THE EVIDENCE / THE LIMITS / YOUR NEXT STEP

Make the case
with actual numbers.

Better ways of working can improve business performance. Published research gives us reasons to test an approach. Your own operating data tells us whether it is helping.

External research, including vendor analyses, not HOG customer results. These sources did not test HOG and are not Gulf South benchmarks. Reviewed October 1, 2026.

Choose what to measure ↓How HOG works in the Gulf South ↗

RESEARCH WORTH UNDERSTANDING

What the research actually says.

U.S. RESPONSE AUDIT · 201142 hours

A historical average, with a defined sample.

OLDROYD, MCELHERAN & ELKINGTON / HBR

Researchers audited 2,241 U.S. companies using web test inquiries. The 42-hour average includes only companies that responded within 30 days; 23% never replied.

A separate analysis of 1.25 million leads at 42 companies found attempts within an hour associated with nearly seven times the likelihood of qualification versus attempts even an hour later. Qualification meant a substantive conversation with a decision-maker, not a sale.

Published in March 2011. This is not a current national benchmark or a HOG result. One co-author led InsideSales.com, a lead-response software company.

Read the HBR article ↗ · Article reprint (PDF) ↗

VENDOR ANALYSIS · 2012 LEAD DATA391%

Higher conversion associated with faster calls.

VELOCIFY / ULTIMATE CONTACT STRATEGY

Velocify analyzed nearly 3.5 million leads from more than 400 client companies. Leads originated in the first half of 2012, with outcomes tracked through the third quarter.

The report associates a first call attempt within one minute with a 391% conversion-rate improvement. Its chart does not clearly name the baseline; Velocify’s 2016 explanation compares calls within one minute with calls made later.

A software vendor’s observational analysis, not a randomized experiment. It does not establish that speed alone caused the difference. An attempted call is not successful contact, and an automated receipt is not the response studied. A 391% relative increase equals 4.91 times the baseline rate; it is not a 391-point increase or a guaranteed sales or revenue gain.

Read the original report (PDF) ↗ · Read the vendor’s 2016 explanation ↗

INDIA · RANDOMIZED EXPERIMENT17%

First-year productivity improvement.

BLOOM ET AL. / QJE, 2013

Researchers tested intensive management support in large Indian textile firms. Treated plants improved productivity through better quality, efficiency and inventory management.

HOG’s takeaway: make the process observable and review whether the agreed change improves it.

The 17% result belongs to this manufacturing experiment. It is not a profit increase, a HOG outcome or an expected gain for a service business.

Read the published study ↗

MEXICO · RANDOMIZED TRIAL432

Firms in a trial of tailored support.

BRUHN, KARLAN & SCHOAR / JPE, 2018

Access to a year of management consulting improved productivity in this small- and medium-enterprise study. The practices that changed varied across businesses.

HOG’s takeaway: diagnose one real constraint before choosing an Operation or package.

Not all 432 firms received consulting. Short-run sales and employment effects were not statistically significant; some financial findings were sensitive to the analysis. The trial does not establish a HOG return.

Read the original paper (PDF) ↗

GHANA · RANDOMIZED TRIAL

Support does not guarantee a profit gain.

KARLAN, KNIGHT & UDRY / JEBO, 2015

A study of 160 tailoring microenterprises tested consulting, capital, both or neither. No treatment improved average profits, and adoption of recommended practices later faded.

HOG’s takeaway: check whether the team uses the process and whether the results justify continuing it.

These were small tailoring firms in Ghana. This finding does not settle what will work in your business; it shows why a promised universal return would be misleading.

Read the research team’s study summary ↗

Our takeaways are HOG’s interpretation. The authors and publishers have not endorsed HOG. These sources examine management interventions and response patterns in other businesses; they do not validate HOG’s four commercial Operations.

START WITH YOUR OWN RECORDS / FREE

Choose one Operation.
Make progress visible.

Open the area that matters to you. These are starting measures to agree and adapt, not industry benchmarks or promised improvements.

Lead Operations — check your last 10 inquiries

Use your own records. For each inquiry, find when it arrived, the first human call or reply attempt, and whether a real conversation happened. Mark missing records as unknown; an automatic receipt does not count as a human attempt.

RECORD: Received time, first attempt, first conversation, owner and next action. Keep unanswered inquiries visible.
COMPARE: Median time to first attempt among those attempted, plus unanswered and unknown counts out of all ten. Use the same business-hours rule each time.
TRY THIS: Choose one intake owner, a backup and a response window your team can maintain. Agree how after-hours inquiries are handled.

Close the loop: review the next ten inquiries after making one change. Track conversations and actual sales separately. Ten records can reveal a process problem; they cannot prove a sales uplift.

Find my first operational fix — free check ↗

Estimate Operations — where does preparation stall?

Choose recent estimates with similar scope. Keep waits for customer information separate from internal preparation.

RECORD: When inputs were complete, when the estimate was sent, and each return for missing information.
COMPARE: Median time from complete inputs to sent estimate, plus the number needing rework.
TRY THIS: Agree on a scope checklist and one review owner. Use the free estimate tracker.

Revenue Recovery — are stalled opportunities reaching a decision?

Define what “stalled” means before reviewing a fixed group of open opportunities. A reply is not a sale.

RECORD: Last contact, reason stalled, agreed next action and final status.
COMPARE: How many reach a documented decision. Record wins and losses separately; verify actual sales in your records.
TRY THIS: Review ten opportunities. Give each one a justified next action or an explicit close-out decision.

Customer Operations — are commitments being kept?

Choose one customer handoff or update routine. Measure completion against the actual commitment.

RECORD: Promised update date, responsible person, completion date and reopened requests.
COMPARE: Updates completed on time divided by updates due, alongside the count of reopened items.
TRY THIS: Create one shared commitment list. Review overdue items and confirm the next step.

Establish the starting point. Use a defined period and comparable work. A small sample is a useful diagnostic, not a reliable forecast.
Change one defined process. Name the owner, the action, the measure and a review date. Confirm what your team can maintain.
Review the result and its cost. Compare like-for-like periods. Record changes in volume, seasonality or staffing that might explain the difference.

MAKE THE COST VISIBLE TOO

Progress has to justify the investment.

Compare verified gains with setup, ongoing support, your team’s implementation time and any separate provider or travel costs. Time released is capacity; it is not automatically cash saved.

These totals assume 12 monthly payments at current package prices. Contract length, scope and any separate charges are confirmed in the proposal.

Illustrative first-year package cost: setup + 12 months
Package	Total
Core · any 1	$33,500
Growth · any 2	$48,000
Established · any 3	$74,500
Full Operations · all 4	$93,500

See setup and monthly prices ↗

TURN THE RESEARCH INTO A USEFUL QUESTION

What would need to improve
in your business?

Bring one real example with customer details removed. Lathen will help define the problem, what progress would mean, and whether HOG can support the work today.

Book my free 20-minute call Start with the free check ↗