Thanks to Andrew Hunt, founder of the Inbound Sales Network for contributing this guest post. You can read more from Andrew on Twitter: @InboundSales.
What would happen if you made the average marketing executive follow up on the “leads” that they pass to sales?  And then what would happen if you told them that they had to earn a significant portion of their paycheck based on how well they converted those leads? In most cases you would probably have a revolt on your hands or an outright breakdown.  But that is exactly what most marketers are doing on a daily basis with little to no concern as to the effect that it has.  They simply say, “Hey we passed you a “lead” now deal with it”. But it does not have to be that way.  By implementing lead scoring best practices you will be able to avoid these issues, and the marketing and sales teams will be able to share a beer or glass of wine at this year’s Christmas party.

The Law and Order of Lead Generation

When it comes to lead generation, marketing and sales have distinct yet equally important roles to play. Marketing needs to provide qualified leads to the sales team, and the sales team needs to respond quickly to convert that lead to revenue as efficiently as possible.

Quality vs. Quantity

However, the system only works if marketing thinks quality, not quantity. You don’t want to send every possible lead over to sales. The object should be to generate enough qualified leads that the sales team can follow up in a timely manner and achieve the desired sales targets. You need to separate the wheat from the chaff, and eliminate the inquiries that are just browsing tire kickers from the prospects who are in a buying mode. Your sales people want prospects who have money in their budgets, a business problem to solve now, and the influence or authority to make a purchase decision.

All Leads Are Not Created Equal

Some leads are going to convert to profitable business much more quickly than others. This means that these leads require more urgent attention and action in order to convert them into sales. To effectively distinguish & categorize leads, many companies employ a system for lead ranking called lead scoring. Lead scoring is typically implemented within a Marketing Automation platform.

The Need for Lead Scoring

The concept of lead scoring is pretty simple: as a prospect engages with your company (downloads content, signs up for your newsletter etc. they are sent nurturing emails on an ongoing basis. As these prospects engage further (email clicks, webinars, searches on your website) they earn points until they reach a threshold where they demonstrate that they are ready to buy (often passed to your CRM, so sales can now contact them).

Make Sure It’s Unique

The criteria you use for your lead scoring needs to be unique to your business.  You may find that the standard criteria that work for many companies might not work best for yours.  To achieve the best lead scoring, think strategically about your customers buying process, and get creative with possible criteria options.
However you organize your lead scoring system, it’s likely to have an impressive payoff. Companies that have implemented lead scoring have seen improved results anywhere from 17% to 30% simply from having improved their process – without additional campaign expense involved. The biggest thing is to follow the NIKE slogan and Just Do It.  Lead scoring is not an exercise in perfection, lead scoring must be continuously evaluated and improved; the best course of action is to just get started.

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Lucy