Buying a revenue intelligence platform before you can answer these questions is like hiring a CFO before you've set up your accounting system. The platform will work. But the value it delivers will be a fraction of what it could be — because the foundation it depends on isn't ready.
These aren't rhetorical questions. They're the specific questions that determine whether your implementation goes smoothly or stalls in month two. Work through each one before your kickoff call.
Questions About Your Current State
1. What is our current cost per case, overall and by vendor?
If you can't answer this, that's not a blocker — it's the reason you need the platform. But documenting your best current estimate (even if it's rough) gives you a baseline that makes your 90-day improvement measurable. “We went from a $7,200 blended cost per case to $5,800” is a much stronger outcome story than “our numbers got better.”
2. How do we currently attribute cases to lead sources?
Attribution is the technical heart of cost-per-case tracking. Do you use call tracking (CallRail or similar)? UTM parameters on your web forms? Intake specialists who ask “how did you hear about us?” with structured field entry? Or do leads arrive with no consistent source identification?
Your attribution method determines how reliable your source-level cost per case will be. If attribution is currently unreliable, you'll want a plan to improve it in parallel with implementation — not as an afterthought.
3. How clean is our case management data?
A revenue intelligence platform is only as good as the data it connects to. If your case management system has:
- Free-text source fields with inconsistent entries
- Cases missing intake disposition codes
- Lead records without signed-case dates
- Untagged leads in an “unknown source” bucket
...then you have a data quality problem that exists independently of any platform you implement. The platform will show you the problem more clearly — but it won't fix it automatically. Budget time to clean up your case management data in the first 30 days of implementation.
4. How many months of historical spend data do we have?
Historical data is the difference between a platform that shows you today's numbers and one that shows you trends. Six months minimum. Twelve months is ideal.
If your historical spend data is scattered across invoices, multiple spreadsheets, or accounting system exports, plan one to two days before kickoff to consolidate it. That upfront investment pays dividends for the entire implementation.
Questions About Your Goals
5. What is our target cost per case?
The revenue intelligence platform measures performance against targets. Without a defined target cost per case, you have no threshold to alert against, no basis for vendor performance grades, and no way to define what “improvement” means.
If you don't have a defined target, start with your historical average. If your blended cost per case over the past 6 months has been $5,500, use that as your baseline target. From there, set a 6-month improvement goal — maybe $4,800.
The exact number matters less than having one. You can refine it after the first reporting cycle.
6. What is our monthly signed case goal?
Lead pacing — the daily and weekly tracking of whether you're on track to hit your signed case goal — is one of the most immediate value outputs of a revenue intelligence platform. But it requires a defined monthly goal to pace against.
If your firm has a revenue goal for the year ($X in settlements), work backward: what average settlement value per case means you need Y cases per month? That's your signed case goal. It's not a perfect calculation — settlement values vary significantly — but it gives you an operational target to pace against.
7. Which vendor decisions are we trying to make in the next 90 days?
Revenue intelligence implementation is most valuable when it's oriented toward a specific decision. Is there a vendor you've been thinking about cutting? A budget expansion you want data to support? A new vendor you're evaluating and want to measure against existing ones?
Naming those decisions in advance focuses your implementation. The platform can answer a lot of questions — start with the questions that are already on the table.
Questions About Your Organization
8. Who owns this, and do they have the authority to act on what the data shows?
Revenue intelligence without authority is analysis without outcomes. If the marketing director can see that a vendor's cost per case is $9,000 while the target is $5,500, but can't make a budget decision without a three-week approval process, the platform's operational value is significantly limited.
Before implementation, align on: who owns the platform operationally? What decisions can they make autonomously vs. which require managing partner approval? That clarity prevents the most common post-implementation frustration: having the data but not the authority to act on it.
9. Is the intake team on board?
The intake team's data discipline is the foundation of your revenue intelligence. If intake specialists aren't entering lead sources consistently, your cost-per-case data will be unreliable. If they're not entering disposition codes accurately, your rejection rate and withdrawal rate data will be wrong.
Intake buy-in isn't about getting everyone excited about analytics — it's about getting clear data entry standards enforced consistently. Have a pre-implementation conversation with your intake manager (Olivia in our persona framework) about what will change in their workflow and why it matters.
10. What does the managing partner need to see, and on what cadence?
The managing partner's reporting needs drive the financial intelligence configuration. Steve needs to see specific numbers — cost per case, total spend vs. budget, signed cases vs. goal — on a predictable schedule. Knowing what he needs before implementation means you can configure the right outputs from the start rather than discovering requirements after the fact.
A five-minute conversation with Steve before kickoff — “What three numbers do you want to see every month about marketing?” — is worth hours of post-implementation rework.
Questions About Your Vendor Relationships
11. Which vendors have access agreements or data-sharing requirements that could complicate integration?
Most lead vendors are happy to be integrated into a tracking platform. A few have data-sharing agreements or portal access restrictions that can complicate or delay integration. Find out before kickoff — not mid-implementation.
Ask each of your active vendors: “We're implementing a revenue intelligence platform that will track your lead performance data alongside our other vendors. Are there any access restrictions or data-sharing terms we should be aware of?” Most will say no. The ones that balk are worth noting — and sometimes worth scrutinizing.
12. Are our vendor contracts up for renewal in the next 6 months?
Revenue intelligence is most powerful when it informs contract negotiations. If you're about to renew with a major vendor, starting your platform implementation now — even with 60 to 90 days before renewal — gives you real performance data to bring to the negotiation table.
“Your cost per case has been $8,500 over the past three months. Our blended target is $5,500. We need better terms or we're reallocating that budget” is a negotiation backed by data. “We think your performance has been below expectations” is a negotiation backed by a feeling.
Document Your Baseline
Calculate your best current estimate of cost per case, even if rough. This makes your 90-day improvement measurable.
Clean Your CMS Data
Audit lead source fields, disposition codes, and settlement data. Budget 1–2 days before kickoff.
Define Your Targets
Set a target cost per case and monthly signed case goal. The exact number matters less than having one.
Align Your Team
Confirm who owns the platform, what decisions they can make, and what the managing partner needs to see.
After You've Answered These Questions
Working through these 12 questions takes two to four hours. It's time well spent. Firms that answer these questions before kickoff implement faster, get value sooner, and avoid the most common post-implementation failures.
Firms that skip this preparation often find themselves in month two trying to retrospectively define targets, clean data that should have been cleaned before integration, or manage stakeholder expectations that were never set.
The platform is powerful. But the platform is a tool. The strategy, the data discipline, and the organizational alignment that make the tool valuable — those have to be in place before the platform goes live.
Ready to Work Through These Together?
Book a demo and we'll work through these questions with you directly. We can usually assess implementation readiness in 30 to 45 minutes — and we'll tell you honestly what needs to be in place before kickoff and what we can help you build as we go.
Bring your current tracking approach, your best estimate of cost per case, and your biggest unanswered question about vendor performance. That's a good starting point for a productive conversation.
Related guide: See our complete guide to revenue intelligence for PI firms — the four layers, the maturity model, and what RI replaces in your current stack.