Only 56% of B2B companies check that the leads are valid before referring them to the sales department (Marketing Sherpa), which is a great waste of time and resources. Why? Many times agents call the leads and they don’t pick up the call because they can’t talk at that moment or when they do it’s too late and they have already opted for the competition. With a lead scoring strategy, agents will know which leads to call first, when to call them and even which products they are interested in.
What is lead scoring?
Lead scoring consists of classifying leads based on a score that is awarded according to different variables that we will see later on. This score is used to identify the users who are best prepared to make a purchase and the exact moment to contact them.
This scoring can be done manually following business rules or automated with Artificial Intelligence. In the second way, the agents would not have to evaluate each lead and assign a score to it, but the AI itself would pass the leads to the agents based on this evaluation.
Advantages of lead qualification
“The use of lead scoring represents a 77% increase in ROI in terms of lead generation” – Marketing Sherpa
Lead scoring variables
Let’s take a look at some of the variables on which this rating strategy is based:
• Lead affinity – ideal customer.All companies have a “buyer persona” (ideal customer profile) that they want to target. To find out if the lead corresponds to this profile, a value must be assigned to certain characteristics, such as age, sector in which they work, personal interests, geographic location, etc.
• Interaction with the company.This takes into account the number of times the lead has visited the website, which sections they have visited, if they have downloaded any content, if they interact with social networks, etc.
• Phase of the customer journey of the lead.As we explained in a previous post, a buying process consists of different phases. Depending on the stage the lead is in, they will be given a score to know what kind of treatment or content to offer them.
However, four other criteria, known as BANT, can also be followed:
• Budget: The amount of money the lead is willing to spend, as it may be much less than the cost of our product/service.
• Authority: The buying decision power of the lead.
• Need: Make sure we can meet the lead’s need with our products or services.
• Time frame: Time at which the lead intends to make the purchase.
Once the information of all the leads is classified and they have been qualified, it is necessary to prioritize their order of contact and decide which strategy will be carried out with each of the leads.
Depending on the value of each lead, you can direct them to the assisted sales channel that best suits them. Leads with lower conversion potential will be served through lower cost channels, while higher value leads will be served through higher cost channels. In this way, agents will be able to make the most of their time and you will not waste resources and investment.
