Today we’re going to talk about database strength or how likely is it that your leads close in a timely manner to reach your sales goals?

We’ll talk about three factors, or metrics, to evaluate that strength.

First is stratification: Is the lead hot, is it warm or is it cold?

Another way to do it is to look at decision timing. Is it immediate? Is it 1-3 months? Is it 3-6 months, or more than 6 months?

It’s important to understand and realize, in talking with a prospect’s family, what they need to know to move toward a decision, and how can you help?

However you choose to look at your stratification, be honest with yourself in your assessment and give yourself a clear picture of what your stratification looks like.

The second thing is date of last contact. Even a good lead can get old very quickly, especially if those leads and contacts are going over 60 days.

And when we talk about last contact, count when you last had a conversation, not just an attempt to contact. Assess this on a macro level, for example what is the average, if you will, but also on a micro level, on a per-lead basis.

The third thing to look at is overdue actions. We talked a couple weeks ago about the fact that every lead should have a scheduled action, and you want to take a look now at how many actions are overdue.

This provides you with a good way to evaluate your week and plan your daily schedule to make sure you’re staying on top of your leads with action items.

So, the last three sessions, we’ve been talking about the database, the size, the strength and to manage it. As we move forward in this weekly series, we’re going to talk about CRM systems.

Next week, specifically, we’ll talk about ten topics you can use to evaluate a CRM system.