Best Practices Archives – Page 37 of 54

Best practices for lead generation, marketing automation and revenue generation topics.

The Final Steps toward Effective Lead Qualification

February 13, 2013/0 Comments/in Best Practices, Lead Scoring, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

For some companies there may be no shortage of leads. But how does the marketing team pass off the most qualified leads to your sales department? The answer is to take action that ensures your leads are ready to buy. This post is the second of a two-part series addressing effective lead qualification strategies.

Create an optimal lead profile

In our earlier post, The First Steps Toward Effective Lead Qualification, we recommended using a lead scoring system. In order to filter leads effectively, you should create a profile that embodies the characteristics and attributes that make up the type of lead that is most likely to buy from your company.

This profile should include firmographic information, such as revenues, number of employees, and locations that indicate a high likelihood of becoming a customer. Once these attributes have been selected, the next step is to determine what type of behaviors – online and offline – most likely lead to a sale. Behaviors such as website visits, webinar engagements, or phone inquiries should be included and be a part of your overall marketing strategy.

Using this information, your lead management system should prioritize and distribute leads according to how well they fit the optimal lead profile.

Monitor data

Lead qualification is based upon having the best data available. Is the information that is being collected accurate and complete? Today’s CRM tools provide incredible granularity and allow users to enter a plethora of information, but empty fields and inaccurate data can reduce the effectiveness of your sales team.

Both sales and marketing management should work together on a regular basis to ensure that lead qualification agents are providing sales agents with the most complete and accurate lead profiles.

Include personal contact

In most cases, effective lead qualification cannot take place without occasional personal contact. Automated lead management systems are tools of efficiency but are best used in conjunction with phone calls, personal emails, or other agent-driven communications.

Part of your lead nurturing process should include engagements that clarify pain points and cultivate demand. Without personal engagement prior to a sales call, the sales cycle is often longer.

Insert a sales development team

One way to improve the effectiveness of your lead qualification process is to introduce a sales development representative (SDR) prior to a sales agent engagement. An SDR can act as a liaison between marketing and sales by contacting marketing-qualified leads in an effort to determine how sales-ready they may be.

According to one industry expert, his lead conversion rate went from 5% to over 40% with the use of SDRs in his lead qualification program.

Using SDRs can lead to better economics as expensive sales agents are not engaging with prospects until that lead has been converted from a marketing-qualified lead to a sales-qualified lead. Many industry experts quote the following numbers:

A 5% increase in selling time yields a 20% increase in revenue
A 1% increase in pipeline value yields a 24% increase in revenue
A 15% decrease in sales cycle length yields a 30% increase in revenue

These figures support the use of SDRs to further qualify leads that have advanced to the marketing-qualified lead stage in your marketing funnel. It may be an extra step, but this extra step has improved sales conversions for many companies.

Effective sales qualification can improve conversions, reduce irrelevant objections, and boost your revenue cycle. Some steps may even help develop talent to add to your sales team. The key to having the most productive, efficient sales funnel is to take the steps necessary to put the hottest, sales-ready leads in the hands of your experienced sales team quickly but effectively.

The First Steps Toward Effective Lead Qualification

February 12, 2013/0 Comments/in Best Practices, Lead Scoring/by Lead Liaison

Lead qualification is a multi-step process that moves suspects through your marketing pipeline and determines if they become a quality lead. It all starts with a lead inquiry. In this post we’ll discuss the first steps toward effective lead qualification.

Lead Inquiry

The first step in lead qualification is generating a lead inquiry, which is an interest signal from a suspect. The suspect may be genuinely interested in your solution or his reaction to a marketing message could be just curiosity. It may be tough to differentiate the two based upon one contact; however, there are techniques, such as opt-in forms, that can indicate a higher level of interest.

Outbound or inbound marketing can be used to generate a lead inquiry. Whether the inquiry comes from digital assets or through offline engagements, if you don’t take every lead inquiry seriously you may be leaving money on the table.

In order to make lead qualification effective, you should review your online and offline marketing messages regularly. Are viewers taking action or moving on to the next solution? You rarely get a second chance to make a first impression, so if your response rate is minuscule, take the time to adjust the messages for maximum effectiveness.

Once a lead inquiry is received, it’s time to take the lead qualification process to the next step: lead capture.

Lead Capture

It is important to not let a lead slip away without making a second attempt. Lead generation programs, such as Lead Liaison’s Streamer™, allow companies to capture preliminary information without having to request it from the suspect. This allows you to capture enough information to be able to make a second contact.

Lead capturing can be automated. One of the more effective techniques is the lead capture page or landing page. The key is to provide enough compelling information or a strong marketing message on that page to compel a suspect to opt-in for future engagements.

An auto-responder should be used to connect immediately following a lead inquiry. Time is of the essence in this competitive world, so we recommend automation for every inquiry that is received. An auto-responder service can mean the difference between a lost opportunity and a sale. Basic auto-responder services are available for free, while more robust services can be purchased.

Like your lead inquiry assets, it’s important to review and refine lead capture assets so they accomplish their task on the first contact. Once there is enough information captured from a suspect, the lead should be entered into a lead scoring system.

Lead Scoring

A lead scoring matrix is crucial to qualifying suspects and prioritizing leads. There is no standard model that will apply to all industries but there are two commonly used criteria sets. The first set includes the physical, demographic, and firmographic data that is often easily captured through opt-in forms or webinar registrations. This information qualifies a lead according to relevance. Does the suspect work at a company that fits your lead profile? Does the company have the capacity to purchase your solution?

The second criteria set includes behavioral traits. This information can be captured through online activities, such as website visits or white paper downloads. By including online and offline marketing engagements, your lead scoring system can help determine which activities may lead to purchase decisions.

These are the preliminary stages of an effective lead qualification process. In our next post, we’ll discuss the advanced steps that move a lead from suspect to sales opportunity. To find out the most effective lead qualification process, contact us today!

B2B Marketers need Marketing Automation and Lead Scoring

February 11, 2013/0 Comments/in Lead Scoring, Marketing Automation, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

As the global marketplace expands due to the power of the internet, B2B Marketers need to rise to the challenge and start thinking in terms of large-scale strategies. B2B marketers need marketing automation and lead scoring. They need to market to businesses that are searching for resources online. This is important since every company with an online presence who is selling the same product or service is now their competitor, regardless of their physical location.

Expanding the reach of their B2B marketing campaigns will most likely produce a wide variety of new leads. Each of these leads has their own unique potential and likelihood for conversion. They come from different locations, different industries and different purchasing background. They all approach researching new products and services in their own way and it quickly becomes too overwhelming to manually qualify and prioritize each lead based on their individual potential.

Lead scoring is an automated process designed to assist marketers in qualifying leads by assigning a quantitative value to website visitors based on the person’s demographic and behavioral profile. The value assigned to each lead is determined based on how closely the lead resembles a typical or ideal customer. For example, if a marketer is specifically interested in attracting automotive manufacturers that would need to buy industrial-grade steel for their production line, these parameters would be designed to place a greater value on whether the prospect matches with the criteria describing a typical manufacturing facility that uses industrial-grade steel.

Lead scoring with marketing automation allows marketers to quickly sort through leads and identify changes in behavioral patterns. This helps B2B marketers identify which are sales-ready leads and which will require more nurturing. By using database segmentation features of most marketing automation software, B2B marketers can touch base with leads they are interested in, by assessing their interests and creating content specific to their needs.

Marketing automation also allows B2B marketers to:

Analyze lead scores in an effort to personalize email campaigns.
Assess the effectiveness of past campaigns.
Create automated responses to a lead’s online activity such as registrations, downloads, and/or newsletters.
Create mailing lists catered to leads with specific scores.
Identify buying stage of prospects and their likelihood of conversion.

By implementing lead scoring criteria with marketing automation software, companies can:

Identify the improvement in the number of quality leads that were generated over a period of time. When lead profile criteria is regularly analyzed and evolved, marketers will be able to better define a sales-ready lead and then plan effectively towards closing the business deal.
Reduce labor expenses associated with manual marketing processes and focus more on the campaign execution process.
Offer marketers more insight into their leads, so they will spend less time guiding and nurturing leads through the marketing funnel.
Unite the sales and marketing departments, so they can work together to generate higher quality leads and identify more sales-ready leads.

Lead scoring using marketing automation is a necessity for B2B marketers who want to expand globally while still being able to gain visibility into their lead’s intent. This priceless intelligence can be leveraged to move leads faster through the marketing funnel and improve their chance of becoming a customer. That is why today’s B2B marketers need marketing automation and lead scoring.

When Does Your Marketing Qualified Lead Become a Sales Qualified Lead?

February 8, 2013/0 Comments/in Lead Generation, Lead Management, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

How does your company define a lead as “qualified”? Are the leads that fit a demographic/firmographic profile and respond to marketing touchpoints considered qualified? Your marketing and sales departments may disagree on which leads are truly qualified to become a sales opportunity. In this post we look at when your marketing qualified lead (MQL) becomes a sales qualified lead (SQL).

A marketing qualified lead is a suspect that has advanced through multiple marketing touch points and fits an optimal lead profile. A sales qualified lead requires more to be considered a viable sales opportunity: it must be ready, willing, and able to pay for your solution.

In order to qualify as a sales opportunity a lead must have the following:

An established need. This can be indicated through online forms or by contact from a sales agent. The need must be solvable with your solution. There are plenty of B2B needs to be met, but if your solution does not directly address the need completely or partially, the lead is not sales-ready. Even the most cash-rich prospects are of little value if there is no need – perceived or real – for your solution.
Money to purchase. a marketing-qualified lead may show substantial interest and be completely engaged, but without capital to make a purchase, your sales agent is wasting time. Even the most inexpensive solution will be unavailable to companies with no budget.
A plan to buy. Many companies understand they have needs that must be met through buying from B2B vendors, but don’t always plan for purchases. A marketing-qualified lead cannot evolve into a sales-qualified lead without understanding where the prospect is in the buying cycle. A lead may be fully marketing-qualified because of fit and interest, but it does not reach a sales-qualified status until there is a firm plan to commit money towards a solution. Your sales agent will be “spinning wheels” until the prospect gets buy-in from decision-makers to move forward with a purchase.
Possesses purchase authority or decision-making capacity. There may be a few layers of authority involved in a purchase. This is where a marketing-qualified lead is clearly different from a sales-qualified leads. Sales agents know that, in order to close a deal, they must be engaged with a buying authority or a decision maker. An influencer may be marketing-qualified but, without purchase authority, he may not be the appropriate contact for a sales agent.

Some – but not all – of these characteristics of a sales-qualified lead can be captured through marketing touchpoints. By implementing a lead scoring system that includes both marketing qualification criteria and sales qualification criteria, your company can more easily differentiate between a marketing qualified lead and a sales qualified lead.

It is important to include sales agents when determining scores that indicate a marketing qualified lead. A few examples of sales qualification criteria include:

Funding available immediately 10 points
Funding available within 6 months 5 points
Budget in process 2 points
No funding available 0 points
Expressed a direct need 10 points
Expressed a potential need 8 points
Unaware of a need 3 points
Expressed lack of a need 0 points
Lead contact is decision-maker 10 points
Lead contact is purchasing agent 5 points
Lead contact is influencer 3 points
Plans to buy immediately 10 points
Plans to buy within 6 months 5 points
Plans to buy within 1 year 2 points
No plans to buy 0 points
Would spend over $1,000 10 points
Would spend under $500 5 points
Would spend less than $100 1 point

Sales and marketing should be aligned in establishing the difference between a marketing-qualified lead and a sales-qualified lead. Implementing a lead scoring system to rank marketing suspects and sales opportunities will improve conversions and enhance the transition from marketing funnel to CRM priority.

Common Lead Scoring Mistakes – Part 2

February 7, 2013/0 Comments/in Best Practices, Lead Scoring, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

As we mentioned in an earlier post, Common Lead Scoring Mistakes – Part 1, there is sometimes a lack of sales effectiveness when using a lead scoring system. Often this is a result of poor lead management. In this post, we discuss two issues: the first one concerns what sales agents do with leads that are distributed out of a lead scoring matrix, the other involves assigning scores and distribution thresholds to leads that pass from marketing to sales.

Ignoring Low Scores

Most sales agents only want leads that have a high lead score because those are likely to be the most sales-ready prospects. But not all quality leads are ready to buy, and not all cold leads represent long sales cycles. By ignoring a lead with a score of 50 (out of 100), the sales department may lose a great opportunity without knowing it.

Avoid these lead scoring mistakes by applying logic. For example, the lead with a 50 score might be a line supervisor who is the brother-in-law of the company president. He may be researching products (on his own) like the ones your company offers in order to improve line performance, but has no idea of the company’s purchasing capacity at the moment. The total lead score may be low because of his lack of buying authority and unknown budget.

However, his relationship with the president makes him a potential purchase influencer and a good connection to the buying authority. This lead should not be ignored because of a low composite score. Sales agents should be encouraged to focus on both total lead score and the scores in each parameter that contribute to the overall score in order to avoid missing possible sales opportunities that may be “disguised” as low quality leads.

Scoring Activities and Distributing Leads Improperly

Lead scoring is more of an art than a science. There are nuances in most scoring systems that don’t apply universally across industries or even across product lines. But in order to create the most effective scoring model, the grades or scores that leads receive because of marketing engagements should be appropriate for your company’s sales process. That means scoring marketing responses properly.

For instance, a lead that has recently downloaded a white paper may receive a high score for that activity due to recency, but what if the same lead has downloaded several documents over a six-month period? In this case, the frequency of the specific activity must also be considered in the lead score.

Also, if the scoring threshold for distribution is not properly aligned with the sales department’s experience with customers, it could skew results and lower sales production. For example, if the scoring threshold is too high, the sales department may perceive a stranglehold on the flow of leads. On the other hand, if scoring thresholds are too low, your lead management system may distribute leads to sales agents that are not adequately sales-qualified.

An effective lead scoring system can improve sales effectiveness by more than 50%, but the system must be built correctly and implemented properly. To learn more about lead scoring mistakes and tips to improve lead scoring, follow the Lead Liaison blog every week!

Common Lead Scoring Mistakes – Part 1

February 6, 2013/0 Comments/in Best Practices, Lead Scoring, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

Lead scoring can be a valuable asset to your sales department. Prioritizing leads so sales agents are focused on opportunities with the highest conversion potential increases sales effectiveness. However, there are some common lead scoring mistakes that companies make when they use their lead scoring system improperly. We want to share several common mistakes that have come to our attention over the years. The first two are 1) relying solely on composite scores to determine quality leads, and 2) using a rigid scoring system.

Relying on the Composite Score Only

Using the only composite scores is a common lead scoring mistake. Sure, the sales department should be focusing on A-list leads but there may be more to a lead’s story than what is reflected in the total score. Sales agents should be asking: what attributes scored high and which ones received a lower score? If your lead scoring model uses a scale of 0-100, for example, and a lead scoring 90 is considered hot, does this mean that all 90-score leads have equal conversion potential? No.

There may be some hot leads that rank high because of their position in the company and there are others that receive a high score because of significant marketing engagement. The key for sales agents is to examine the factors that led to the high score.

For example, consider two leads, each with scores of 80 (out of 100) that establish both as marketing-qualified leads. However, the first lead is an IT Director who has downloaded every white paper you’ve published but has no plans to buy in the next six months and has not indicated a need for your solution, and the second lead is a Purchaser who has indicated an immediate need but has limited marketing engagements. Which lead is a more sales-qualified lead?

Sales agents should look “beneath” the overall score to understand whether a lead should be contacted immediately or can be placed in a bucket to be contacted in one month.

Using a Rigid System

Everything changes. The weather, the economy, hairstyles. While there are certainly some lead scoring parameters that will remain constant in your lead scoring system, such as website visits, many factors that contribute to a lead score will likely change over time. Perhaps it is a change in the buying process for companies in the industry you serve. Or maybe a change occurs as a result of a new major competitor entering the market.

Avoid this common lead scoring mistake and create a lead scoring matrix that is flexible. There may be a need to adjust scoring weights for certain attributes or to add a new parameter. Companies that are successful at lead management use lead scoring systems that allow for adaptation. That is why Lead Liaison provides lead management products that have flexibility, and works closely with clients to ensure their lead scoring models remain effective.

However, flexibility does not simply come from an adaptable lead scoring product. Maintaining a dynamic scoring model requires sales and marketing to meet regularly in order to provide input towards updates that will align the system to current market conditions.

We will discuss more lead scoring myths in our next post. Has your company experienced a lead scoring mistake? Share your experience below!

How Lead Scoring Benefits Your Sales Department

February 4, 2013/0 Comments/in Best Practices, Lead Scoring, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

B2B sales departments juggle leads every day. How do those leads get managed? And how effective is the sales team in closing sales from the marketing leads it receives? Lead scoring can improve sales effectiveness by ranking leads according to various attributes. Let’s dig deeper into how lead scoring benefits sales.

Lead scoring programs are available through automated marketing platforms like our Lead Management Automation™ product. A lead score is comprised of both an implicit score and an explicit grade. By combining the two metrics, sales departments are able to prioritize which leads are contacted first.

There are three ways lead scoring benefits sales departments:

1-Lead scoring provides a way to create an optimal lead profile. By listing the attributes which comprise a quality lead, sales agents get a clear picture of the “perfect” prospect that they should be speaking with.

By narrowing the sales department’s focus through lead scoring, agents can place the optimal leads at the top of their target lists, which can improve sales effectiveness. Agents prioritize sales calls by how well a lead fits the optimal lead profile.

2-Lead scoring is used to organize leads by demographic characteristics. Having sales agents contact the most appropriate leads (based upon grading criteria such as industry, company size, and title), helps to target the most likely decision makers or influencers. Prospects that may not fit every parameter in a lead scoring system can still be relevant, but are listed below those that have a better fit with the optimal lead profile.

3-Lead scoring provides a way of ranking prospects’ behaviors. Scoring implicit behaviors is an effective way to understand what activities are involved in a prospect’s buying process. Behavior patterns reveal how, when, and where a prospect gathers information about a buying decision. Both online and offline activities should be included in the lead scoring matrix in order to generate a complete lead profile.

Scoring buyers’ behavior also reveals what forms of delivery are most effective. Some prospects gather information solely through online searches and website visits. Others attend webinars or review white papers to support buying decisions. Sales agents can be more effective when they know how a prospect researches buying opportunities.

By assigning a score to behaviors, sales agents can not only understand the processes used in buying decisions, but also use the information collected during the scoring process to communicate with prospects. For instance, a sales agent can ask questions about a prospect’s experience at a recent trade show or webinar.

Lead scoring is a product of both planning and updating. While a profile can be created based upon historical information, lead scoring becomes more effective as sales agents connect with prospects. New information can be included in the scoring model to make the lead scoring system as accurate as possible. Buying trends may change over time or buying patterns may be different from one region to another; therefore, it is important to adapt the lead scoring matrix to reflect changes as new information is uncovered.

The bottom line is: a lead scoring system makes sales departments in many industries more effective and efficient. To find out ways to score leads, stay connected to our revenue generation blog or contact a Lead Liaison representative today.

How Lead Nurturing Can Optimize the Marketing Funnel

February 1, 2013/0 Comments/in Best Practices, Lead Nurturing, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

The marketing funnel can be a powerful tool for converting leads into sales, but it cannot create meaningful and lasting relationships with new customers without lead nurturing as the backbone of the funnel. Modern customers have more choices and higher expectations.

The marketing funnels main purpose is to capture a lead’s interest by providing them with valuable offers and useful information that inspires them to become customers. Lead nurturing by nature is intended to do just that in a subtle and personalized way. It allows marketers to deliver the right content to the right person on the right channel at the right time in order to optimize the marketing funnel.

Most website visitors are searching for helpful, insightful, or entertaining content that benefits them in some way. The information they choose to read needs to answer their questions, provide them with real value and gently nudge them in the direction of making a purchase. It cannot be an over-hyped sales piece that resembles the numerous advertisements they are subjected to each day.

You can improve your chances of gaining further information on a lead by placing barriers on access to content. If you place lead nurturing content behind a form or registration on a website then marketers can collect the name, email address, contact information and IP address of the visitor who wishes to access their content. This means that the visitor knows they are giving up their anonymity to read the information, which is a significant sign that they are truly interested in the product or service.

Today’s consumer has access to an abundance of information and they are not willing to waste their time on inferior content. If they visit a site, take the time to enter all of their personal information, download a tutorial, and then take the time to read it – it better be worth all of their effort. By providing leads with free educational or thought-provoking content, you are building their trust in your business, product, or service. That is the very purpose of the marketing funnel.

Capturing leads in the marketing funnel is necessary but it must be accompanied with solid and personalized (when possible) lead nurturing content. Every lead has access to hundreds,thousands or even millions of potential sources. Businesses that want to stay competitive need to prove themselves before a sale is made. Always providing leads with reliable and relevant content is how lead nurturing can optimize the marketing funnel.

How Lead Scoring Can Optimize the Marketing Funnel

January 31, 2013/0 Comments/in Best Practices, Lead Scoring, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

Learn how lead scoring can optimize the marketing funnel. Every aspect of lead scoring has the ability to optimize the marketing funnel’s potential for converting leads into customers. Lead scoring is a proven method for assigning value to leads based on their demographic profile and their engagement behavior. Lead scoring helps the marketing team determine which leads need further nurturing and which are ready for the sales department.

The marketing funnel traditionally refers to the journey the marketing department creates for potential leads to guide them in a specific direction. In marketing automation, the marketing funnel is a conceptual system of obtaining customers through initial contact and offerings and then retaining them with value added offers or content, known as lead nurturing. The goal of the marketing funnel and lead nurturing is to retain lifelong customers.

Leads progress through different stages in their buying process. Lead scoring ranks these leads to determine their likelihood of purchasing and when they may be ready to commit. This scoring process is essential to the market funnel. Marketers need a method of understanding their leads, so they could be more effective at guiding them in the right direction. Lead scoring is that method.

The following are just a few of the ways lead scoring optimizes the marketing funnel:

1. Understanding Lead Quality

Every business has different criteria they use to determine the quality of a lead. In all cases, it should reflect a combination of traits and actions that indicate a lead is both a good fit for your company and interested in your product or service. Lead scoring qualifies and quantifies the leads that are in the marketing funnel to determine their potential.

2. Identifies Leads that are Ready to Buy

The criteria created for lead scoring will have indicators that clearly demonstrate if a lead is ready for the sales department. For example, registering and downloading several articles over a short period of time will boost a lead’s score, since it is a good sign that they are sincerely interested. The higher a lead ranks, the more likely they are ready to exit the marketing funnel and become a customer.

3. Identifies Leads that will never buy

Lead score also captures demographic characteristics (budget, purchasing authority, company history etc.) that could provide ample evidence that a lead will never convert. For example, a competitor could be snooping on your site to compare prices or a student could be using your website for research. The marketing department can eliminate the time spent nurturing leads that have no reason to be in the marketing funnel.

4. Indicators Leads that Need more Nurturing

Not every lead that is visiting your website is ready to exit the marketing funnel. Lead scoring identifies these indicators and provides marketing with valuable information on how they can personalize their nurturing to these undecided leads in an effort to persuade them to convert.

In today’s competitive marketplace, businesses need to do everything in their power to optimize their marketing funnel. Lead scoring will qualify leads, determine which ones are ready to buy and which ones will never buy, as well as which leads need more personalized information before they are ready to decide. This insight into a lead’s buying process is vital to improving efficiency and productivity of your marketing funnel.

Who Should Develop Your Lead Scoring Matrix?

January 30, 2013/0 Comments/in Best Practices, Lead Scoring, Revenue Generation Blog/by Lead Liaison

Is your lead scoring matrix for your lead management system built solely by the marketing department? Is your sales department responsible for providing the parameters that will be used in your lead scoring model? Who should be included when your company is developing a lead scoring matrix? Industry leaders will tell you: the best way to develop accurate criteria for a lead scoring matrix is to bring sales and marketing teams together.

Lead intelligence doesn’t reside in a bubble – there are online actions and offline engagements that contribute to a lead’s overall profile. Each department contributes intelligence to the revenue generation cycle, and revenue generation is more effective when the two departments are connected. By operating independently, each team is relying on lesser intelligence. By including both departments, customer intelligence is combined with lead intelligence to form a holistic approach to lead scoring.

Therefore, both marketing and sales should be involved in developing a lead scoring matrix.

Gathering input from both departments is often done best by meeting with both sides together. Requirements for the scoring matrix can be gathered independently, but the number and depth of contributions is enhanced through discussion with each other.

Sales managers can explain, for example, what type of research customers use to learn about a product, based on feedback gathered during sales engagements. This can be important in applying weights to certain marketing activities. For example, if a sales agent learns from a prospect that watching product videos is a primary research tool in his position, that information can be applied to a scoring matrix by giving video views a relatively high score compared to other online behaviors for that position.

Sales agents can provide insight as to the level of product intelligence a lead should possess in order to be considered a high priority lead. The more time a prospect spends engaged in marketing engagements, the more likely she will be interested in speaking with a sales agent, which can affect the close ratio. This can translate to greater weight being placed on the score associated with total number of activities a lead engages in.

The marketing department can explain how certain behavioral characteristics can reveal the quality of a lead. For example, a lead that maintains a sustained but sporadic relationship throughout marketing engagements can indicate an indecisive prospect with a longer buying cycle. This type of information can help determine how recency should be weighed within the scoring matrix.

Marketing can also provide input about how certain marketing responses should affect a lead’s score. For instance, a lead captured through a Facebook “like” indicates that the prospect enjoys sharing his opinion through social networking, which can translate to a higher quality lead because the prospect could become a brand advocate.

Both sales and marketing have monthly goals to hit. So it’s critical to gather input from both departments while developing a lead scoring matrix. After all, the goal is increasing lead flow and improving conversions, right?