Is your business ready to implement a lead scoring process? According to Aberdeen Research, companies that get lead scoring right have a 192% higher average lead qualification rate than those that do not.
The marketing strategy and plans you’ve implemented are working. The leads are steadily coming in. In fact, there are so many leads that the sales team isn’t sure which to focus on first. Not a bad problem to have, right? But, where do you start? First, you have to take a good look at the data you are collecting, and identify any possible gaps.
Data Collection
In order to implement lead scoring, you must understand the different types of data:
Implicit Data
This data reflects the prospect's actions or behavior. Some examples include: website page visits, number of site visits, downloaded content, social media engagements, etc.
Explicit Data
Site visitors often provide this data when they complete a form or if you use a third-party data enhancement tool. This data is about the prospect. Examples include: industry, job title, company size, purchase authority, budget, etc.
Negative Data
Negative data combines implicit and explicit data that you have identified as not being a good indicator of becoming sales-ready. For example, geographies or industries you don't serve, no budget or purchasing authority, etc. These are all criteria that would negatively impact his/her score. Why is this important? Imagine automatically sending competitor contacts to your sales team as a lead. What makes a prospect a bad lead is as important as what makes them a good one.
Setting Lead Scoring Thresholds
After identifying the data points that reflect implicit, explicit and negative indicators, you assign point values to each criteria. Then set a threshold score for sending a lead to Sales.
To determine point values of each criteria, first identify which information and behaviors are most important to your business. The most important criteria will be assigned more points than those that are less important. Many businesses start this process by assigning a score of (1-10) for each criteria. But, this is not set in stone and can always be adjusted to accommodate your specific business needs. Additionally, you’ll want to assign negative values (-10-1) to negative criteria.
If the overall score for a prospect meets the identified threshold, the lead is then sent to Sales. If it doesn’t, the lead continues to be nurtured until they’ve taken additional action that boosts their score to meet the threshold.
Sometimes a lead will receive such a negative score that you might consider removing them from your database.
Monitor, Analyze, Request Feedback
No two businesses are exactly the same, which means no two lead scoring models are going to be exactly the same. To build the most effective and efficient lead scoring model you must regularly monitor and analyze the program. Keep a close eye on how many leads are meeting the threshold and request regular feedback from the Sales team as to whether they agree if the leads are in fact qualified leads. If there are discrepancies, make adjustments to the lead scoring method and again monitor progress and request more feedback. Finding the perfect lead scoring recipe should be a collaborative effort, and one that can take time. But when it all comes together, and it will, productivity goes up and more leads close. And that’s when you can stand proud knowing all the hard work and effort was worth it.
Have questions about the lead scoring process? We want to hear them. Give us a call at 571-606-3106 or send an email.
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