The Lead Generation Metric No One Is Tracking

At the start of the year, our family decided to get healthy. We all agreed it was important, but agreement alone didn’t change much. I started working out every day, keeping it simple and consistent. Over time, Oliver began moving more too, playing basketball in his room with his mini hoop and net, following what he saw rather than what he was told. Eric agreed with the goal and talked about it, but he was not ready to act yet, and that is okay. He will get there. The difference was not motivation. It was readiness.

Most lead generation strategies revolve around the same familiar metrics: cost per lead, conversion rate, and total lead volume. These numbers are easy to track and simple to report on. Unfortunately, they’re also the reason many “successful” campaigns fail to generate real revenue. There’s a far more important metric that almost no one measures: decision readiness.

Decision readiness doesn’t measure how interested someone is. It measures how prepared they are to take action, and in lead generation, readiness matters far more than raw interest.

What Decision Readiness Actually Means

A decision-ready lead isn’t just curious. They have a defined problem, understand the consequences of not solving it, and are actively evaluating solutions. They may already have budget approval, internal buy-in, or a timeline for action. Interest fills pipelines.

Decision readiness fills revenue. When marketing teams focus exclusively on volume, they attract large numbers of early-stage prospects who aren’t ready to buy. Sales teams then spend time chasing leads that were never meant to convert in the first place.

Why Cost Per Lead Is a Misleading KPI

Cost per lead answers one question: How cheaply can we capture contact information?
It does not answer the question that actually matters: How likely is this person to become a customer? When teams optimize for CPL alone, lead volume increases, but close rates often drop. Sales cycles get longer. Sales reps burn time on follow-ups that go nowhere. Marketing looks successful on paper, while revenue remains flat. The real cost isn’t the lead itself, it’s the time and effort spent pursuing leads that aren’t ready to decide.

How to Measure Decision Readiness Without New Tools

You don’t need complex scoring models or expensive software to measure readiness. In most cases, one question is enough:

“When are you planning to solve this problem?”

Common responses might include:

• Just researching

• Within the next 3–6 months

• Actively evaluating solutions now

This single data point often correlates more strongly with close rate than job title, company size, or traffic source. Once readiness is visible, teams can act on it. Decision-ready leads can be routed directly to sales. Mid-stage leads can enter sales-assisted nurture flows. Early-stage leads can receive education-focused content instead of sales pressure. The result isn’t fewer leads, its better-timed conversations, shorter sales cycles, and higher close rates. Let us help you and your team work smarter, not harder. Contact us today!