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What is Lead Scoring?

Lead scoring is becoming more and more commonly used in the lexicon of today's business. However, there seems to be some confusion as to what exactly it means. Some marketing experts have linked it to any of the following:

  • prospect activity
  • matching an ideal customer profile
  • intent to purchase
  • salesperson input

Breaking It Down

To discover the true meaning behind "lead scoring" we need to break it down into its simplest parts. Let's take a closer look at the first word: "lead". Marketing specialist Paul Johnson defines a lead as an interested person and a prospect as an interested, motivated, and enabled person.

However, it would seem that a lead is made up of two components: a piece of possible work and a client/company. Adam Blitzer of B2BMarketingROI.com seems to be sensitive to this distinction when he introduces "lead grading" vs. "lead scoring". This distinction seems to try to separate the static elements (the client/company's unchanging characteristics) and the dynamic elements (when will they buy, how motivated or engaged they are, etc.).

Even after making the lead grading vs. lead scoring distinction, we still need two sets of criteria to further define the terms:

  • An ideal client profile—itemizes the characteristics of a client that are highly desirable, such as size, annual revenue, etc.
  • An ideal opportunity profile—itemizes the characteristics of possible work that are highly desirable, e.g. likelihood to purchase, budget, etc.

The combination of the client and opportunity profiles starts to give a salesperson a more true picture of the value of each lead.

Conclusion

Adam seems to be on the right track. We can say that lead scoring as a discipline is composed of two main activities:

  • client scoring
  • opportunity scoring

The metrics involved with client scoring make it a relatively easy process. Scoring an opportunity is harder, so people tend to resort to indicators, such as activity. A potential client's activity indicates how good the opportunity is, but their activity in and of itself is not really important.

So, when evaluating a lead, consider not only how attractive the client would be, but look closely at the potential to close the sale and the money to be made on the deal. Proper lead scoring can make you a much more efficient, and ultimately successful, salesperson as you spend time on sales that are more closable and more profitable.