Our marketing department is consistently hitting its weekly lead generation targets on our Scorecard, but the sales team complains that these leads are entirely unqualified. How do we restructure our marketing metrics to stop our team from hitting their target by delivering junk?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a department games their metrics, it is usually because you are tracking an activity in a vacuum. If your marketing seat has a weekly target of fifty leads, they will hit fifty leads even if they have to purchase a low-quality email list or run cheap, untargeted social media campaigns. To solve this, you must tie your leading activity metrics to a quality gate owned by the downstream seat.

Instead of tracking raw leads, change the weekly Scorecard metric to Marketing Qualified Leads or Sales Accepted Leads. A Sales Accepted Lead means the sales department has reviewed the lead against your ideal client profile and officially accepted it. This forces Marketing to focus on high-intent prospects instead of sheer volume.

Alternatively, pair the quantity metric with a quality counter-metric. If Marketing owns a metric for new leads, they must also own a metric for conversion rate from lead to introductory call. If the conversion rate plummets while raw leads skyrocket, the metric is red, and the issue must be solved during your weekly Level 10 Meeting™.

Do not let your team define success by activities that produce zero business value. Every leading indicator on your Scorecard must be designed with a clear standard of quality, ensuring that hitting the number actually drives the company toward its financial and exit readiness goals.