Score Big with Lead Scoring

Guest post by: Jesse Hopps
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Score Big with Lead Scoring

Lead scoring can rapidly improve the relationship between Marketing and Sales by driving measurable revenues. Quickly get up to speed on the concept and determine your best path to leverage this increasingly popular marketing tool. Use Demand Metric's downloadableLead Scoring Indexto rate the quality of your leads.

What is Lead Scoring?

"These are the new leads. These are the Glengarry leads. To you, these are gold; you do not get these. Because to give them to you would be throwing them away."

Glengarry Glen Ross, 1992

Lead scoring is a method of quantifying the value of a sales lead by categorizing its probability to generate revenue. With this information, Sales executives and managers can manage their pipeline more effectively by optimizing sales resource allocation.

Which Costs can Lead Scoring Reduce?

Initial Lead Generation Cost- once you have a better idea of the profile of a good lead, less time is wasted hunting down poorly qualified leads.
Sales Conversion Cost- when you have scored each lead, you can mitigate lost sales by allocating high-quality leads to high-caliber Salespeople.

Action Plan:

Learn Lead Scoring Best Practices- there are many methods of lead scoring, both manual and automated. Software vendor Eloqua's whitepaper Codynamic Lead Scoring is excellent source of information on the topic.
Discuss Concept with Sales- ensure this program will get off the ground by pitching your Sales team on the idea first. Their buy-in is critical.
Determine your Best Approach- for organizations with limited budget, a manual approach will do the job. Use Demand Metric's downloadableLead Scoring Indexto classify your leads. Large companies should look at tightly integrated vendor software solutions.
Assess Mid-Market Vendor Solutions- these software solutions accelerate sales by automating lead scoring and lead-management processes, and provide dashboard-reporting capabilities to help measure performance.

1. Pardot

2. Eloqua Conversion Suite

3. Market2Lead

4. Manticore

5. Marketo

5. Establish Metrics to Monitor Conversion Rates- measure items such as 'A' leads provided, cost per 'A' lead, 'A' leads-to-qualified prospects, etc. to track success.

6. Ensure Conversion Rate Metrics are Captured- if you don't have a software solution in place, document and store your results. Later you can retrieve this information to demonstrate your performance improvements. Look for a vendor that offers CRM integration out-of-the-box.

7. Make Periodic Adjustments- like any other process, this one will need to be tweaked. Keep tabs on what is working and what isn't, by speaking to Sales. Anytime a change is made be sure to track process changes.

Bottom Line:

If you are not thinking about lead scoring, you can bet that your competitors are. Stay ahead of the game by adopting a Best Practice lead scoring business process.

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Opening a New Office Location - By Jesse Hopps

About the Author: Jesse Hopps

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Jesse Hopps founded Demand Metric in October 2006 and is the active President & CEO, focusing on sales & product development. Prior to Demand Metric, Jesse worked as an independent consultant specializing in Internet Marketing and Business Continuity Planning. He began his career with the Info-Tech Research Group in London, Canada, where he helped contribute to their explosive growth. Jesse holds a business degree from the University of Western Ontario and lives in Panama City, Panama.
Click here to visit Jesse's website.

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