Begin with the desired profit, build the revenue forecast required to support it, translate that revenue into the firm’s own matter and pipeline requirements, and only then calibrate the EPiC Score. The Score does not calculate profit. It is a weighted, in-period indicator of leads, prospects, closes, and completed and fully paid estate plans. Its job is to show whether current activity is likely to support the desired outcome while there is still time to act.
That distinction prevents a common planning error: treating a pipeline score as though it has the same meaning as revenue, collections, or profit. The financial model sets the destination. The EPiC Score helps the owner manage the activity leading toward it.
Connect three planning layers
A defensible reverse-engineering process connects three layers without pretending they are interchangeable.
- Financial outcome
Question: What profit and collected revenue must the firm produce
Firm data required: Profit definition, expense forecast, owner compensation, cash and timing
- Operating volume
Question: What completed work could support the revenue target
Firm data required: Firm-specific collected revenue per delivered matter and service mix
- Pipeline activity
Question: What leads, prospects, closes, and deliveries may be required
Firm data required: Historical conversion rates, cycle times, capacity, and firm-specific Score calibration
- In-period control
Question: Where action is needed before the period closes
Firm data required: Score pace, stage bottlenecks, production limits, and updated forecasts
Define the financial destination
Start by defining profit consistently. Is the target pretax profit? Does it come after market-based owner compensation? How are owner distributions treated? Those choices materially change the revenue requirement and should be confirmed with the firm’s financial and tax advisers.
At a basic planning level, the firm adds its desired profit to forecast operating expenses to determine the revenue that must be collected. The forecast should reflect expected hiring, compensation, marketing, technology, occupancy, debt service where appropriate, and other planned changes. EPiC’s forecasting guidance favors a high-level forecast that is updated regularly rather than a static annual budget that is ignored once conditions change.
Translate revenue into completed work
Next, divide the collection target into monthly or quarterly periods that reflect the firm’s seasonality and cash timing. Then use the firm’s own historical collected revenue per delivered matter and service mix to estimate how many completed, fully paid matters would support that target.
This is not a universal matter target. A firm handling different planning levels, maintenance work, amendments, restatements, probate, or trust administration will have a different mix and collection pattern. The denominator and the time period must remain consistent.
Work backward through the pipeline
Once the required delivered work is understood, use the firm’s actual conversion history and cycle times to work backward: how many closes usually produce that delivery volume, how many prospects produce those closes, and how many leads produce those prospects? A firm with long decision or production cycles may need activity in one period to support revenue in a later period.
The quality of the answer depends on the quality of the history. If the firm cannot consistently distinguish leads, prospects, closes, deliveries, and collected revenue, the first task is cleaner data rather than a more elaborate target.
Calibrate rather than copy
The EPiC Score assigns firm-specific weights to pipeline stages because the stages do not contribute equally and business models differ. It establishes a desired score after tracking relevant activity for three months and applying judgment to determine a realistic objective. It does not establish one score that every firm should pursue.
This is also why an owner should not copy another firm’s score or assume that a published illustrative target maps to a particular revenue figure. Calibration should reflect the firm’s fee structure, collection timing, conversion rates, production capacity, and which stage is most predictive for that firm. The detailed weights and dashboard implementation remain proprietary.
Use the score while action is possible
Review the Score during the month or quarter, not only after it ends. When the pace is below target, identify the constrained stage. The appropriate response might be referral-source contact, lead follow-up, prospect follow-up, consultation capacity, production work, scheduling, or collections. The action should match the bottleneck rather than defaulting to more marketing.
An above-target Score also requires judgment. Continued demand generation can create more work than the firm can produce efficiently. When the pipeline is sufficiently strong, owner attention may need to shift toward staffing, workflow, quality control, and delivery capacity.
Close the loop with actual results
At the end of each period, compare the Score and its components with collected revenue, expenses, profit, capacity, and cash. A score that rises without the expected financial result may signal changing matter mix, lower conversion quality, delayed delivery, collection friction, or a weighting assumption that needs review.
Reverse engineering is therefore a recurring calibration process, not a one-time equation. Set the financial destination, translate it through the firm’s own economics, monitor controllable pipeline activity, and revise the forecast as evidence changes. Used that way, the EPiC Score connects daily action to financial direction without pretending to guarantee the result.