Introduction to Lead Scoring
Today’s new buyer is in control of their own buying process. With access to all the information they require, they are able to self-educate, discover vendors who might potentially solve their business challenges, and form opinions on which vendors are best for their needs. As marketers facilitate this buying process, they must pay careful attention to the prospects’ digital body language in order to detect signs that they are ready to engage in a purchase conversation with a sales person.
It is lead scoring that provides this link, from the behavioral information detected by watching prospects’ digital body language to the action that should be taken based on the insights gained.
In order to score leads well, marketing and sales must first agree on the definition of a qualified lead. This agreement allows a “common currency” between marketing and sales whereby marketing works to generate qualified leads and sales works to close them. This definition, however, has two distinct parts, “fit” and “engagement”. Fit, or the explicit information known about a person, their role, company, industry, and revenues, defines whether they are the ideal person and company to sell to. Engagement, or the implicit information known about their activities, topics of interest, and level of interest defines whether they are sufficiently engaged to begin a conversation with sales.
These two dimensions of lead scoring should allow marketing and sales to create a “matrix” of lead qualification. A, B, C, and D can define fit, and 1, 2, 3, and 4 can define engagement. This allows a next action to be defined for each square on the matrix. A1 leads, those with ideal fit and maximum engagement, can go directly to sales. A3 and A4 leads, those with the right fit, but minimal engagement, should be nurtured over time until signs of engagement are detected. C1 or D1 leads, where the engagement is high, but the level of fit is low, might be worth talking with to see if they are doing research on behalf of a more senior decision-maker.
The score of a lead changes with each action they take, and with each day that passes, so it is crucial to ensure that a re-scoring process can be automatically triggered with each action, no matter how small, and with each passing day. This requirement of lead scoring is what makes it a key consideration when looking at marketing automation software.
Lead scoring allows marketing and sales to agree on not just the definition of a qualified lead, but the correct next steps for any leads that meet those definitions. As such, good lead scoring forms the foundation of any demand generation operation.
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