Most business owners are surprised by their score. Across the tax offices, EROs, and service bureaus this diagnostic has been run on, a few patterns show up again and again:

The follow-up gap is almost always bigger than expected. Owners tend to assume their booking and follow-up process is "fine" — until the scorecard breaks it into individual systems. Most discover at least one stage where leads are falling through with no automated catch.

Document collection is the most commonly under-built system. EROs in particular tend to score lowest here — reminders, status tracking, and deadline nudges are usually still manual, even in offices that have automated other parts of the client journey.

Retention systems are often an afterthought. Businesses that score well on lead capture frequently score poorly on what happens after a client is onboarded — no re-engagement sequence for next season, no built-in referral ask, no way to flag at-risk clients before they churn.

The fix is rarely "get more leads." Almost every low scorer assumes their issue is marketing or volume. In practice, the diagnostic usually points to one specific backend system — not a lead problem — as the highest-leverage fix.