Sales Gravy: Jeb Blount Moneyball for Sales: Why You're Tracking the Wrong Metrics (Money Monday)
May 4, 2026
A Moneyball lens on sales metrics and why common activity stats mislead. The First Time Appointment is pitched as the true leading indicator that builds real pipeline. Learn to reverse-engineer activity from that metric and shift coaching toward predictors of future wins.
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Activity Is Not The Outcome
- Activity without the right outcome metric is just noise.
- Keith Lubner explains leaders celebrate calls and emails but pipelines stay thin because they track lagging or vanity metrics instead of outcomes.
Moneyball Story About Getting On Base
- Keith Lubner retells Moneyball where Billy Beane and Peter Brand prioritize players who 'get on base' over traditional scouts' preferences.
- The Oakland A's replaced star-chasing with on-base percentage as the leading indicator that predicted runs and wins.
FTA Is The Leading Indicator
- First Time Appointment (FTA) is the sales equivalent of 'getting on base' and the leading indicator that predicts new business.
- Keith contrasts FTAs with generic meetings that can be internal or with existing customers, which don't grow net-new pipeline.
