How should a firm evaluate inquiry mix at a fixed budget?
Grade every inquiry Green, Amber, or Red inside the firm's controlled CRM, then compare each grade with consultation and retained-work outcomes from the same dated cohort. Hold the budget and counting rules constant where practical; the firm's baseline determines whether the mix changed.
This is a measurement framework, not a promise that the same spend will produce more signed cases. It gives the firm a way to see whether an apparent media improvement reaches the retained-work stage or stops at cheaper inquiry volume.
Why is lead volume alone insufficient?
A lead count establishes that inquiries occurred; it does not establish retained-work performance. Compare source, inquiry, consultation, and signed-retainer records by cohort before concluding that a fixed budget became more productive.
Two periods can produce the same number of inquiries but a different retained-work mix. They can also produce different inquiry totals with no meaningful change in signed matters. Cost per lead describes the inquiry stage; cost per signed case connects spend to retained work under stated rules.
Do not assign causality from a dashboard trend alone. Seasonality, matter mix, market costs, intake capacity, response handling, or a change in the observation window may move at the same time. Record those changes alongside the cohort.
What do Green, Amber, and Red mean?
GAR is Digital Rocket's client-defined intake-routing layer inside the controlled CRM. Green is a firm-defined high-priority inquiry, Amber needs further review or nurture, and Red does not meet the firm's current criteria.
The firm owns the criteria. They should be documented, applied consistently, and reviewed against later consultation and retained-work records. A grade is an operational route, not a legal conclusion, a prediction that someone will sign, or a category to transmit to an advertising platform.
- GGreen: high-priority route
Apply the firm's documented criteria and move the inquiry into the appropriate review or contact workflow inside the CRM.
- AAmber: further review or nurture
Record what remains unresolved and assign a defined next step rather than treating the inquiry as won or lost.
- RRed: does not meet current criteria
Use the firm's documented handling rule. Preserve an auditable reason internally without exporting sensitive case information.
Interpretation limit: GAR labels are firm-specific. They cannot be compared across firms unless the definitions and counting rules are also compared.
How do you connect inquiry quality to retained work?
Follow a dated cohort from source through inquiry, grade, contact, consultation, and signed retainer. Preserve every denominator so a higher share at one stage is not mistaken for more retained work at the end.
- 01Freeze the definitions
Write down the budget scope, inquiry event, GAR criteria, signed-retainer event, attribution rule, and observation window.
- 02Reconcile the records
Confirm that source and CRM records refer to the same people and period without placing sensitive case details in ordinary tracking parameters.
- 03Let the cohort mature
Use the firm's observed close cycle before judging retained-work outcomes. Label incomplete cohorts instead of projecting them as final.
- 04Compare against the firm's baseline
Review the grade mix, consultation progression, signed retainers, and cost per signed case under the same rules.
The public immigration proof record supports this measurement mechanism: one engagement connected paid media, intake, CRM, and signed-retainer tracking. Client identity and outcome figures are withheld pending final publication approval, so the record does not establish a general lift.
What is the privacy gate before any external event?
Keep matter type, intake grades, and case information inside the firm's controlled CRM. Any external downstream event requires a documented privacy and policy review before implementation.
Use the minimum permitted data for the approved purpose, document who approved the mapping, and retest it when platform policy or the firm's intake fields change. A useful internal classification does not automatically become an acceptable advertising signal.
What decision should the firm make after the comparison?
Change budget only after the mature cohort shows where the constraint sits. The next action may concern media, response handling, qualification rules, consultation progression, matter mix, or capacity; the records should decide.
If inquiry volume changed but retained-work economics did not, do not call the test successful. If the signed-retainer view improved, check whether definitions, attribution, close-cycle maturity, or capacity changed before crediting the grading process. Keep the claim proportional to what the cohort establishes.