What belongs on it
Six to eight criteria is the working range. Fewer and the score loses resolution. More and reps stop filling it in honestly. The criteria that earn a slot on most B2B SaaS scorecards:
- ICP fit at the account level. - A named economic buyer with confirmed spending authority. - Business pain the buyer has quantified in their own numbers. - A dated compelling event with an internal owner. - A mapped decision process, including who approves and in what order. - A confirmed paper process with realistic calendar durations. - Multi-threading depth, measured by how many stakeholders the rep has met without the champion present.
Score each on a short scale. A zero to three scale beats a one to ten scale because it forces a judgment rather than a shrug.
Weight the criteria against your own history
Weights set in a room reflect what the leadership team believes drives deals. Weights derived from data reflect what actually does. Score two years of closed opportunities retroactively, then compare average criterion scores between won and lost cohorts. Criteria with a wide gap get heavy weights. Criteria that score the same in both cohorts are ceremony, and cutting them raises adoption.
This is also where teams discover that their coverage number is measuring the wrong thing. The standard rule sits between 3x and 5x, and across ORM's customer base most companies run near 3.5x, with individual customers as low as 1.4x and as high as 5x. Two companies at identical pipeline coverage forecast very differently once their pipeline is scored for quality, which is the argument against treating the coverage ratio as an answer.
The score has to change what happens
A scorecard that only reports is overhead. Attach consequences. Deals below a threshold cannot enter commit. Deals that lose points on a re-score trigger a manager review. Deals scoring high in an early stage get pulled forward for resourcing. Re-score at every stage change so the trend is visible, because a deal falling from 18 to 11 while sitting in negotiation is a clearer risk signal than any stage label, and feeding that trend into the forecast is what moves forecast accuracy rather than moving the conversation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a qualification scorecard?
It is a standard list of qualification criteria with a defined scale and weights, scored the same way on every opportunity. The output is a number that can be compared across reps, segments, and quarters, which a written qualification note cannot be.
What criteria belong on a sales qualification scorecard?
Keep it to six or eight items that separate won deals from lost ones in your own history. Typical entries are ICP fit, named economic buyer, quantified business pain, a dated compelling event, a mapped decision process, a confirmed paper process, and multi-threading depth across the buying committee.
How do you weight qualification criteria?
Score two years of closed opportunities against the criteria, then check which ones actually separate won from lost. Weight each criterion by the size of that separation. Weights assigned by discussion reflect what the team believes matters, and those beliefs are usually wrong about at least two criteria.
How is a qualification scorecard different from stage exit criteria?
Stage exit criteria are binary gates that control movement through the pipeline. A scorecard is continuous and re-scored over the life of the deal, so it shows a deal weakening while it sits in the same stage. Most teams need both.
Put these metrics to work
ORM builds custom revenue forecast models that turn concepts like qualification scorecard into prescriptive action for your team.
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