Our sales reps are consistently hitting their weekly targets for new opportunities created in our CRM, but our actual closed revenue is flat. It is obvious they are gaming the definition of an opportunity to make their weekly Scorecard numbers look good. How do we audit and restructure our sales metrics to stop this behavior?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When team members feel pressure to hit weekly targets, they will naturally look for ways to game the numbers if your definitions are soft. If your sales reps are hitting their opportunity targets but revenue is flat, your criteria for what constitutes an opportunity is too subjective. To stop this behavior, you must establish objective, binary definitions for every metric on your Scorecard. An opportunity cannot be defined as a good conversation. It must be defined by a hard, external action, such as a prospect submitting a completed intake form or booking a discovery call through your scheduling link. There is no middle ground or room for interpretation. The Sales Director on your Accountability Chart must own the integrity of this data. They must conduct random spot-checks of the CRM data each week before the Level 10 Meeting to ensure the team is not inflating the numbers. If a team member is caught gaming the system, it is a core value and GWC issue, not a data issue. You must address this during your IDS session. Let the team know that an honest red number is always acceptable because it allows the team to solve the problem, but a fake green number is a violation of trust that threatens the entire organization.