Reading a status

Every account carries one status, the same word everywhere. Five mean work this account, worst first: Gone quiet (well past its own ordering rhythm), Slipping (past the date its rhythm said the next order was due), Spending less (still ordering, but 40 percent or more less than the same months a year earlier), Stopped buying a line (dropped a product line it bought steadily, still buying others) and New and stalled (a new account with no second order). Three mean nothing needs doing: Watch (its rhythm is stretching, nothing late yet), Steady and Calibrating (too few orders to know). There is no score, and when several findings apply the status is the worst of them.

The account page shows why: the baseline it was measured against, how far it is from it, what changed in what it buys, and what it is worth to you. Every figure comes from its own orders.

A flag says what changed in the orders, never why. The rep finds out why by calling.