Identifying and prioritizing quality leads is essential for a business who are in the sales, as well as it is one of the most difficult tasks in selling a product or service. So you are talking to a real buyer or just a tire-kicker, knowing this bitter truth is important because it saves time, energy, and labor. Your goal should be grabbing the best lead, and here comes lead scoring. In this article, we will discuss a complete guide to identifying and prioritizing quality leads with lead scoring and its models.
What Is B2B Lead Scoring?
B2B lead scoring is the process used by businesses to prioritize leads by assigning a numerical value or score to a lead according to their likelihood of buying a service or product based on Industry, company size, Job title, and location, role of firmographics, etc. There is a subtle distinction between lead scoring and B2B lead scoring. Let’s see a table; then we will talk about it below.
| Aspect | Lead Scoring (General) | B2B Lead Scoring |
| Audience | B2C or B2B | Strictly B2B |
| Criteria | Individual behavior & traits | Individual & company (firmographic) traits |
| Focus | Single-person lead | Contact & organization relevance |
| Common in | E-commerce, SaaS, services | Enterprise sales, B2B SaaS, B2B services |
A company generates B2B leads, which directly means leads are generated for another business or company, and they will operate those leads, but lead scoring can be operated or generated by a company and used by the same company as well.
Why Is B2B Lead Scoring Important?
To find the location of your leads in your sales funnel, lead scoring is significant. For every business, lead scoring saves time, lowers lead generation costs, and improves sales and marketing alignment. Suppose you take a B2B lead generation service, but without lead scoring, it is hard for your sales team to bring better ROI (return on investment). So let’s see some stats that speak about how important lead scoring is.
- According to Douglas Burdett, lead scoring increases sales by 30%
- Research by Marketo says an increase of 10% score of a lead takes 40% more chances of closing sales.
- Companies that adopt an automated sales process with lead scoring gain 10% more annual revenue.
- Hubspot says 53% of salespeople say closing the deal is hard without lead scoring.
The challenge in B2B lead scoring highlights a sensitive balancing act between model complexity and simplicity. So, lead scoring methodology helps salespeople close successful deals without waiting for a dead lead.
Key Components of Effective B2B Lead Scoring
An effective lead scoring relies on demographic, behavioral, and technographic factors, and more. Analyzing those components helps you prioritize leads, personalize outreach, and achieve a better conversion rate.
Demographic Factors
Demographic information is a key factor for lead scoring. A lead is likely to buy something, depending on industry, company size, job title, and location, role of firmographics, etc. If someone visits your pricing page, but that prospect is from outside your country, then it’s a crucial matter, so take care of it. So let’s see a sample of lead scoring considering demographic factors.
Demographic Factors for Lead Scoring Sample
- Age
- Target Range: 25-45 years (ideal buyers for tech or real estate)
- Score: +10 for within range, -5 if outside
- Gender
- The score can vary based on product appeal (example: a skincare product may prioritize women)
- Location
- High score for leads from serviceable or target regions (example: +15 for New York, -10 for out-of-country)
- Income Level
- Higher income is equal to higher purchasing power (example: +20 for $100K+ annual income)
- Job Title (B2B)
- Decision-makers like âCEO,â âMarketing Directorâ score higher (+25)
- Junior-level staff score lower (+5 or 0)
- Industry (B2B)
- Score based on the ideal customer industry
- Target industry: +15
- Irrelevant industry: 0 or negative
- Company Size (B2B)
- SMEs or enterprise size, depending on the service/product
- Ideal size (example: 50â200 employees): +20
- Too small/too big: -5 to 0
- Education Level
- Relevant for professional services or high-ticket items
- College degree or higher: +10
So, if you go through the above sample, you get how it works and how important it is. Demographics are not the only thing to take into account; behavioral and technological factors are important. Let’s break them down.
Behavioral Factors
Behavioral factors in lead scoring mean the way a prospect reacts to your brand, indicating the interest in buying and engagement. According to the response of the potential customer, you can take further steps for them to convert. Let’s see a few examples.
- Opens a marketing email +5
- Clicks on a link inside the email +10
- Visits 3 pages on your website +30
- Downloads a demo report + 10
- Attended webinar +30
Determining these behavioral reactions, you can score a lead or prioritize and identify which indicates leads are more likely to get converted into a paid customer.
Technographic Factors
Technographic factors indicate the technology a company uses for their workflow, and if you are on the same product, then it is a positive sign for you. This can add a +30 score to the lead if it matches. Technographic data encompasses information about the specific technologies, software, and platforms a company employs, such as:
- Specific software or tools
- Cloud infrastructure
- Website technologies
In case you are trying to sell someone a hospital management software, but they are a call center company, then it is nothing but a waste of time. So, technographic factors are as important as demographic or social factors.
How Do You Implement a Successful B2B Lead Scoring Model?
Successfully implementing a B2B lead scoring model, first of all, you need to choose a model according to your business and clients. Mostly used lead scoring models are:
- Purchase Intent Model
- Demographic/Firmographic Model
- Online Behavioral Model
- Engagement Model
- Predictive Lead Scoring Model
Once you pick your lead scoring model, you can put a score on specific leads according to their stats and actions. Let’s assume you pick an online behavioral model for lead scoring. According to behaviour, website visit, time on site, visited pricing page, et, you can set a score model and score them. Let’s see a table of scoring, which will make it clearer to you about implementing the scoring.
| Behavior | Description | Score |
| Website Visit | Visited your website | +5 |
| Repeated Website Visits (3+ times/week) | Shows recurring interest | +10 |
| Time on Site (3+ minutes) | Engaged with content meaningfully | +8 |
| Visited Pricing Page | Shows buying intent | +15 |
| Downloaded an eBook/Whitepaper | Interested in learning more | +10 |
| Opened Marketing Email | Engaging with communication | +3 |
| Clicked the Link in the Marketing Email | Active interaction | +7 |
| Filled Out Contact Form | Expressed direct interest | +20 |
| Requested a Demo or Trial | High buying intent | +25 |
| Attended Webinar | Strong interest in the solution | +15 |
| Watched Video (75% or more) | High engagement | +10 |
| Shared Content on Social Media | Advocates show a strong interest | +8 |
| Unsubscribed from Emails | Lost interest | -10 |
| No Activity in 30 Days | Cold lead | -15 |
| Total score | 111 |
A lead that scores 111 is supposed to be a high-quality lead. Your model of lead score will determine which category it is. Let’s see, your scoring model is like:
| Score | Lead Quality |
| 0>40 | Unqualified Lead |
| 40-60 | Low-Quality Lead |
| 60-80 | Marketing-Qualified Lead (MQL) |
| 80-100 | Sales-Qualified Lead (SQL) |
| 100< | Hot Lead / High-Intent Buyer |
This is how you can implement a successful B2B lead scoring. Before choosing a mode, I analyse your business criteria, objectives, etc, to see if it fits with your business or not. If your business generates a lot of leads and makes enough sales, then maybe lead scoring will fit with your business. However, it may harm your regular sales process if you aren’t careful before choosing a B2B lead scoring model.
Conclusion
Identifying and prioritizing quality leads is a core execution for sales results. Trying on garbage leads reduces the efficiency of the sales team and has an impact on overall business growth. Choose the lead scalding according to your business criteria and target audience. Even so, you face a lot of poor people. CallingAgency can help you find high-quality leads that give you better ROI.
FAQ
What Criteria Should Be Included in a B2B Lead Scoring Model?
Demographic and behavioral reactions should be included in the B2B lead scoring model.
How Do You Measure Lead Quality in B2B Sales?
Lead scoring, engagement, behavioral data, etc, are good metrics for measuring a quality B2B sales lead.
What is Predictive Lead Scoring for B2B Companies?
Using AI and machine learning to analyze various data points to rank, lead scoring, or prioritizing automatically is called predictive scoring.
What Are the Best Practices for Lead Scoring in B2B Marketing?
Best practices for lead scoring in B2B marketing, aligning a sales team and analyzing the prospect’s demographic data, behavioral data, and technographic data, then scoring a lead, can be the best practice for lead scoring.
How Does B2B Lead Scoring Differ From B2C Lead Scoring?
B2B lead scoring prioritizes long-term relationships and complex decision making; on the other hand, B2C lead scoring emphasizes individual customer behaviors and quick conversion.
How Can Lead Scoring Enhance B2B Sales Efficiency?
Lead scoring indicates the possibility or interest of the lead in purchasing your product or service. You don’t want to try on a poor lead; it saves time and gives an easy close.
What Tools Support B2B Lead Scoring Automation?
There are different kinds of tools for B2B lead scoring automation with several pricing and packages, such as HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot, and ActiveCampaign. etc
How Frequently Should B2B Lead Scoring Criteria Be Updated?
B2B lead scoring criteria should be reviewed every 30 to 60 days, but if it needs review before that, you can go for it.
What Mistakes Should Businesses Avoid in B2B Lead Scoring?
Ignoring data quality, clear lead scoring criteria, lead segmentation, and testing scoring system initially, a business should not avoid B2B lead scoring.
How Can You Track the Effectiveness of Your B2B Lead Scoring Strategy?
Concentrate on metrics such as conversion rates, sales cycle duration, and the lead-to-customer ratio, and examine the correlation between lead scores and successful conversions.
