Best Practices for Successful Lead Scoring in Your Workflow Strategy

Author: Lorena Mosquera Category: B2B, B2C, E-commerce & Retail, Healthcare & Life Science, Industry, Marketing, Membership Marketing, Nonprofit, Technology & SAAS Date: October 18, 2023

A lead that is poised to buy is the holy grail for any salesperson – one that is frequently elusive. Did you know that sales professionals believe that half of the clients and customers they speak to are not a good fit for the product or service they are selling? And that only 25% of leads generated from marketing strategies are ready to meet with a sales representative (1)? Statistics like that signify that there is too often a significant disconnect in a company’s workflow strategy between its marketing and sales teams, and a dire need to fill the gap.

Sales teams are often faced with a massive proliferation of data juxtaposed by an evolving business landscape that grows more competitive every day. To help navigate this complex environment and make meaningful contributions to business growth, many sales teams have incorporated lead scoring into their workflow strategy. Lead scoring offers a systematic approach to assess and prioritize leads based on specific criteria and behaviors. The approach works by assigning a point value to each lead based on predetermined criteria and behaviors, such as demographics, level of engagement, and interactions with marketing touch points, with weights that qualify the relative importance of the different scoring factors. Lead scoring is intended to empower sales teams to prioritize their efforts on the leads that are most likely to convert.

When establishing a lead scoring approach for your organization, there is no one-size-fits-all way to infuse it into your workflow strategy. Each company has different target audiences, business objectives, and unique criteria for qualifying leads. However, there are some standard best practices that have been shown to facilitate a successful implementation.

• Align marketing and sales teams: An effective lead scoring system cannot be created in a vacuum – marketing and sales teams must work together to ensure alignment and a shared understanding of lead scoring criteria. Without coordination, sales teams may chase poor leads or high-potential leads could get lost.
• Include demographic, firmographic, and behavioral attributes: While demographic and firmographic information, like data on age, gender, geography, job title, and family makeup, is foundational to your lead scoring model, it doesn’t offer insight into a prospect’s behaviors. To gain that insight, you must also pay attention to details you observe or infer about the lead. Combining the two methods is essential to a comprehensive lead scoring workflow strategy.
• Measure and improve constantly: Regularly revisit and refine your scoring model based on feedback and data analysis. Your customers, as well as your business, will not remain the same, so your lead scoring cannot either. To ensure an effective lead scoring method, you must be vigilant in assessing it.

Research conducted by MarketingSherpa indicates that 61% of B2B marketers send all leads directly to sales, but just 27% of those leads are qualified. And only 56% of B2B organizations verify valid business leads before they are passed to the sales team, which might explain why 79% of marketing leads never convert into sales (2).

With a systematic approach to assessing and prioritizing leads, businesses can benefit from higher conversion rates, improved sales efficiency and productivity, better alignment between sales and marketing, lower customer acquisition costs, increased revenue, and more profitable decision making. At Paradigm, we know that with the right practices, protocols, and foundation in place, you can embrace lead scoring as a strategic tool to enhance your competitive advantage, drive growth, and unlock the true potential of your sales and marketing efforts. Learn how we can create  sales, marketing, and workflow strategies that align with your objectives and revenue goals, contact us today.

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(1) https://www.zendesk.com/blog/sales-statistics/

(2) https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/30901/30-thought-provoking-lead-nurturing-stats-you-can-t-ignore.aspx