It was a mess. We cracked open a client’s Hubspot instance to take a look at their lead scoring methodology and it was like spaghetti code, with many different, difficult-to-follow paths to creating a lead score. It gave us a headache just trying to trace a prospect through the lead scoring set-up. The same events could receive vastly different point values depending on how many times and where the event happened, but to make it even more complex, there were also limitations to how many points events could earn. It was so complex it was impossible to track why a certain prospect received a certain score. The complex logic was applied to different lead forms, different pages and different clicks. The only good news was that the sales team had no idea that lead scoring even existed! Though it was a mess, their lead scoring was actually further along than most of our clients. Successful lead scoring is a mystery to many of them.
How did we fix lead scoring for this client?
Because it was so complex, the first thing we did was blow up the existing paradigm. We then took a look at the data to find the truly meaningful events that led to conversion to deals and opportunities and proposed a simple initial model based on that data that was easy to implement and follow. We shared that model with the sales team for feedback and to discuss how to implement the lead score into their existing workflows. In a short time, we were able to move from confusion to a meaningful model that made the sales team more effective.
Since lead scoring is such a challenge in this Mosaic Minute we are answering, “How do you score a lead?” and look at the 4 benefits of lead scoring and 5 steps to set it up.
Benefits to Lead Scoring
The most common question we receive from clients when we discuss lead scoring is very basic, “Why should we use lead scoring?” Our clients have been surviving or growing without it for years, so is it truly necessary? Depending on the number of leads your company is receiving it may not be necessary, but it is always beneficial.
Here are a few benefits to consider:
- Time savings – No matter what, every one of our clients is filtering their incoming leads, it is just a matter of how manual or automated is the filtering process. Well implemented lead scoring will save time for your SDRs by eliminating some of that manual filtering.
- More growth – Time and time again we have found deeper engagement with qualified prospects leads to much greater success than wider engagement with more prospects. Effective lead scoring will help the sales team go deeper with qualified prospects rather than casting a wide net with too many prospects.
- Tactic Enablement – There are a number of marketing tactics that can drive a large number of leads(i.e. Product-Led Growth), but the tactics cannot be implemented if the sales team can’t support the volume of leads. Lead scoring provides an effective way to sort out the qualified leads that are ready to engage from those who are just researching.
- Optimization – Lead scores provide meaningful data to improve performance. By implementing lead scoring you should be able to see what scores actually convert higher and make adjustments as necessary.
How to implement lead scoring
- Start, but start simply– The first step is just to implement some sort of lead scoring, but start simple. A model that is too complex will be confusing and make it difficult to truly understand performance.
- Begin with the data – Before implementing lead scoring, look at which variables convert at a higher rate to opportunities and more importantly, deals. Build a report that compares the number of leads vs the number of deals and opportunities that come in by key variables like job title, company size, industry, company, conversion type, number of emails clicks, pages viewed, traffic source etc…You can start building your model based on the variables that convert highest.
- Weigh usage data vs demographic data vs firmographic behavior – While the best lead scoring models will incorporate data from all three sources, other factors may influence when you choose to implement each of the sources. For instance, you may have not access to accurate firmographic data in your marketing automation system and because your sales team is already set up to incorporate firmographic data into their lead review, you may choose just to build your lead model on just usage and demographic data.
- Add negative factors as well – It will be necessary to incorporate negative lead scoring factors as well. If you simply allow leads to add points, at some point you will have two leads each with a 50 point lead score, but one will have achieved that lead score 6 months ago vs one that achieved it yesterday. Those two leads should not be scored equally.
- Coordinate with the sales team – As you are implementing lead scoring make sure to coordinate with the sales team to let them provide input on the lead scoring model and to discuss how lead scoring will be incorporated into their process. This is critical because the best lead scoring model is worthless if the sales team isn’t using it.
TL;DR
Lead scoring can be very beneficial to growth-focused companies, but we rarely see it implemented well. To successfully implement lead scoring, start with the data and make sure to incorporate the sales team in the discussion.
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