Today’s consumers don’t like the feeling of being sold to. They want to control their own buyer journey (often from the palm of their hand) by reading reviews, checking social proof, watching video tutorials, and consuming blog content, all to inform their purchasing decision.
So, where do sales teams fit into this self-routed process? And how can they gently nudge their leads down the funnel without being too pushy? The answer lies in lead scoring.
90% of consumers admit they expect companies to personalize their sales efforts. So, lead scoring ensures that your team only reaches out to those who are interested, qualified, and ready to engage with your tailored sales approach. In this guide, we’ll discuss what scoring rules are, how they can help you score more leads, and how to implement a simple scoring rules system with monday sales CRM.
What are scoring rules?
Wouldn’t it be nice if sales teams could just scan a list of leads and automatically know which will convert into paying customers? Well, when you use a system of lead scoring rules this is essentially what you’re doing.
A scoring rule is a qualifying technique where you assign a numerical value to each lead to rate their readiness for sales outreach.
You might assign a specific score to a lead who clicks on a landing page link, responds to a sales email, or takes a demo of your product. Each of these sales funnel activities is worth a set number of points, and once the lead hits a target figure, they’re a “sales-ready” lead. Alternatively, if you notice that a lead’s score declines before hitting a qualification target, you can use this data to spot vulnerabilities in your pipeline.
What’s the difference between predictive and rule-based lead scoring?
You can choose between automated or tried-and-tested manual approaches to lead scoring.
Predictive lead scoring helps sales and marketing teams make sense of their pipelines. AI platforms use predictive analytics to review a list of leads, study their behavior throughout the sales process and make intelligent decisions about which are most likely to convert.
Predictive lead scoring is great at assessing potential customers without any hint of bias. Unlike a manual approach where salespeople could always be influenced by their past experience, AI provides lightning-quick results based on facts rather than feelings.
Rule-based lead scoring is a human approach to qualifying leads. It relies on setting up scoring rules, then rating a lead based on their demographic and behavior. The final step is to collate the data and act on it.
If you’re a new or small business with no historical data to analyze, a manual approach to lead scoring is a great starting point. It’s also useful for experienced salespeople who love to draw on gut feelings. A computer algorithm doesn’t know how to score something unpredictable like a hunch, but you could easily incorporate this using manual lead scoring rules.
What are the benefits of using lead scoring rules?
Scoring rules give your sales and marketing teams the best chance of success. Here are four top reasons to use this technique:
1. Know the right time to send content
36% of sales pros reveal they spend most of their workday qualifying leads. Scoring rules speed up the process and pinpoint what content will resonate with a lead at a specific stage of their buyer’s journey. Your scores will tell you which leads are ready to purchase, who you could tempt with a discount, or who requires more information about what you’re offering.
2. Introduce contacts to a new product or service they might be interested in
Even if a lead has no immediate interest in what you’re selling, they could be interested in the future. By scoring and segmenting your leads you can better understand the right time to introduce them to a new product or service.
3. Gain insight into your sales pipeline
The rule of thumb in enterprise sales is to fill your pipeline with 3x your revenue targets for that sales period to stay in good shape.But scoring rules ensure you prioritize quality over quantity with granular insights about your sales pipeline. That way, you can turn your attention to the leads that are most likely to convert.
4. Maximize the potential of your marketing
Score leads to focus your marketing budget on activities that generate the most ROI. If you know which content pieces resonate with your target audience, you can double down on what’s working and cut back on what’s not.
What types of data should you include in scoring rules?
The most common datasets to rate are:
- Individual data: A person’s job, age, or gender could influence their conversion potential.
- Demographic data: Always check if the lead belongs to a city or country your business markets to.
- Firmographic data: Does the person’s company belong to your target market in terms of size, industry, etc.?
- Behavioral data: This crucial data tells you how the lead has interacted with various touch points throughout the buying journey.
- Spam data: Check your lead contact details for any red flags. If you spot a generic Gmail or Hotmail address rather than a company domain, this may be the work of a bot.
What are the steps to set up your scoring rules?
Now you’re on board with the importance of using scoring rules, follow these steps to get started.
1. Align your sales and marketing teams
Sales and marketing teams must work in unison to identify the pain points of their target market and offer a solution.
Over time, you’ll discover which marketing strategies are most valuable and which demographics yield higher scores. It’s critical that your teams keep an open dialogue to check what’s working and adjust as needed.
2. Define your buyer personas
Create your target customer based on job role, industry, salary, company revenue, and location to wade through the noise and focus on high-potential leads.
3. Set your MQL threshold
How will you know when a lead is ready to receive your sales outreach? Set a points score threshold and update their status to “marketing-qualified lead” when they reach it. From there, your sales team will have the green light to start working their magic.
4. Assign scoring rules
Use historical customer data to understand your most useful lead sources and to guide how you assign points. Some examples:
- Submit a form = +20 points
- Download a case study = +5 points
- Contact sales team directly = +50 points
- Attend a webinar = +7 points
- Abandon cart = -2 points
- Unsubscribes from newsletter = -15 points
5. Set scoring rules for point decay
Your scoring system must reflect when leads stagnate or lose interest entirely. Include rules for point decay, so you’ll reduce their points if they don’t take action after 30 days, for example.
6. Choose where to track your scoring rules
Integrating your scoring rules with a centralized, online CRM is vital, so all members of your sales team can view any lead’s status and your overall pipeline at any given time.
The monday sales CRM is a great option, designed with this type of tracking in mind.
Implement scoring rules with monday sales CRM
monday.com is a fully customizable work management platform and CRM that allows you to personalize the tools you need to capture, track and manage leads, and automate communications to drive sales. Here are some of our platform’s key features that will make tracking, rating, and interacting with leads a breeze:
Customizable scoring parameters: The score each lead receives is based on several predefined parameters such as role, company, revenue, and the number of employees. Using a predetermined formula, each lead is appropriately weighted to determine the final score: but the scoring method can vary greatly depending on your company and goals. The formula column allows you to easily adjust these parameters by weight without coding.
Automations: Easily set automations to receive a notification as soon as a lead hits your MQL threshold. This way, sales reps will never miss the right time to follow up and reach out to a lead.
Board views: With our easily customizable boards you can define a scoring system in a way that works best for you. Add flags, stars, and colors to indicate the status of a lead, or adjust the view using nine different board types like Gantt or Kanban to see how your leads are progressing along the sales funnel.
FAQs
How are leads scored?
Lead scoring is the process of assigning a numerical value to leads based on their likelihood to convert. Sales teams might base points on specific conditions like form completion or chatting with a customer service agent.
How are scoring rules set up?
Historical customer data can inform trends and help to understand which lead sources and conditions are most valuable. From there, sales teams can set up scoring rules and assign points for specific conditions that make the most sense to their sales approach.
Why are lead scoring rules important?
Lead scoring rules are important because they allow businesses to prioritize their sales pipeline and focus their resources on the leads that are most likely to convert. By scoring leads, companies can also track which marketing activities generate the most ROI. The bottom line: this technique saves time and money!
Set up scoring rules with monday.com and close more sales
When you introduce scoring rules into your monday.com CRM, you’ll close more deals in less time. But as with any sales technique, you’ll need to monitor its efficacy. In terms of scoring rules, you’ll need a CRM that allows for improvement over time as you regularly audit your points system to give weight to the right data, and course-correct as required. monday.com makes it easy to track and qualify leads while optimizing your approach over time – see for yourself how it works today!
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