All leads are not of equal importance to your Sales team. Some are ready to speak with a salesperson and purchase. Others aren’t ready and still need to be nurtured. Creating a B2B lead scoring strategy is essential to converting leads into customers. Here are the 6 steps we recommend.
Lead scoring is the process of assigning a numerical value to a lead that determines how likely they are to convert from a lead to a paying customer. A lead score is the numerical value assigned to a lead based on positive and negative factors. According to CSO Insights, companies with mature lead generation and management practices have a 9.3% higher sales quota achievement rate. (CSO Insights via HubSpot, 30 Thought-Provoking Lead Nurturing Stats You Can't Ignore)
No two lead scoring strategies or lead score is exactly alike. Tailor yours to fit your team, your industry, and your goals.
A lead score is comprised of attributes and actions. Lead score attributes include a lead's company size, title and other demographic information. Lead score actions include a lead's behavioral information like page visits, email clicks, form submissions, and interactions with your business. Consider the actions and attributes of your ideal and your not-so-ideal customers while choosing the factors you want to go in to your lead score.
Envisioning your ideal and not-so-ideal customers example:
Ideal customer
Not-so-ideal customer
We recommend choosing about three attributes and three actions to focus on when first starting out. Combining properties based on the common behavior of previous customers is also helpful.
Lead scores will change over time, but the general rule of thumb is the higher the lead score, the more likely the lead is to convert to a customer. The next element to consider is the point values associated with each.
Use a scale of varying importance for both types of points, because some signify readiness to purchase more so than others. Assign favorable attributes and actions positive point values. For example, (+1) point for small importance, (+3) points for moderate importance, (+5) points for high importance, and so on. Assign unfavorable attributes and actions negative point values. For example, ( -1) point for small unimportance, (-3) points for moderate unimportance, (-5) points for high unimportance, and so on.
Recommended lead score point values:
Remember, your lead score is easily customized so it's all about what your goals are!
Lead scoring can be conducted either manually or electronically with predictive algorithm scoring models. Here are some pros and cons to consider before choosing the method that works best for your business:
| Manual Lead Scoring | |
| Pros | Cons |
| Great for smaller businesses just starting the lead scoring process | Not viable for larger businesses |
| Can be done via spreadsheet without paying for software | Takes a significant amount of time and expertise |
| Easily customizable | Does not integrate with your CRM |
| Requires updating lead scores manually (meaning repeating the process each time you want an updated lead score) | |
| Notifications are also manual (meaning your spreadsheet won’t notify you when a lead becomes high priority) | |
If you choose to start lead scoring manually, we recommend downloading a spreadsheet of your leads from your database and filter by your lead scoring criteria. Assign positive and negative values and determine lead score via summation of all the factors. Distribute high scoring leads to Sales and set up an alert on your calendar to conduct the process again sometime soon.
| Predictive Lead Scoring | |
| Pros | Cons |
| Great for businesses with a larger volume of leads and not a lot of time to spare | Your data needs to accurate - i.e., incorrect demographic data means incorrect lead score |
| Automatically uses CRM data | Not possible without a CRM |
| Automatically collects actions and actions | Can be expensive (a cost-benefit analysis will tell you if it’s worth it or not) |
| Electronically assigns positive and negative points (after you set it up) | |
| Uses an algorithm to calculate a lead score so you don’t have to | |
If you choose to start lead scoring electronically, pull up your CRM and input positive and negative lead factors. If you use HubSpot's CRM like we do, this process is seamless! Lead scores calculate (and update) automatically with the software’s algorithms. Next, you'll need to determine lead groups, threshold limits and the marketing or sales activities associated with each.
Defining lead score groups and threshold limits will help determine when it’s time to initiate marketing activities like nurture emails or sales outreach to close the deal. According to a recent DemandGen report, nurtured leads produce, on average, a 20% increase in sales opportunities versus non-nurtured leads. (Source: DemandGen Report, HubSpot). Personalize lead groups, threshold limits and activities to align with your goals for optimal success.
Lead groups, threshold limits and activities example:
0-20 (Low priority, leads are not ready) implement newsletter subscribe popup on your home page to collect visitor information
21-40 (Medium priority, nurturing leads) ask them what their challenges are via chat bot or form
41-60 (High priority, further nurturing leads) enroll in a nurturing email marketing workflow based on their challenges. Relevant emails drive 18 times more revenue than broadcast emails, according to researchers. (Source: Jupiter Research, HubSpot)
61+ (Highest priority, leads are ready to purchase!) Sales outreach to close the deal
After you define lead score groups and threshold limits, set up trigger alerts to initiate sales and marketing activities that are either manual or automated. Manual activities include calling a contact directly or removing them from your contact list. Automated activities include automatically enrolling leads into an educational email series. All the details can be laid out in process documentation and discussed at team meetings.
Process documentation and training meetings are important to the success of the lead scoring strategy. Process docs need to be detailed and easily accessible. Training meetings should be interactive and run through scenarios.
Implementing a new process is difficult for anyone, but when everyone is on the same page the organization is more successful as a whole. With cooperation from Sales and Marketing, successfully converting leads to customers is an attainable goal.
Overall, a B2B lead scoring strategy is essential in converting *the right leads* into customers. Lower lead scores in the lead pipeline need to be further nurtured by marketing activities. Higher lead scores are ready to be sold to and should be targeted rather than "wasting" time on lower scores who are not ready yet. Tailor your lead scoring strategy to fit your needs in order to ensure success.
Reach out to us for help with your B2B lead scoring strategy and implementation.