Sales Metrics & Forecasting
Tracking the metrics that predict and grow revenue.
25 articlesFeatured
7 Sales Metrics Every Solo Consultant Should Track Weekly
Seven numbers reveal the health of your entire sales engine. The dashboard template, the 30-minute weekly ritual, and what each metric predicts.
Average Deal Size Trend: The First Signal of Pricing Erosion
Stagnant or declining average deal size shows up before revenue does. How to calculate yours, read the signal, and reverse the trend.
The Booking Pace Tracker: Know You're Behind Before It's Too Late
A 5-column tracker shows actual vs. target bookings each week of the quarter. When you fall 15% behind by Week 5, it's not a math problem, it's a…
Capacity Utilization: The Metric That Prevents Both Burnout and Poverty
Billable hours ÷ available hours. Target 50–65%. Below 40% means unfilled capacity or underpriced clients. Above 75% means burnout and zero sales time. Both…
Cohort Analysis for Service Businesses: Which Clients Are Worth Winning?
Group clients by the month they signed and track revenue per cohort. Most freelancers discover their best clients came from one specific source, and they've…
Conversation-to-Opportunity Rate: The First Real Sales Metric
If fewer than 3 in 10 sales conversations become real opportunities, you're talking to the wrong people, or asking the wrong questions. Here's the fix.
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Conversion Rate by Pipeline Stage: Find Your Bottleneck
Map conversion at each pipeline stage. The underperforming stage tells you exactly where to invest your time, and what to fix.
Customer Acquisition Cost for Freelancers: The Service Business Model
SaaS CAC formulas don't fit solo service businesses. Here's the correct model, the per-channel calculation, and the 20% benchmark that matters.
Deal Source Attribution: Find the One Channel Producing 60% of Your Revenue
Track every closed deal back to its origin. Most solos discover one source drives most revenue, and they've been spreading effort across five channels…
Quarterly Forecast Accuracy: The Review That Fixes Overconfidence
Compare your forecasted quarter to actual revenue. The accuracy percentage reveals overconfidence patterns. Here's the 4-step quarterly review.
Forecast Confidence Tiers: Stop Guessing What's Going to Close
Commit, Best-Case, Pipeline, three tiers that replace gut-feel forecasting with a weekly categorization system you can rely on for real financial planning.
Lifetime Value for Service Businesses: The Simple Calculation That Changes Everything
LTV = average annual revenue × average engagement duration. Even a 2.5-year average changes your entire acquisition strategy. Here's the math.
LTV:CAC Ratio for Freelancers: Does Your Acquisition Math Work?
LTV ÷ CAC reveals whether you're over- or under-investing in acquisition. Below 3:1 is unsustainable. Above 5:1 means spending more would pay off.
Net Revenue Retention for Service Businesses: The Metric That Reveals Client Growth
NRR measures whether your existing clients are growing with you or shrinking away. Service businesses can hit 130%+. Here's the formula and what moves it.
Opportunity-to-Proposal Rate: Are You Writing Too Many Proposals?
Most freelancers write proposals for people who were never going to buy. The 50–70% benchmark reveals whether you're under-qualifying or overcommitting your…
Pipeline Generation Rate: The Leading Indicator Your Revenue Depends On
New opportunities added per week is the most reliable predictor of next quarter's revenue. Solos targeting $10–15K/month need 3–5 per week. Here's the math…
The 90-Minute Quarterly Sales Review That Replaces 6 Hours of Ad-Hoc Reporting
A structured 90-minute review replaces a quarter of confused guessing. Five sections, one clear output per section, one change to execute next quarter.…
Quarterly vs. Monthly Bookings: Why Monthly Goals Create Panic
Monthly revenue targets create artificial end-of-month urgency and punish longer sales cycles. Quarterly goals smooth variance and let real deals close…
Revenue Per Hour: The One Number That Forces Pricing Honesty
Divide total monthly revenue by all hours worked, billable and non-billable. The result reveals whether you're actually pricing for the income you want.…
Sales Cycle Length by Deal Size: The Benchmark Chart Freelancers Need
$5K deals close in ~14 days. $50K+ takes 90+. Know your cycle by segment to set pipeline depth correctly and stop running out of runway.
Sales Velocity: The One Formula That Combines All Your Sales Metrics
Sales velocity = (opportunities × win rate × deal size) ÷ cycle length. A single number measuring how fast revenue moves through your pipeline. Here's how…
The 12-Metric Service Business Dashboard You Can Review in 2 Minutes
Revenue, pipeline, win rate, LTV, capacity, 12 metrics that tell you everything about your solo business. Here's the dashboard and the weekly update ritual.
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