Activity metrics hide where retainers leak

Many firms report intake through activity: calls answered, forms submitted, emails sent, consults booked. Those numbers are easy to count, and they rarely tell a partner whether more inquiries turned into signed matters.

Why activity counts mislead

A month with more calls and more follow-up emails can still produce fewer signed engagements. Activity counts do not show where an inquiry stopped moving: after the first reply, before the consult, or after the agreement was sent.

What to report instead

Follow the same group of inquiries through each stage, at a fixed cutoff:

• Inquiries captured
• Suitable, after screening
• Consults booked, and consults held
• Agreements sent
• Signed, pending, and lost

Every rate gets its denominator. Pending stays pending until it resolves. It is never counted as lost or as revenue.

A worked example

These numbers are made up to show the method. Say 300 inquiries came in, 120 were suitable, 70 booked a consult, 49 attended, and 18 signed. The busy-month report says 300 inquiries. The stage report says the biggest drop sits between suitable and booked, which points at the first reply and follow-up before it points at marketing.

Start with one month

• Write down what counts as each stage at your firm.
• Sort one recent month of inquiries into those stages.
• Find the stage with the largest drop, and name who owns the next step there.

That is the baseline. Every later month is measured against it with the same definitions.