4 Powerful B2B Lead-Scoring Tips

A frequent point of contention between the sales and marketing teams is the quality of leads that marketing passes along to sales. When the quality of these leads is extremely low—making them junk leads—the sales team must try to convince the wrong audience to buy a product or service, which adds a layer of unnecessary strain.

LEAD SCORING FOR BETTER QUALITY LEADS

The solution to eliminating junk leads is lead scoring. This methodology ranks leads in a side-by-side comparison using a numerical score, which each lead earns through consumer actions. This score also helps the marketing and sales teams identify where each lead is located in the sales funnel, making the entire process of turning prospects into clients much more efficient.

But in order for this technique to be truly effective, both marketing and sales need to have clear definitions of what constitutes a high-quality lead. Here are four B2B lead-scoring tips to help define what a high-quality lead looks like, so you can start generating more of them:

1. IMPLEMENT A SYSTEM FOR SEPARATING REAL LEADS FROM INQUIRIES

Inquiries can include any amount of information, from an email address to a false name. They may turn into leads eventually, but they might also be a bust, and not meet your target-audience criteria.

A lead, on the other hand, is genuinely interested in becoming a customer and has provided real and validated information. The marketing team is responsible for making sure that only targeted and verified leads make it into the tracking system. If you don’t already, make sure that you have an effective system for separating the real leads from the mere inquiries. Your sales team will thank you.

2. RECOGNIZE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MARKETING LEADS AND SALES LEADS

Identifying the difference between these two lead types ensures that sales people invest their time in the right prospects to increase their lead-closing rates.

Marketing leads are still relatively new to the sales funnel and require a lot of nurturing. Before they’re ready to be handed off to sales as a high-quality lead, they’ll need to provide more information. Typically, social media and email marketing are effective tactics for encouraging marketing leads to make the move forward to becoming sales leads.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are sales leads, which are much closer to the end of the sales funnel. They’ve taken enough steps to confirm that they are ready to talk with a salesperson.

3. AGREE ON A COMMON DEFINITION OF WHAT MAKES A LEAD QUALIFIED

In order to effectively score leads, both marketing and sales teams must agree on what criteria a lead should have in order to be considered qualified. One strategy for agreeing on the definition of a qualified lead is by creating three categories that clearly distinguish the most promising leads:

1. Category-A Leads are actively clicking on links, engaging in blog posts, and have given enough information to let the sales team know that they're ready to make a purchase. This is the only category of leads that should be handled by the sales team.
2. Category-B Leads have exhibited enough interest to let the company know they're likely ready for purchase, but haven't taken the steps that show their readiness for action from the sales team yet.
3. Category-C Leads haven’t yet scored high enough to warrant a call from the sales team.

Marketing teams should continue to cultivate and nurture Category-B and C Leads until their score is high enough to warrant a Category-A classification, at which point they are handed over to sales.

4. CREATE A LEAD-SCORING SYSTEM

First, meet with both your sales and marketing teams, and list the key characteristics that leads at each level of readiness tend to exhibit.

Once you decide on a scoring methodology, rank leads using a score that is calculated by interests, actions, and sales readiness. These numbers can go as high as a company requires, but are generally measured on a scale of one to 100. Keep the scoring system simple by not overloading it with a laundry list of criteria.

Next, make sure that both the marketing and sales teams agree on what will happen with each lead as she moves through the sales funnel. Be specific and define what happens from the point of first contact all the way to a sale.

Having a lead-scoring system in place that defines exactly what a high-quality lead looks like allows each team to do its work in the best way possible. Sales can focus its energy on converting prospects who are ready to buy, and marketing can focus its efforts on nurturing the leads that will be ready to make a purchase soon.

When your marketing and sales departments are aligned, they can work together to generate exceptional prospects and increased sales.