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Pillar 1
Money
Does the income compound, vest, and pay you well?
0/30
01Income for the Life of the Contract
Recurring income that's vested (you keep it if you stop), ideally willable or sellable, with low chargeback/persistency risk. Recurring income you don't own is just a longer commission.
02Compensation & Speed of Pay
Strong payout percentage, paid fast (daily/weekly vs. 60 days), fair advances, and reasonable clawback terms. Two "great residual" products can have wildly different cash flow.
03Wallet Share & Cross-Sell
Can you sell the same client more than one thing over time (R&D now, Section 125 next, wealth/RIA later)? Maximize lifetime value, not just the first sale.
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Pillar 2
Market
Big enough, hungry enough, and moving your way?
0/40
04Market Size — % of Prospects Who Qualify
How big is the qualified universe? (e.g. R&D fits ~40% of businesses; Quantum fits any company with 25+ employees.) A bigger pool means more shots for your whole team.
05Urgent, Compelling Pain
Does the prospect lose money or carry risk every month they wait? Tax savings, compliance deadlines, and rate hikes create urgency. No urgency = long, stalled sales cycles.
06Blue Ocean vs. Red Ocean
Is the market uncontested or saturated with copycats? The sweet spot: a known, understood need (everyone knows they overpay) paired with a genuinely differentiated answer.
07Tailwind / Trend
Is something pushing this market to grow — demographics, new regulation, technology, economic shift? Selling with the current is far easier than selling against it.
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Pillar 3
Moat
Why you, why this company — and is it hard to copy?
0/30
08Differentiator — "Why Us"
A verifiable, hard-to-copy advantage (e.g. top CPA firm with proprietary AI 10 years in the making). "Better service" is not a differentiator; "the only one that does X" is.
09Regulatory Durability & Moat
Can the product survive a rule change — or better, is it protected by approval? (e.g. fully insured, the only plan approved by the Dept. of Insurance in all 50 states vs. 90% self-insured ERISA competitors.)
10Group / Enterprise Leverage
Does one signature unlock many units — covering 200 employees, multiple locations, or a whole association? One close that delivers enterprise-size volume beats hundreds of one-off sales.
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Pillar 4
Machine
Will it last, retain clients, and scale across a team?
0/20
11Best Product + Retention Systems
Due diligence confirms it's the best product on the market, backed by real support and service systems with a documented renewal/retention rate — so reps keep selling instead of servicing.
12Company Durability & Duplicatability
The company is strong enough to outlive the contract, and an average rep can be trained to sell it in a reasonable ramp — with leads and marketing support. A product only scales if it's teachable.
96 – 120 · Green Light
Rare and powerful. Recruit to it, build your team around it, and protect your position.
72 – 95 · Strong
Worth your effort. Shore up the 1–2 weakest factors before going all in.
48 – 71 · Caution
Mixed. Fix the low scores or get answers before you commit your team's time.
Below 48 · Walk Away
The math is against you. Your time is better spent elsewhere.
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Score it before you sell it
Run every new product, company, or partnership through the 4M Scorecard. Discipline up front protects the time and trust of your whole team.
Money · Market · Moat · Machine — the four pillars of a great opportunity
This page is for educational and training purposes only. The 4M Scorecard is a decision-support
framework, not financial, legal, or investment advice. Income results vary.
DBR training materials are provided for informational use only.