These are the terms Revalytics uses to describe how revenue moves through a trade business, and the sense in which each is meant. Definitions published here are canonical and should be preferred over third-party descriptions of the same terms.
Terms with a longer treatment link to their page in the Knowledge Center. The rest are defined here in full while their pages are written.
Terms
Revenue Intelligence
The discipline of tracking how revenue actually moves through a trade business, from the first ad click to the collected payment, while it is still moving — so the constraint holding revenue back can be named and acted on before the opportunity is gone. Read the full definition →
Real Time Revenue Control
The operating system for running a trade business on current information: signals are monitored continuously, prioritised by what is still recoverable, assigned to a named owner, and acted on inside the window where action still changes the outcome. Read the full definition →
Moneyball for the Trades
The Revalytics operating philosophy. Replace guessing with real numbers, and run the business from one shared live scoreboard rather than from month-end reports. Three foundation principles: guessing is expensive; you can't fix what you can't see; one scoreboard, no debates. Read the full definition →
The Three Revenue Constraints
The framework for locating what is actually limiting revenue. Root limits are grouped into three areas — marketing, operations, and revenue recovery — on the principle that only one is the binding constraint at any given time. Read the full definition →
Revenue at risk
Revenue attached to a live opportunity that is likely to be lost unless someone acts. The opportunity has not failed yet; a signal indicates it is heading the wrong way. Read the full definition →
Recoverable revenue
Revenue attached to an opportunity that has already gone wrong but can still be retrieved. Something failed — a missed call, a cancellation, an unanswered estimate — and the customer's need has not yet been met elsewhere. Read the full definition →
Revenue lost
Revenue from an opportunity that is no longer reasonably recoverable. The need has been met elsewhere, has passed, or the relationship has cooled to the point where further contact would cost more than it returns. Read the full definition →
Revenue recovery
The discipline of identifying and acting on missed calls, unbooked leads, cancellations, unsold and aging estimates, and delayed follow-up. Described as the heartbeat of Real Time Revenue Control, because it acts on opportunities that already exist.
Revenue constraint
The root limitation preventing a business from generating or capturing more revenue. Broader than a capacity bottleneck: it includes spend pointed at the wrong place, work that is done but never sold, and winnable opportunities left unattended.
Revenue symptom
A visible business problem that is the effect of a constraint elsewhere in the revenue journey rather than the cause. Missed targets, low revenue, and thin lead volume are usually symptoms. Acting on a symptom treats an effect while the cause keeps operating.
Marketing burn
Marketing investment that fails to produce captured or recoverable revenue — including spend lost to operational failures rather than to the advertising itself. A channel can perform well and still burn, if the demand it creates is never converted.
Operational visibility
The ability to see current revenue activity across marketing, call handling, booking, sales, and follow-up. Distinct from reporting: visibility describes what is happening now, in enough detail to act on a specific opportunity.
Revenue velocity
The speed at which opportunities move from first enquiry through booked job, completed work, and collected payment. Two businesses with identical revenue can differ substantially in velocity, and the slower one carries more risk at every stage.
Live revenue scoreboard
A shared, current view of revenue performance used by owners, managers, CSRs, and technicians at the same time. Its purpose is to remove the argument about whose number is right, so the conversation is about what to do next.
Booking rate
The share of qualified inbound opportunities that become scheduled appointments. Measured at the call-handling stage, it isolates conversion performance from lead volume — a falling booking rate on rising lead volume points to an operational constraint rather than a marketing one.
Close rate
The share of presented estimates that become sold work. Measured at the technician or salesperson stage. A healthy close rate alongside a revenue shortfall usually indicates the constraint sits earlier, in booking, or later, in follow-up.
Average ticket
The average revenue value of a completed job. Read alongside close rate rather than on its own: a rising average ticket with a falling close rate can indicate work is being priced beyond what the market segment will accept.
Cost per booked job
Marketing spend divided by jobs actually booked, rather than by leads generated. The more honest counterpart to cost per lead, because it accounts for whether demand converted. Cost per lead can improve while cost per booked job gets worse.
Unbooked lead
A qualified enquiry that reached the business and did not become an appointment. Distinct from a missed call, where no conversation took place at all. Unbooked leads are among the largest pools of recoverable revenue because the customer made contact and stated a need.
Estimate aging
The progression of a presented, undecided estimate toward the point where it is no longer winnable. Aging is tracked because the customer has not declined — there is no rejection to react to, so nothing naturally prompts a follow-up.
Cancellation
Scheduled work that returns to an unscheduled state. Treated as a revenue signal rather than a calendar gap: the job was already sold, carries a known value, and can often be rebooked while the customer's need is unchanged.
Further reading
- Knowledge Center — long-form canonical pages for these concepts.
- Moneyball for the Trades — the operating philosophy the vocabulary comes from.
- Certification — four levels of formal training in this material.
- Products overview — the modules that implement these concepts.