Lead scoring is the process of assigning points to prospects to determine how likely they are to become a customer. These points are awarded based on a lead's characteristics, such as their job title or industry, and their behaviors, like visiting a pricing page or downloading a whitepaper. This system allows companies to prioritize their sales and marketing efforts on the most promising opportunities.
Lead scoring boosts efficiency by helping sales and marketing teams prioritize their efforts. It provides a data-driven method to identify which prospects are most likely to convert. This alignment ensures resources are focused on high-value leads, ultimately increasing conversion rates and improving ROI.
Lead scoring models are frameworks used to rank prospects based on their perceived value. These models assign points to various attributes and actions, helping to separate hot leads from those who are just browsing.
While both systems help qualify leads, they focus on different aspects of a prospect's value.
This is how you can set up a basic lead scoring system.
Implementing an effective lead scoring system comes with several hurdles that can undermine its success.
How often should I update my lead scoring model?
Your model should be reviewed quarterly or semi-annually. Market trends and customer behaviors change, so regular updates ensure your scoring remains relevant. This keeps your sales team focused on the best possible leads and improves overall accuracy.
Can lead scoring be fully automated?
While platforms automate the scoring process, human oversight is vital. Regular analysis and strategic adjustments by your team are necessary to refine the model's accuracy and adapt to new market insights, ensuring it doesn't become outdated.
What's a good starting score for an MQL?
There's no magic number; it's unique to your business. Analyze the scores of past converted leads to set an initial benchmark. Continuously refine this threshold based on sales team feedback and performance data for optimal results.
Accounts Payable (AP) is the money a company owes its suppliers for goods or services bought on credit. It's listed as a current liability.
A marketing automation platform is software that automates marketing actions. It helps manage tasks like email campaigns and lead nurturing.
A custom API integration is a bespoke connection between software, enabling them to communicate and share data to meet unique business requirements.
Firmographic data is information used to classify firms. It includes attributes like industry, employee count, location, and annual revenue.
The marketing mix is the set of marketing tools a company uses to sell products, defined by the 4Ps: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search results.
GDPR compliance means following the EU's strict data protection laws to ensure the secure and lawful handling of personal data.
A sales demo is a presentation where a sales rep shows a prospect how a product or service works and solves their specific problems.
A sales kickoff (SKO) is an annual event for a sales team to celebrate wins, align on goals, and get motivated for the upcoming year.
Cohort analysis is a behavioral analytics tool that groups users with common traits to track their actions and engagement over time.
An API (Application Programming Interface) is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other and exchange information.
Intent leads are prospects who show buying signals through their online actions, indicating they're actively looking to make a purchase.
An email cadence is a scheduled sequence of emails sent to prospects over a specific period to nurture leads and drive engagement.
Regression testing ensures that new code changes don’t negatively impact existing features. It's a key step to maintain software quality after updates.
A product champion is an internal evangelist who drives a product's adoption and success by ensuring it solves real problems for their team.
Learn about B2C2B, including how B2C2B transforms sales, key strategies for B2C2B success, & differences between B2C2B and B2B2C.
Gamification applies game mechanics like points, badges, and leaderboards to non-game activities to boost engagement and motivate users.
Voice broadcasting is an automated system that delivers a pre-recorded voice message to a large list of phone numbers simultaneously.
Learn about B2B, including what is it, its key elements, the benefits of B2B partnerships, the differences between B2B and B2C, and strategies for effective marketing.
Data enrichment is the process of enhancing raw data by adding missing information from other sources, making it more complete and actionable.
Account-Based Selling is a B2B strategy where sales and marketing treat high-value accounts as markets of one, using personalized outreach.
An Account Executive (AE) is a sales professional responsible for closing new business deals and managing existing client relationships to drive revenue.
Website visitor tracking collects and analyzes data on user behavior to understand their journey and improve the overall user experience.
Enrichment is the process of adding third-party data to your existing customer profiles to get a more complete picture of your leads.
Buyer’s remorse is the sense of regret or anxiety that can arise after making a purchase, often questioning if it was the right decision.
Firmographics are descriptive attributes of organizations, used to segment companies by characteristics like industry, size, and location.
Digital advertising is the practice of delivering promotional content to users through various online and digital channels like social media or search engines.
A channel partner is a company that works with a manufacturer or producer to market and sell their products, software, or services to customers.
A knowledge base is a self-serve online library of information about a product, service, department, or topic.
Event tracking is the method of collecting data on specific user actions, or 'events,' on a website or app, such as clicks or downloads.
Learn about B2B sales, including key strategies for B2B success, types of B2B sales models, & B2B vs. B2C sales: understanding the differences.
Video selling uses personalized video messages to engage prospects, build rapport, and guide them through the sales funnel to close more deals.
Inside sales is a remote sales process where reps sell products or services via phone, email, and other digital tools instead of in person.
“End of Quarter” (EOQ) refers to the final weeks of a business quarter when sales teams rush to meet quotas, often leading to a flurry of deals.
An account is a company or organization that you're targeting for sales. It can be a prospective, current, or even a past customer.
Objection handling is the process of responding to a prospect's concerns or hesitations about a product or service to move a deal forward.
Warm outbound is a sales strategy for contacting prospects who've shown interest in your brand through prior engagement, like website visits.
An enterprise is a large-scale organization, often a corporation, defined by its complex structure and substantial number of employees.
Learn about bottom of the funnel, including maximizing conversions at the funnel's end, & strategies for nurturing bottom-funnel leads.
Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others reflect correct behavior for a given situation.
Sales partnerships are strategic alliances where two companies co-sell products to expand their reach, generate new leads, and increase revenue.
Account management is the post-sales practice of building and nurturing long-term relationships with a company's most valuable clients.
Single Sign-On (SSO) is an authentication method allowing users to access multiple applications with one set of login credentials.
CRM enrichment is the process of adding third-party data to your existing customer profiles to make them more complete and accurate.
Competitive intelligence (CI) is the ethical gathering and analysis of market data to inform strategic business decisions and gain an advantage.
Customer relationship marketing is a strategy for building lasting connections with customers to foster long-term loyalty and engagement.
A canary release is a deployment strategy where new software is rolled out to a small user group first, minimizing risk before a full release.
Technographics is data that outlines a company’s technology stack, helping B2B teams identify prospects based on the software and hardware they use.
Audience targeting is the process of segmenting consumers into specific groups to deliver more personalized and relevant marketing messages.
Learn about B2B marketing attribution, including challenges in B2B marketing attribution, & key metrics for effective attribution.
A RESTful API is a web service interface that uses HTTP requests to access and use data, adhering to the constraints of REST architecture.
Scrum is an agile framework that helps teams structure and manage their work through a set of values, principles, and practices.
Learn about buyer intent, including understanding buyer intent signals, strategies to capture buyer intent, & buyer intent vs. customer interest.
The lead qualification process is how you determine which prospects are most likely to become customers by evaluating them against specific criteria.
Application Performance Management (APM) monitors and manages an application's performance, availability, and the experience of its end-users.
Learn about business development representative, including skills and qualifications for BDRs, & roles and responsibilities of a BDR.
Shipping solutions are services or software that streamline the logistics of getting products to customers, from label printing to final delivery.
Consumer Relationship Management (CRM) is a strategy for managing all of a company's relationships and interactions with its customers.
Lead scoring models rank prospects by assigning points for their behaviors and demographics, helping sales teams prioritize their outreach.
Learn about B2B data, including sources and types of B2B data, leveraging B2B data for sales success, & ensuring the accuracy of B2B data.
Data security protects digital information from unauthorized access, corruption, or theft throughout its entire lifecycle.
HubSpot is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform with tools for marketing, sales, and service, all aimed at helping businesses grow.
SFDC stands for Salesforce Dot Com, a popular cloud-based CRM platform that helps companies manage their customer interactions and data.
An Operational CRM is a system that automates and improves customer-facing business processes like sales, marketing, and customer service.
GPCTBA/C&I is a sales qualification framework for understanding a prospect's goals, plans, challenges, timeline, budget, and authority.
Intent-based leads are potential customers whose online actions—like searches or content engagement—signal a clear interest in buying a solution.
Sales prospecting software automates the process of finding, contacting, and tracking potential customers to help sales teams build their pipeline.
Persona-based marketing uses fictional customer profiles, or personas, to create targeted messaging for specific audience segments.
Cold emailing is sending unsolicited emails to potential customers you haven't contacted before, aiming to start a business conversation.
Load testing is a type of performance testing that determines how a system behaves under both normal and anticipated peak load conditions.
An elevator pitch is a short, memorable summary of what you do, designed to be delivered in the time it takes to ride an elevator.
Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) is the predictable income a company expects to receive from its customers over a one-year period.
A Representational State Transfer (REST) API is a web service that uses a simple, stateless architecture for systems to communicate online.
Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) is the predictable, recurring income a business expects to receive each month from all active subscriptions.
A sales intelligence platform is software that provides sales teams with data and insights about prospects to help them sell more effectively.
A Content Management System (CMS) is software for creating, managing, and modifying website content without needing specialized technical skills.
Customer centricity is a business approach that puts the customer at the heart of every decision, aiming to build loyalty and long-term value.
Data appending is the process of adding new data fields to your existing database records to enrich and complete your information.
A sales coach is a mentor who trains and guides sales reps to enhance their skills, boost performance, and ultimately close more deals effectively.
Programmatic advertising uses AI and real-time bidding to automate the buying and selling of digital ad space, targeting specific audiences.
Sales intelligence is technology that gathers and analyzes data to help salespeople find and understand prospects and existing clients.
Learn about business continuity, including understanding key components, steps to ensure continuity, common challenges, & best practices.
Logo retention is a key B2B metric that measures a company's ability to retain its customers, or 'logos,' over a specific period.
Workflow automation uses rule-based logic to run a sequence of tasks that would otherwise require manual human effort to complete.
Lead routing is the automated process of distributing incoming leads to the right sales reps based on predefined criteria.
Consultative selling is an approach where salespeople act as expert advisors, diagnosing customer needs to provide the most suitable solutions.
An Account Development Representative (ADR) identifies and qualifies new business opportunities, creating a pipeline for account executives.
Process Builder is a Salesforce automation tool that lets you create 'if/then' business processes with a user-friendly visual interface.
The Dark Funnel describes customer buying activities that are untrackable by companies, such as private chats and word-of-mouth referrals.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a system of integrated software that businesses use to manage and automate their core day-to-day processes.
Product recommendations are a marketing strategy that uses customer data to suggest relevant products, boosting sales and customer engagement.
Lead scraping is the process of automatically extracting contact information and other relevant data about potential customers from online sources.
Personalization in sales means tailoring outreach to a prospect's specific needs, interests, and context to make communication more relevant.
Affiliate marketing is a performance-based model where affiliates earn a commission for promoting another company’s products or services.
Learn about brag book, including crafting your outstanding brag book, essential components of a brag book, & brag book vs. resume: unveiling the differences.
A Point of Contact (POC) is the designated individual or department that serves as the main hub for information and communication on a matter.
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) software helps teams coordinate personalized marketing and sales efforts to land high-value customer accounts.
Channel partners are third-party firms that help market and sell a company's products or services, acting as an indirect sales force.
A Marketing Qualified Account (MQA) is a target company that has shown significant engagement, indicating it's ready for the sales team to pursue.
Retargeting marketing is a digital advertising strategy that targets users who have previously interacted with your website or brand online.