Lead scoring and qualification are crucial components of a successful sales and marketing strategy.

They help you and your organization prioritize efforts, allocate resources efficiently, and focus on leads that are more likely to convert into customers.

Getting started with Lead Scoring and Qualification

Clearly define your ICPs and Personas

Before you start prospecting, you need to know who you are looking for.

At the macro level, your ICP is a description of the type of company or account that is most likely to buy from you, based on factors such as industry, size, location, budget, needs, and goals.

By creating an ICP, you can narrow down your target market and focus on the most relevant and qualified prospects.

At the micro level, your personas are detailed representations of the specific individuals within the target companies who are key decision-makers or influencers in the purchasing process.

Assign Lead Scores based on Profile and Behaviors

A lead scoring system is a way of assigning numerical values to leads based on their level of interest and fit for your solution.

It helps you prioritize and segment your leads based on their readiness to buy and their potential value.

You can use different criteria to score your leads, such as demographic data, behavioral data, engagement data, and firmographic data.

For example, you can assign higher scores to leads who have visited your pricing page, downloaded your ebook, or requested a demo.

Traditional vs Predictive Lead Scoring

Traditional lead scoring and predictive lead scoring are both methods used in sales and marketing to evaluate and prioritize leads based on their likelihood to convert into customers. However, they differ in their approaches and the factors they consider.

How to do Traditional Lead Scoring

Define your Lead Qualification Criteria by:

Reviewing your lifecycle stage definitions in your CRM, or buyer personas. This is based on intuitive data.
Talk to your customer-facing teams (Sales & CS teams). This is based on qualitative data.
Speak with customers directly. This is qualitative data.
Review your analytics. You will get both quantitative and qualitative data, depending on the measurement tool.

Data types / attributes to focus on:

Demographic traits
- Location
- Company size
- Industry
- Job title
Online behavior
- Website visits
- Email engagement
- Form submissions
- Event attendance

For lead scoring, you need 3 fields; Data type / attribute, Criteria (qualification criteria), Score (or weight)

Implement attributes and values into HubSpot score property (qualifies leads based on custom criteria).

Determine the score threshold for a Sales Qualified Lead. e.g. 75 in a score scale of 0-100.

Create an active list with this lead scoring system (and qualification criteria). e.g. SQLs w/ HubSpot score 75+

Predictive Lead Scoring

Traditional lead scoring methods often rely on predefined criteria and manual assessments, leading to inefficiencies and subjectivity.

Predictive Lead Scoring, on the other hand, leverages machine learning algorithms to analyze vast datasets and identify patterns that correlate with successful conversions.

By considering a multitude of factors, both explicit and implicit, this approach goes beyond basic lead scoring, providing a more nuanced and accurate prediction of a lead's potential.

In summary, this is what predictive lead scoring is about:

Uses machine learning to read data and identify the best leads.
Determines commonalities between both existing customers, and leads who don’t close.
Develops a formula to sort contacts based on their probability of becoming customers within a given time frame. Uses a Likelihood to Close property to assign lead scores.

Now after assigning qualification scores to your leads, what next? Well yes, you guessed right. Send them to the right reps. This is lead routing.

What Next After Lead Scoring

Once lead scoring and qualification are complete, the next step is to ensure that leads are sent to the right sales representatives for further engagement. This process, known as lead routing, is crucial for maintaining a streamlined sales process and ensuring that qualified leads are attended to promptly. Using an all-in-one sales automation tool can greatly simplify this step by automating the distribution of leads based on various criteria, such as geography, industry, or lead score.

A shared inbox helps your sales team collaborate effectively, allowing for a smooth handoff of leads between different team members or departments. This also ensures that no leads are overlooked or lost in the shuffle. Sales teams can use a business phone system to quickly contact high-priority leads and ensure consistent communication.

Furthermore, email sequences and sms sequences can be used to maintain engagement with leads as they progress through the sales pipeline. These sequences can be automated based on lead scores or specific actions taken by the lead, allowing for personalized and timely communication without requiring constant manual effort.

With these tools in place, lead routing becomes a seamless and efficient process. Sales representatives can focus on building relationships with qualified leads, knowing that the lead scoring and routing process has already paved the way for meaningful interactions. This leads to higher conversion rates, improved customer satisfaction, and ultimately, increased revenue for your organization.

All-in-one platform

Sales

Customer Support

Products

Campaigns & Sequences

SMS - P2P & Campaigns

Voice

Web Chat

Shared Inbox

Form Tracking

Lead Qualification

How to do Lead Scoring & Lead Qualification

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