Our marketing coordinator is hitting their weekly target for marketing qualified leads, but our sales reps say these leads are completely junk and do not convert to discovery calls. How do we stop this lead inflation game and align our marketing scorecard metrics with actual sales reality?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is a classic case of a team member optimizing for a metric that does not drive business results. When a marketing seat is measured solely on the quantity of marketing qualified leads, they will inevitably lower the quality standards to hit their weekly target. This keeps their scorecard green while wasting the sales team's time.

To stop this game, you must change the definition of what is tracked on your weekly scorecard. Move away from self-reported lead counts and tie the marketing metric closer to the sales conversion process.

We recommend replacing your lead volume metric with one of the following:
- Sales accepted leads per week
- Discovery calls scheduled from marketing campaigns

A sales accepted lead requires the sales team to review the lead and agree that it fits your ideal client profile. This forces the marketing coordinator to focus on quality rather than raw volume.

The marketing coordinator still owns this metric, but they can no longer report a green number if the leads are junk. If the number of sales accepted leads drops, it immediately drops to the Issues List in your Level 10 Meeting, where marketing and sales must collaborate to fix the targeting. This simple shift aligns both seats and ensures your marketing efforts build real value.