The 5 Performance Metrics Every PI Managing Partner Should Review Weekly

Most managing partners find out about a marketing problem when it shows up in the case count — by which point it has been compounding for weeks.

The fix is not more reporting. It is five specific numbers, reviewed weekly, that answer the questions that actually matter: Is marketing on track? Is spend justified by results? Are we growing? Is anything broken right now?

This article describes those five metrics — what each one measures, what a healthy number looks like, and what to do when one moves in the wrong direction.

Why Weekly, Not Monthly

Monthly reporting is standard because monthly data has traditionally been what's available. The problem: by the time you review it, the performance period is over and nothing can be done about it.

A weekly view of five metrics does not require more of a managing partner's time. It requires five minutes on Monday morning — and it gives you something a monthly review never can: the ability to ask a question and get a real-time answer, not a 30-day-old one.

Metric 1: Signed Case Pace vs. Monthly Goal

This is the most important number on the list. How many cases have been signed this month — and is that number on pace to hit the monthly goal?

The format is simple: [Cases signed MTD] vs. [Cases expected at this point in the month]. The percentage variance tells the story.

A firm with a goal of 60 cases per month, reviewing on day 14, should have roughly 30 signed cases. If the actual number is 27, the firm is running 10% below pace — worth noting. If the actual is 21, the firm is 30% below pace on day 14. That requires a conversation this week, not a mention in next month's report.

This metric gives a managing partner the clearest possible answer to the most fundamental question: are we growing right now?

Metric 2: Month-to-Date Marketing Spend vs. Budget

How much has been spent on marketing through this point in the month — and is it aligned with the approved budget?

Spend running 20% over budget in the first two weeks is a financial issue, not just a marketing operations issue — especially when signed case pace is not keeping up. That combination tells you the firm is paying more for the same or fewer results.

Spend that is significantly under budget with solid case pace points in the opposite direction: there may be room to accelerate. The spend metric becomes strategic when paired with the pace metric. Together they answer: are we spending appropriately for the results we are getting?

Metric 3: Cost Per Signed Case (Trailing 30 Days)

Cost per signed case ties marketing investment to actual case production. It answers: how much did we pay, on average, for each case signed this month?

For context: most PI firms spending $100,000 to $400,000 per month on marketing see cost per signed case ranging from $1,500 to $5,000+, depending on practice area, market, and intake efficiency. The specific number matters less than the trend. Is it stable? Improving? Creeping up?

A 15% increase in cost per signed case, unaddressed over two to three months, usually means one of three things: the firm is paying more for leads of the same quality, intake is converting leads less efficiently, or a vendor's performance has declined. Each diagnosis has a different fix — but all of them start with a managing partner who notices the number moving and asks why.

Metric 4: Lead-to-Case Conversion Rate

Conversion rate connects marketing performance to intake performance. It measures what percentage of leads received are ultimately signed as cases.

A managing partner needs this number because a declining conversion rate can mask a problem that neither marketing nor intake is individually responsible for fixing. Marketing may be delivering volume. Intake may be working the leads. But if fewer leads are converting, the firm is spending money to generate opportunities that aren't becoming revenue.

A conversion rate that drops from 28% to 19% over two months is a material change. It could signal lead quality erosion from a vendor, a shift in intake process, or tightened case acceptance criteria. In every scenario, the fix crosses departmental lines — which is exactly why the managing partner needs to see it.

Metric 5: Week-over-Week Lead Volume Trend

This is the only leading indicator on the list — the metric that points forward rather than documenting what has already happened.

Weekly lead volume trend is not just this week versus last week. It is the shape of the last four to six weeks: stable, growing, or declining? Three consecutive weeks of declining volume — even when absolute numbers are still acceptable — is a trend that will become a problem if left unaddressed.

Conversely, rising volume with stable conversion rate and stable cost per case is the picture of a healthy marketing operation. That is the signal a managing partner should want to see on Monday morning.

Present this as a 6-week table or sparkline, with a single label: trending up, stable, or declining.

How to Present These Metrics Without Creating More Work

Five numbers in a standardized format should not take more than a few minutes to produce or consume. The worst version of this dashboard is a formatted email or slide deck that costs a marketing director 30 minutes every Monday morning.

The right format: one document — or dashboard view — with the five numbers, their targets, and a simple color indicator: green for on track, yellow for at risk, red for off track. No prose. No charts requiring explanation. Just the numbers and the variance.

When a metric is yellow or red, add one line explaining why and one line describing the action being taken. That is the full communication. Everything else is available on request.

What to Do When a Metric Is Off

A managing partner's job is not to diagnose marketing problems. It is to know when problems exist and ensure someone qualified is addressing them. These five metrics are designed to support exactly that division of responsibility.

• Signed case pace materially below target in week two? Ask the marketing director: what is causing this and what is the plan? That is not micromanagement — it is a clear request for accountability.
• Cost per case rising for three consecutive months? Have a budget conversation grounded in data: are we investing in the right sources? This is strategic recalibration, not an arbitrary cut.
• Conversion rate declining while spend holds steady? That is a cross-functional conversation — marketing and intake leadership in the same room with the data in front of them.

These metrics replace the vague “how's marketing going?” question — which invites narrative responses that are hard to hold accountable — with specific numbers that either say the operation is working or say it is not.

Building the Habit: Start Simple

If your firm does not have a weekly managing partner review, start with just one number: signed case pace vs. monthly goal. One metric, every Monday. Build that habit before layering in the other four.

Firms that implement even this single check report a meaningful shift in how marketing conversations happen. Questions get asked earlier. Problems surface before they become crises. And the marketing team, knowing the managing partner checks this number every week, tends to be more proactive — because they know it will come up before it becomes a problem.

The Bottom Line

A managing partner does not need to understand every metric in a PI firm's marketing operation. But five specific numbers — signed case pace, spend vs. budget, cost per case, conversion rate, and lead volume trend — are enough to maintain strategic oversight of a function spending hundreds of thousands of dollars per month.

See them weekly. Ask about them when they move. Make sure your marketing team knows you are watching. That accountability loop, consistently maintained, is worth more than any single tactical optimization.