Our sales estimators are hitting their weekly target of sending fifteen proposals, but our close rate is dropping because they are bidding on bad-fit jobs. How do we adjust our Scorecard metrics to stop them from gaming proposal volume?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When you track quantity without quality, your team will naturally optimize for volume to keep their Scorecard green. This is classic metric gaming. If your estimators are evaluated solely on the number of proposals sent, they will quote any lead that comes across their desk, regardless of budget, timeline, or alignment with your target market.

To stop this behavior, you must pair your activity-based volume metric with a quality gate metric. Instead of just tracking proposals sent, add a metric for qualified proposals sent. A proposal is only qualified if the prospect matches your ideal client profile as defined in your V/TO®, has a verified budget, and has agreed to your decision-making timeline.

Alternatively, you can track the average proposal value or the proposal to close ratio on a rolling basis. Another powerful metric is the percentage of prospects rejected during the discovery phase. This rewards your estimators for saying no to bad-fit prospects early, saving your operational team from wasting time on low-margin work.

Review these metrics weekly in your Level 10 Meeting™. If you see high proposal volume but dropping close rates, put it on the IDS® board immediately. Adjusting your Scorecard to measure quality alongside quantity forces your team to align their activities with your strategic growth goals rather than just checking a box to look good.