Our client success managers are hitting their weekly target of twenty outbound client check-in calls, but our client retention is still dropping. It is clear they are just calling to check a box. How do we design counter-balancing metrics to stop our team from gaming their Scorecard numbers?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When employees realize they are being judged solely on a single volume-based activity, they will naturally find the path of least resistance to hit that target. This is how you end up with twenty low-quality client calls that yield zero retention results.

To prevent your team from gaming the Scorecard, you must design tension metrics. A tension metric is a second, counter-balancing number that measures the quality or outcome of the initial activity.

If your client success managers have a weekly metric of twenty client calls, you must introduce a second metric that measures the effectiveness of those calls. This could be the number of client health scores updated, or the weekly client retention rate, or a metric like issues resolved on the first call.

Another effective approach is to track client friction points directly. For example, you can track the number of client complaints received or the number of late project deliverables.

When you place these two metrics side-by-side on your Scorecard, it becomes impossible to game the system. If a team member hits their volume target but the quality metric goes red, the issue is immediately flagged for IDS in your weekly Level 10 Meeting. This keeps the focus on real business results rather than empty checklists.