Lead Generation
Sales
Effective Scoring Methods of Sales Leads
Learn best methods to help you sort your leads effectively. Choose the perfect models to make lead qualification easier.
Learn best methods to help you sort your leads effectively. Choose the perfect models to make lead qualification easier.
On average, businesses generate dozens of leads daily, but not all of them are created equal. Most will never convert to paying customers, while others represent significant opportunities. But how can you tell which is which? The answer lies in an effective lead scoring system that helps you identify and prioritize your most promising prospects.
When it comes to sales efficiency, knowing which leads deserve your immediate attention can make or break your conversion rates. A well-crafted lead scoring model ensures your team focuses on prospects with the highest likelihood of becoming customers, rather than wasting time on those who are just browsing.
The best way to maximize your sales effectiveness is to implement a lead scoring system that aligns with your specific business goals and target audience. After all, if the subject line of your email campaign hooked them, the rest of your sales process should be just as compelling and targeted.
So you've gathered a list of potential leads through various channels, what now? Don't lose them by treating every prospect the same way—make sure to have a scoring system that helps you prioritize effectively.
A lead scoring model helps determine which prospects are more likely to convert into paying customers. It establishes the relationship you have with each potential customer and reflects the kind of communication you're hoping to achieve.
For example, if you're selling to enterprise clients, you might assign higher scores to leads from larger companies. If you're reaching out to C-suite leaders, your scoring model should prioritize decision-makers with purchasing authority.
Some good indicators for qualifying leads include job title, company size, engagement with your content, and previous buying behavior. Remember to use a practical scoring approach to make your sales team feel comfortable with how leads are prioritized. Don't forget that on most CRM systems, you can see a preview of each lead's score before deciding how to proceed.
No one likes wasting time on prospects who aren't interested, so make sure to let your sales team know how to allocate their resources based on lead scores. Here's our formula for maximizing resource efficiency through lead scoring:
First and foremost, establish clear scoring criteria based on your ideal customer profile. This should be followed by an explanation of what each score means in one sentence—what actions should your team take for low, medium, and high-scoring leads? Lay down all the facts in one swift explanation.
In addition, make sure your CRM properly tracks and displays lead scores. This will help your sales team put a face to the score and know how to prioritize their outreach efforts.
A tip from us: having an automated lead scoring system can actually increase sales productivity and response rate by up to 30%!
When it comes to sales outreach, being strategic with your communication based on lead scores is key. If your approach isn't tailored to the lead's score, you're likely to lose the sale.
There are a few things you can do to make sure your communication is appropriately personalized in sales outreach. First, start by examining the lead's score before reaching out. Be explicit about why you're contacting them based on their specific behaviors or characteristics. By personalizing your approach based on lead scores, you'll increase the likelihood that your message will be read and acted on.
If you're contacting a high-scoring lead, prioritize immediate follow-up.
If you're nurturing a medium-scoring lead, focus on education and relationship-building.
This may seem like common sense, but too often sales teams use the same approach regardless of lead quality.
Then be specific about what you're offering and why it's valuable to that particular lead category. This may seem like another common sense tip, but too often sales communications are vague and fail to articulate why your offering matches the prospect's specific situation.
Finally, don't be afraid to be direct with high-scoring leads.
When you are implementing a lead scoring system, one of the most important elements is choosing the right model. Probably, the entire point of your scoring system is to get your team to focus on the right prospects. Not having an appropriate model in your sales approach is like bringing a water bottle without water in it – it loses its purpose.
Something as simple as the right scoring model, may it be demographic or behavioral, can immensely transform your sales results. Your lead scoring model should be clear. You should only track what matters, and those metrics should be easy to measure. If your team embraces it, you have a good chance of success in converting more leads to sales.
A tip from us: Turn your lead scoring into a quick-to-identify and easy-to-understand system by using color coding or numerical ranges. This can increase your team's adoption rate by making it clear to everyone what each score means. Need more convincing? A visual lead scoring system can increase sales efficiency by 28% over a text-based system.
This model sorts and gives points based on the lead's job, company size, industry, location, and other significant details that can be used in lead qualification.
Identify your lead's job position. Let's say you're selling software that helps with marketing. A lead with a job title like "Marketing Manager" or "Chief Marketing Officer" might need your software. So, you'd give a higher score to leads with job titles that match what your product is suitable for.
Determine the size of a company. If your product or service is for big corporations, for example, software that every employee can use, leads from large companies may benefit and be valuable to you.
Relate your product and services to the lead's industry. Some products are beneficial for specific industries. For instance, if you're selling medical equipment, leads from hospitals and healthcare companies might be a good fit. So, you'd assign higher scores to leads in industries your product serves well.
Consider the location of your lead. Sometimes, where a lead is located matters. If you're selling surfing gear, leads from coastal areas might be more interested than those from inland places. Location can help you know who will likely enjoy your product.
Other demographic info like age, gender, or education level might also matter depending on your product or service. If you're selling something more relevant to a specific age group, you will give higher scores to leads in that age range.
You can't just read your leads' minds; you look at what they do instead. This is where the behavioral scoring model comes in. You can keep track of their actions to figure out how interested they are. Here is how you can use this model in your sales strategy:
Engaging with your website. Whenever a lead visits your website, they're poking around to see what you have. Some pages, like the "Products" or "Services" page, might be more critical. If they visit those pages, you'd give them points because they look curious.
Clicking on links. If your emails have links to your website or specific content, and they click on those links, it's a sign they're diving deeper. Clicking earns them more points because they're showing extra interest.
Downloading educational resources. You must also put a score on the lead who downloads content like guides, e-books, or videos from your website. It shows that they are eager to learn about your product and services.
Lead source scoring is about keeping track of where you find potential customers. You give higher scores to the sources that bring in leads more likely to become paying customers.
Different places to find customers. When people discover your business or product, they do it differently. They could find you on your website, through ads, on social media, from recommendations, or even at events you attend. These ways are like a "source" that brings in potential customers.
Determine the source that gives a lot of leads. Some of these sources might be good at bringing in people who buy what you're offering. These are the sources that work well and help you make more sales. For example, if you notice that many people from a particular website ad tend to become customers, that source is high-converting.
Giving lead source scoring. With lead source scoring, you give scores to the different sources based on their performance. If a source is known for bringing in leads that are more likely to become customers, you give it a higher score. This helps you keep track of which sources are the most effective at getting you sales.
Measuring conversations is the model's focus. You'll determine how much the people are involved and interested in your sales pitches.
Consider the interaction stage. When you talk to potential customers, you might do it through emails, calls, meetings, or even chatting online. These are interactions where you're discussing your products or services with them.
Assess how much a lead is involved. Sometimes, the people you're talking to might be curious. They might ask lots of questions and show that they're interested. Other times, they might not seem very interested or might not ask many questions.
Giving engagement points. Engagement scoring is about giving points to these interactions based on the person's interest. You'd give them more points if they're actively participating, asking questions, and showing curiosity.
Sometimes, time also matters in lead qualification, especially how recently a lead action has been done and how often it happens.
Monitor how frequently an action a lead is doing. Those actions are when people visit your website, open your emails, or interact with your content. Time-based scoring looks at how recently they did these actions and how often they did them.
Higher scores for recent and consistent engagement. With time-based scoring, if someone has done something recently (like visiting your site today), they get more points. Also, if they've been doing similar things consistently (like opening your emails every week), they get more points, too.
Knowing who to focus on. Time-based scoring helps you know which leads are giving more attention. If someone scores high because they've been interacting a lot lately, they might be a good target for your sales efforts.
This model is based on your company's objectives. You can give points to potential leads based on how well they match your customer profile. It helps you see which leads are a great fit for your business.
Assess your ideal customer profile. You must understand who your perfect customer would be. Determine if a lead correlates with your objective. This includes their job, company size, industry, and interests. If someone is very similar to what you're looking for, they get more points.
Understand the comparison. When you see the scores, you can tell how well each lead matches your perfect customer. More points usually mean they align better with your target.
Focus on close fits. Leads with high fit scores are the ones that are a perfect match for your business. They are more likely to benefit from your products and services, and you can focus more on them.
This model keeps track of how people respond to the emails you send. You give them points for actions like opening, clicking, and replying. This helps you know who's paying attention to your emails and who might be more open to your sales messages.
Sending emails. The emails you want to send contain information about your products or services. These emails might have company contact information, links, or even questions.
Looking at lead's reactions. With email engagement scoring, you check how people react to these emails. Did they open the email? Did they click on the links inside? Did they reply to you? These actions show how much they're engaging with your emails.
Giving points for engaging in your emails. You give points to the leads based on how much they engage with your emails. If they open the email, they might get some points. If they click the links, they get more points. And if they reply, they might get even more points.
Suppose you create exciting content like articles, videos, and guides about your products or services. This scoring model tracks how much people enjoy and use this content to learn more about what you offer.
Evaluate what your leads enjoy the most. With content engagement scoring, you're watching to see which content the people like. Are they reading your articles, watching videos, or attending webinars? These actions show how much they're getting involved with your information.
Giving points for interaction. You assign points to leads based on how they interact with your content. They get points if they're reading, watching, or participating in your content. The more they engage, the more points they can earn.
Focusing on engaged leads. Leads with high content engagement scores are the ones who are digging into the information you provide. They might be more eager to know more about what you offer.
This model scores leads that directly determine who's ready and able to become a customer.
Level of lead's readiness to buy. Some leads might be very eager and ready to make a purchase. They've been researching, asking questions, and seem like they're close to making a decision. Others are starting to explore and aren't quite ready yet.
Assess each lead's financial capacity. Some leads have the financial ability to afford your product or service. They might be part of companies or have budgets matching your offering. Others might need more resources to invest in your solution.
Giving scores to the leads. With lead grading, you assign each lead grades or scores based on these factors. This helps you see how ready, financially capable, and well-suited each lead is for your product.
With all the different ways of lead scoring we discussed earlier, you need something to guide you and help you decide which leads are the best for your business. Lunas suggests using helpful sales resources to quickly and thoroughly determine which potential customers are worth focusing on.
One such resource is the Complete Guide to Lead Qualification, which provides expert insights and strategies for conducting practical lead qualification.
We're also giving you access to a Lead Scoring Criteria Template and a Leads Scoring Cheatsheet. These will help you stay organized and successful in qualifying leads. At Lunas, we're dedicated to helping you succeed in lead qualification. Make the most of these helpful resources to boost your sales efforts.
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Typically, only about 25% of your leads will be sales-ready when they first enter your system. While this figure may initially appear modest, it's crucial to remember that with proper lead scoring, you can identify exactly which prospects deserve your immediate attention.
Adhering to these straightforward guidelines in crafting a lead scoring system can significantly enhance the effectiveness of your sales team and boost your conversion prospects. Implement an impactful lead scoring model by creating clear criteria, focusing on behaviors that matter, incorporating multiple scoring dimensions, choosing an appropriate scale, and avoiding overcomplicated systems. Moreover, don't hesitate to refine your approach over time – continuous improvement plays a vital role in sales success.
Interested in improving your skills and learning better ways to find and qualify leads? Check out the following articles:
Lead Mining: The Key to Finding & Verifying to High-Quality Leads
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