Blogs > Beyond the Lead Score: Qualify a Lead in 60 Seconds
February 13, 2018 Jaclyn Bickerton
Lead scoring is a shared sales and marketing methodology for ranking leads in order to determine their sales-readiness. Leads are given a score based on interest shown in the business, their current point in the buying cycle, and their fit in regards to your product or service. By implementing a lead scoring system at your company, your marketing team can “screen” leads before they are sent to the sales team for follow-up. Marketers can use these scores to automate the lead assignment process, so that only leads who meet a threshold score and grade get passed to the sales team. This ensures that only high-quality leads make the cut when getting assigned to sales. However, just because a lead has a high lead score, does not mean it is a valid lead. It’s important to have a final review to qualify a lead prior to sending them to sales. Giving each lead a quick, “60-second” scan before sending them off to your sales reps can ensure that no lead is getting passed on that shouldn’t be.
Remember, the point of lead scoring is two-fold:
Here are the 5 ways to qualify a lead before passing the lead on to sales:
1. Know your buyer profile: Go beyond the lead score that’s listed in their prospect record by evaluating each of the criteria that you’ve discussed with your sales team. For example, are you dealing with a B2B or B2C company? How long is their sales cycle? Is this lead an executive or a director? Double checking each of these items can prevent headaches down the line.
2. Know the difference between Interest and Intent: A quick glance at your prospect records can tell you all you need to know here. Take a look at your lead’s activities to see what they’ve been doing on your site. Are they looking at white papers, blog posts, and webinars? This kind of activity indicates interest in your company but does not mean that these leads are ready to buy. Looking at your pricing page or requesting a product demo on your site, on the other hand, indicate that a lead is showing intent. These are your hotter leads!
3. Make sure you’re selling to the correct person: This information can also be found in your prospect records! While a lead’s score and grade might be off the chart, you don’t want to pass them along to your sales team if they’re only an intern. Take a look at their job title to make sure they’re in a position of influence before passing them off to sales.
4. Review their website: Will your product integrate with their site? Do they use forms to collect information? Do they use a shopping cart? What kind of product or service do they offer? Looking at your lead’s website is one of the best ways to determine whether or not they’ll be a good fit for your business.
5. Use your CRM: Double check that no one on your sales team is currently working with another lead from that company. If not, then pass them along! But if they are, make sure you assign that lead to the same rep for follow up.
Taking these few extra steps to qualify a lead will help ensure that your sales and marketing teams continue to work together in harmony. Keep in mind that this process will quicken over time and become second nature to you as you learn which areas of the prospect profile to glance at, and where to look on each prospect’s website.
For more information, learn more about lead scoring, inbound marketing, outbound marketing, lead generation, or lead nurturing.
Resources:
https://blog.marketo.com/2011/07/lead-scoring-whats-hot-and-whats-not-2.html
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/beginner-inbound-lead-generation-guide-ht
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/blog-post-lead-generation-analysis
https://www.pardot.com/blog/qualify-lead-minute/
https://www.thebalance.com/steps-to-identify-qualified-leads-2917390
https://www.serviceobjects.com/blog/clean-up-your-sales-pipeline-lead-scoring-vs-lead-validation/
Jaclyn Bickerton, February 2018