You can’t fake a season in baseball. A hot streak might win you a few games, but over the course of 162 games, it’s OPS (On-Base Plus Slugging Percentage) that tells you who the real producers are. It’s not just about scrapping to get on base in each at bat or always swinging for the fences. Both are important if you want to field a winning team.
Business isn’t so different.
In professional services, we love the big wins: the flashy new logo, the marquee deal, the once-in-a-decade project. But if you want to build a firm that scales sustainably, the single most predictive metric isn’t bookings. It’s Net Revenue Retention (NRR). And NRR is the equivalent of your OPS.
Breaking It Down: Why OBP + SLG = NRR
Let’s unpack this a little further:
- On-Base Percentage (OBP) is all about getting on base consistently. In the business world, that’s gross retention. How reliably are you keeping the clients you’ve already won?
- Slugging Percentage (SLG) is about impactful hits. Doubles, triples, home runs. That’s expansion. Upselling, cross-selling, and growing existing relationships are what move the needle. In professional services, 80%-90% of annual revenue typically comes from existing accounts.
Put them together, and you have a holistic measure of client value and the clearest leading indicator of firm growth: Net Revenue Retention.
NRR answers the question: Are we simply replacing old clients with new ones, or are we compounding trust over time?
Why NRR Is the OPS of Professional Services
- NRR Shows Real Performance
- Just like OPS adjusts for players who walk often or hit for power, NRR accounts for both churn and growth. It’s a measure of quality, not just quantity.
- You can have a great sales team and still lose ground if delivery isn’t strong. You can delight existing customers but struggle to seize upsell opportunities if you’re too focused on delivery. NRR forces you to confront both gaps.
- NRR Reflects Strategic Maturity
- Young firms chase logos. Mature firms build relationships that deepen.
- High NRR doesn’t happen by accident. Strong NRR is the result of aligned productization, delivery excellence, and value articulation.
- NRR Predicts Long-Term Success
- Investors love NRR because it’s sticky. It’s a measure of momentum. If you’re expanding within accounts, you’re doing something right and it’s probably repeatable.
How to Improve Your Firm’s OPS
- Dial In Your Getting On-Base Game (Gross Retention)
- Invest in objective, operational, health metrics. Remember the adage that you manage what you measure.
- Run your client management cadence with the same discipline and executive oversight you use to drive sales.
- Prioritize client service as a company imperative. Make client relationships and renewal planning a corporate, cross-functional priority and not just an account management responsibility.
- Amp Up Your Slugging Percentage (Expansion)
- Empower your team with growth signals synthesized from every interaction, regardless of whether it’s with sales, delivery, or leadership.
- Leverage technology to continually monitor public information and integrate derived insights into your growth plans so that you can more effectively advise your clients on their strategic roadmap, not just your current engagement.
- Use strategic insight to unlock tiered offerings and natural next steps.
The Takeaway
OPS made sabermetricians fall in love with baseball all over again. It wasn’t new, but it was a more honest look at a player’s contributions to success than the stat that was previously prized the most: batting average. OPS is a more accurate measure than batting average alone if you’re looking to reward players who consistently helped their teams win.
And NRR is the OPS of your firm. The lesson here? You don’t have to wait for a fastball down the middle to take the next big swing. Build a lineup that gets on base relentlessly and hits for power reliably. If you do that, you’ll find that you’re part of a team that wins games and sweeps series, not just one that has some good innings here and there.
