidential and proprietary to E-Mylh Worldwide and cannot be used, disclosed or duplicated without the prior written consent of E-Mylh Worldwide. This is an unpublished work protected by federal copyright laws and no unauthorized copying, adaptation, distribulion or display is permitled.

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