The Definitive Guide to Lead Scoring

The Definitive Guide to Lead Scoring
A Marketo Workbook

www.marketo.com

Contents

Why should I read The Definitive Guide to Lead Scoring? 3 Part Five
Lead Lifecycle Management 34
Part One
What is Lead Scoring and Why Do I Need it? 4 Revenue Cycle Management 35
Labeling Scores for Sales Action 37
What is Lead Scoring? 5
Why Does My Business Need Lead Scoring? 6 Part Six
What Analysts and Companies say 7 Common Lead Scoring Issues 38

Part Two The Problems with BANT 39
Lead Scoring Basics 8 Improving Data Capture with Forms 40

Types of Lead Scoring 9 Part Seven
Explicit Lead Scoring 10 Content Marketing, Social Media and Lead Scoring 42
Implicit Lead Scoring 12
Content Marketing and Lead Scoring 43
Part Three Social Media and Lead Scoring 44
Getting Started With Lead Scoring 15
Part Eight
Lead Scoring Basics 16 The ROI of Lead Scoring 46
Getting Started with Lead Scoring 17
Lead Scoring Worksheets 18 Calculating the ROI of Lead Scoring 47
Creating an Explicit Scoring Model 22 Decrease in Sales Cycle Duration 48
Creating an Implicit Scoring Model 24 Increased Sales Productivity 49

Part Four Part Nine
Advanced Scoring Strategies 28 Conclusion 50

Product Scoring 29 Selecting a Marketing Automation System 51
Account Scoring 30 Lead Management Benefits 52
Score Degradation 30 Contact Us 53
The Feedback Loop 31
Lead Scoring Check-up Process 32
Additional Considerations 33

© 2010 Marketo, Inc. All rights reserved. 2

Why Should I Read The Definitive Guide to Lead Scoring?

Your buyers have changed forever

Your prospects are turning to online channels
to research products, services and best
practices. They are searching websites,
attending webinars and downloading thought
leadership long before they are ready to buy.
Marketers and salespeople must engage early
in the buying process to gather understanding
and react with the right strategies.

This guide will help companies grow their
understanding of lead scoring and improve
execution with best practices and easy-
to-use worksheets. With lead scoring you
can determine a prospect’s current level
of interest in your business and use that
information to drive sharper, more relevant
engagement. Lead scoring also ranks
the prospect’s demographics, like title,
industry and annual company revenue,
to make sure they fit your target
customer profile.

Whether you’re a lead scoring pro or just
getting started, these scoring tactics, case
studies and measurement tips will transform
your practices.


Part One

What is Lead Scoring and Why Do I Need It?


Part One

What is Lead Scoring? What Lead Scoring Isn’t –
Pitfalls to avoid:

The goal of lead scoring is
Lead scoring is a shared sales and marketing to identify which leads are
methodology for ranking leads in order to ready to move to sales and
determine their sales-readiness. You score which leads require further
leads based on the interest they show in your nurturing. No lead should
business, their current place in the buying be left behind.
cycle and their fit in regards to your business.
Lead scoring is not:
• stand-alone marketing
A
Companies can score leads by assigning process because sales’
points, implementing rankings like A, B, C, D, input is essential to identify
or using terms like ‘hot’, ‘warm’ or ‘cold’. The a “qualified” lead
key point is that marketing and sales increase • herry-picking hot leads
C
their combined efficiency and productivity while ignoring the rest
based on the clarity of a sales-ready lead. of the database

Lead scoring helps companies know
whether prospects need to be fast-tracked
to sales or developed with lead nurturing.
The best lead scoring systems use
demographic and firmographic attributes,
such as company size, industry, and job
title; as well as behavioral scoring such
as clicks, keywords, and web visits.


Part One

Why Does My Business Need Lead Scoring?
According to a RainToday.com report, less than 25% of new
leads are sales-ready. So how do you know when it’s time to make
the call? How do you nurture and close the remaining 75%?
Lead scoring helps you engage in activities that drive revenue on
both fronts by streamlining lead flow and improving productivity
and efficiency between marketing and sales.

Essential to Strengthening Align Sales and Marketing Revenue Cycle
your Revenue Cycle • mproves the sales and marketing
I
Lead scoring helps marketing and sales relationship, as unqualified leads
teams identify ready-to-buy individuals don’t distract sales productivity
or organizations and the leads that need allowing reps to focus on the best leads
ongoing nurturing. Using scoring information, marketing provides.
companies can drive marketing and sales • reates common “lead” definition,
C
productivity, and increase revenue simplifies follow-up processes
more quickly. and drives alignment.
• reates foundation for marketing and sales
C
There are many benefits when you include service level agreements for lead follow-up.
lead scoring in your marketing processes.

Effectively Drive ROI
• 10% increase in lead quality can translate
A
into a 40% increase in sales productivity.
• Focus on the right accounts, and the right
contacts in the account, engaging only
with warm leads.
• coring “sanity checks” pipeline estimates.
S
By correlating scores to win percentages,
you gain insight into whether a deal is likely
to close.


Part One

What Analysts Say What Companies Say
There are many independent and respected analysts who understand There are thousands of companies that are reaping the benefits of lead
the importance of lead scoring. From their reports and interviews, scoring today. You will find case studies from some of these companies
you can find powerful definitions of the value that a lead scoring throughout this guide that will help as you develop or improve your lead
methodology brings to both marketing and sales departments. scoring model. Here are some comments from companies that excel
in lead scoring.

“ B2B marketers who emphasize lead volume over lead “ Lead scoring should be an indicator of sales-readiness –
quality reduce sales efficiency, increase campaign costs, not of how much of a fan they are of [our company].
and fuel the gap between sales and marketing. That goal requires a close collaboration between the
To generate qualified demand, marketers need technology sales and marketing teams to establish a threshold
and processes that capture lead quality information; for when a lead is ready to be passed on to sales.
validate, score, and classify leads; develop programs Teamwork is also needed to assign scores for a
to nurture leads that don’t yet warrant sales attention; prospect’s actions – a process that begins before a lead
and define metrics that directly identify marketing’s scoring system is implemented.”
contribution to the sales pipeline and closed deals.” Emily W. Salus, Senior Marketing Manager, CollabNet
Laura Ramos, Forrester Research, Improving B2B Lead Management
“ ophisticated lead scoring rules help focus sales
S
“ A solid lead scoring approach not only helps to rank pipeline activity which drives customer-facing reps
prospects against one another, but can smooth the lead to engage in more targeted, relevant and meaningful
flow and serve as the baseline for building a range conversations, helping us result in a 32% increase
of business rules that include ownership, role in qualified lead conversion rates and a 125%
and activities. ” improvement in average lead conversion time.”
SiriusDecisions, What’s the Score Sally Lowery, Bronto Software


Part Two

Lead Scoring Basics


Part Two
Lead Scoring Basics

Explicit and Implicit Scoring How Marketo Does It –
Behavioral and Demographic
Case Study
Companies need to consider two different kinds of Scoring Ketera – Getting to Know You
information in their lead scoring: explicit and implicit. At Marketo, all incoming leads by Role and Company Size
Explicit scoring is based on information the prospect are scored using a combination
of demographics and lead Ketera – provider of the online Ketera
tells you or otherwise directly identifiable information. source information, plus Network business community - brings
behavioral scores that include
Implicit scoring is based on information that you all activity before registration. together over 100K buyers and 800K suppliers
observe or infer about the prospect, such as their Demographic attributes deliver in a Freemium Marketplace. Ketera uses
a score between zero points scoring integrated with web content delivery
online behaviors. and 30 points. From there, and nurturing all customized by role and
each different behavior is
assigned a point value, from company size in order to engage visitors
one point for a web page visited and help with distribution and prioritization
Fusing the two scoring systems together, you build a true and email opened to 15 points to the right sales team. Key scores include:
picture of value: the prospect’s value to your business for searching for “Marketo”
on Google. Qualified leads with
and your business’s value. fewer than 65 points are called • Overall Lead Score
“Prospects” and receive further • Recent Visits Score
nurturing; people with over • Role Scores: Buyer and Supplier
65 points are called “Leads” • ompany Scores: Enterprise / Medium /
C
and are sent to telesales for
further qualification. Telesales Small Business
prioritizes qualified, engaged,
and educated leads.

Types of Lead Scoring
Implicit Explicit
Behaviors Online body language BANT data (Budget, Authority,
Need, Timeline)

Demographics Inferred geography, Data quality Demographics, typically
factors, etc. captured from form data
or data appending


Part Two
Lead Scoring Basics

Explicit Lead Scoring Data Appending

Explicit lead scoring is based on observable or directly shared In some cases, you won’t have
information, often collected via an online form or registration all the information you need
for demographic scoring. Here
process. Demographic and firmographic attributes tell you how well it can be useful to append the
the prospect compares against your ideal buyer profile, while BANT information to your database.
Many services have match rates
information can (sometimes) tell you where the prospect is in their as high at 70%, with better
buying process. results for public companies.

Another added benefit of using
data appending services is that
Demographic and Firmographic Lead Scoring Some demographic or firmographic factors they allow you to shorten your
Demographic and firmographic scoring is to consider: online lead forms and landing
based on information like job title, industry, pages, while still capturing all
company size, and annual revenue. • ob Title / Role – Is this prospect likely
J the information you need to
qualify leads. If your lead forms
to resonate with our solution? Will he captures eight fields today,
This type of lead scoring is critical because or she have access to budget? shortening them to five fields
it tells you how interested you are in the • ompany size – What is the size of
C can often increase lead form
potential prospect. The closer the prospect a potential deal at this customer? conversion percentages by 30%
is to your ideal prospect profile, the better • ndustry – Does this prospect’s company
I or more. This alone is often
the fit with your solution and services, tend to have a need for solutions like ours? enough to justify the cost
and the higher the score. of data appending services.
Of course, success with demographic scoring
depends on having well defined “personas”
for your ideal customer profile.


Part Two
Lead Scoring Basics

Case Study
LI-COR Biosciences –
BANT Need
BANT is the acronym for Budget, Authority, Do they need your solution? More Understanding Engagement
Need, Timeline – common attributes used importantly, what is the compelling event Improves Sales Productivity
to determine sales-readiness. driving the need? If, for example, your
internal processes are performed manually LI-COR Biosciences is engaged in the design,
Budget and inefficiently, then you are losing your manufacture and sale of high-quality,
Can your target actually afford to buy your companies money. This is what drives need. innovative instruments, software, reagents,
product or service? How much is budgeted and integrated systems for biotechnology
for this solution? Always keep in mind that Timeline and environmental research. LI-COR
different departments have different budgets. When will the prospect be ready to buy? Bioscience’s lead scoring started with very
This ties back to the compelling event. For basic measures, such as form fill out, web
Authority example, there could be a large event coming page visits, and email opens. As sales’
Is the prospect a decision-maker? What is his up where a solution needs to be in place, dependence on scoring data has grown,
or her title? Do they have power to allocate or it can be as simple as allocating budget LI-COR has built on that activity based scoring
funds? Businesses have many different types by year-end. and now provides sales with product scores
of authority: influencers, decision-makers in eight major solution areas. LI-COR scores
(the people who sign on the dotted line) on very specific behaviors to increase the
and the eventual end users. As useful as explicit lead scoring can be, score for each solution area and also ties in
it relies primarily on the information nurturing for customized communications.
the prospect shares with you – meaning
it has its limitations as well (see Common Increased visibility into prospect behavior has
Lead Scoring Issues, pg.38). That’s why been critical for the sales team as the buying
it’s also important to use implicit cycle for research equipment is on average six
information in your lead scoring. to nine months. Using Marketo Sales Insight
to see account activity increasing most rapidly
for specific solutions, sales is able to predict
which contacts are actively pursuing a grant
and require timely follow up.


Part Two
Lead Scoring Basics

Implicit Scoring CRM or Marketing Automation?

Implicit scoring most commonly consists of tracking your prospect’s Sometimes marketers will try
behaviors (e.g. their “online body language”) to measure their to utilize lead scoring inside
their CRM system without the
level of interest in your products or solutions. It can also consist of supplemental custom marketing
inferring additional information about the prospect based on the tools like automation. This only
works if you are:
quality of the data you have (the location of their IP address, etc.).
• nly doing very basic scoring
O
on demographics.
The Basics of Behavioral Scoring Basics of Behavioral Scoring • CRM administrator, or
A
developer, who is comfortable
Behavioral scoring identifies a prospect’s
customizing the application.
readiness to buy. Leads who visit web pages, Activity Score • illing to spend extra time
W
open emails, and respond to offers are creating workflow to create
Clicks link in email +3
showing high interest. Visitors to a product and display your score.
page are exhibiting better buying behavior Completes form +5
than visitors to your careers page. See Visits product benefits page +3
examples of behavioral scoring to the right.
Visits any company web or
blog page +1
But the type of activity is only one dimension
of behavior. It does not identify your
prospect’s place in the buying cycle. When
you dig deeper into the behaviors that are
occurring, like in the second chart, you are Behavioral Scoring with Importance
going beyond behavior and identifying the
Activity Score Importance Total Score
behavioral importance. For example, you
should score a prospect that clicks a link in Clicks link in email about industry +3 +1 4
an email about a product discount higher Clicks link in email about company +3 +5 8
than one who clicks on an industry link, as
the product link indicates buying behavior. Clicks link in email about specific
product +3 +10 13

For more details on implicit scoring,
see Getting Started With Lead Scoring
Basics (pg.15) and Advanced Scoring
Strategies (pg.28).


Part Two
Lead Scoring Basics

Active vs. Latent buying behavior These activities imply different levels of sales- Active and Latent
Behavior is complex and multi-dimensional. readiness and require different follow-up.
You need systems to evaluate and value Activity Behavioral Points Earned
different kinds of behavior. The most In this example you can see the first lead, Lead 1: Crissy – Active
important distinction lies between active vs. Crissy, is showing very active buying behavior,
latent buying behavior. The benefits come while the second lead, Jen, is exhibiting Today Download a sample RFP 10
from adjusting your scoring accordingly. latent buying behavior. Yesterday Watched a demo 12
Active buying behavior identifies “hot” leads
based on activities that demonstrate sales- 5 days ago Visited a pricing page 10
readiness and current interest. Latent buying 10 days ago Visited trade show booth 4
behavior, on the other hand, involves lower
36
engagement activity.
Lead 2: Jen – Latent
Understanding the difference is crucial. Last week Downloaded a white paper 3
For example, imagine two similar prospects
exhibiting different behaviors. One has Last month Downloaded a white paper 3
downloaded an RFP, watched a demo 2 months ago Checked link in email 2
and visited the pricing page - all very active
3 months ago Checked link in email 2
buying behaviors. The other prospect has
made several repeat visits to the same page 3 months ago Checked link in email 2
over a longer period of time with no implicit
3 months ago Viewed 5 web pages 5
interest in your product or service. While
these prospects might both achieve the 4 months ago Downloaded a white paper 3
same overall engagement, one is active 4 months ago Registered for a webinar 2
while the other is latent. When creating
a lead scoring model it is important to ensure 4 months ago Viewed 4 web pages 4
you are able to adjust your scoring to take 5 months ago Attended a webinar 8
these different buying behaviors into account.
6 months ago Registered for a webinar 2

36


Part Two
Lead Scoring Basics

Case Study
Jigsaw – Understand and Expand
Data Quality and other Implicit Lead Scoring 1. ontacting leads with complete information
C
Sometimes, the quality of prospect data tells improves the quality of communication. Jigsaw – a leading provider of business
you if they are likely to fit your ideal customer 2. ou can scale your marketing efforts, as you
Y information and data services – utilizes their
profile. Typically, data quality scoring rules are know all their contact points: email, address own data append services to simultaneously
used to “take points away” in order to focus phone, etc. 1) keep forms short 2) feed their lead
on prospects with good data quality. 3. rofiles often reach completion when close
P scoring model and 3) give sales reps more
to purchase and emphasize sales-readiness. understanding of the prospect.
Examples of data quality scoring can include Key demographic criteria that is appended
decreasing a prospect’s score if the email However, the data has one intrinsic flaw: it is and scored includes:
address comes from common email domains easier to find data on public companies than
(gmail.com, yahoo.com, mac.com, hotmail. private companies. Do you really want to leave • Industry
com, etc.); if the first or last name do not your private company scoring data to chance? • Job Title
contain any vowels; or if the “inferred • Job Role
company” name based on the IP address • Location
maps to an ISP and not a corporate domain. • Company Size
• Annual Revenue
Finally, you can also increase or decrease • Phone Number
a prospect’s lead score based on the
information you can infer from their IP about Once a prospect reaches a score threshold
their geographic location. This is especially based on a combination of those
useful if you only operate in certain countries. demographics and engagement with Jigsaw
(web content, physical event visit, email click
Focusing on the Data Score through, etc.), the lead is passed to a sales
A data score is a very simple type of lead rep for follow up. The sales rep has the option
scoring that only considers the completeness to expand reach within that account by using
of fields in a CRM or marketing automation automation to send emails to more leads
system, and is best used in conjunction with within that account. This enables an ongoing
a more comprehensive lead scoring program. process – the scoring model continues to help
In this type of scoring, a lead would receive prioritize demographics and activity for that
100% if all key information is complete, expanded list of people receiving nurturing
and 50% if only half the data is available. emails, alerting the rep automatically when
This type of scoring can provide three boosts a new lead reaches a scoring threshold where
to a sales process: they too should receive a follow up call.


Part Three

Getting Started With Lead Scoring


Part Three

Lead Scoring Basics
Often the hardest part of lead scoring is getting started.
Not because it’s complicated, or time-consuming, but because you need
some knowledge to kick start your program. Now that you know why you
should be doing it, this section will focus on how to get started with lead
scoring, plus give you all the support and information you need to get
it right from day one.

First, let’s see where you are with your lead scoring system:

Do you have a scoring system in place?
a) No, but we’re working on putting processes in place.
b) Yes, but it’s a lot of manual work.
c) Yes, we have an automated scoring system.

Does your organization segment leads and hand them off to sales based on their propensity to buy?
a) No, all leads are treated the same.
b) Yes, all leads are categorized and passed to sales.
c) es, all leads are categorized, qualified and passed to sales only when their score reaches
Y
a specific threshold.

If you answered A or B to either of these questions, you should continue with this chapter.
If you answered C to both questions, you should move to Advanced Scoring Strategies (pg.28).


Part Three

Getting Started with Lead Scoring
Gather information Align sales and marketing objectives Selecting the score criteria
Start by getting together with your sales team Your sales team must review and approve In the following four pages you will see
to gather data that indicates your buyers’ your information and your buyer personas. a list of possible demographic and behavioral
interest or sales-readiness. Focus on the most relevant and common scores. This is to help you think of different
findings and you will soon be able to: scoring attributes that may be relevant to your
Review the following: organization, including those that will have
• Past deals and current opportunities • Align marketing and sales to create the a negative effect on scoring. Make copies of
• nline activity log: See what pages
O profile of an ideal customer, and define these pages for everyone who is going to help
prospects visited and the sources, what constitutes a sales-ready lead. create the lead scoring model. Make sure
or referring sites. there are some team members from sales
• ales logs: Find out past interactions with
S • stablish a lead methodology (e.g. using
E and some from marketing. Have each person:
sales, and the activities and campaigns that points, letter grades, or the terms “hot,”
touched the prospect before the purchase. “warm,” and “cold”). • heck off the boxes that they think should
C
be included in the lead scoring model
You can test your lead scoring by running • Determine a score threshold that will • ext to each checked off score, mark
N
reports of actual leads accepted by Sales indicate a “sales-ready” lead. whether the attribute is critical, important,
and see if they mirror your high-quality lead influential, or negative.
definition. If not, then simply revisit the • Assign lead scores according to explicit data
behaviors and demographics that such as demographic and BANT attributes.
did contribute.
When you meet with your sales team,
Determine your ideal target start with simple demographic score
Use all relevant information, including ideas and ensure everyone contributes.
demographic and behavioral scoring, to create The following worksheets will give you a
your target buyer profile. Think about explicit starting point for identifying the demographics
and implicit attributes and assign points based and behaviors that count in your business.
on their relevance.


Part Three

50+ Explicit Scores to Consider
Potential individual-specific demographic Potential company-specific demographic Relationship scoring rules
scoring rules scoring rules

Title Rankings/Stock Indexes: Fortune 500/Inc Account type (Potential vs. Actual)
Role 500, etc Customer
Purchasing authority Number of employees Partner
Number of direct reports Company revenue Competitor
Level of manager (to whom do they Revenue growth (growing, declining, etc) Prospect
report?) Company financial viability Investor
Years of experience Number of divisions Previous relationship
Specialties Number of products sold (sku’s) Ex-customer
Type of email used (Gmail, corporate, Location Lost opportunity
Yahoo) City Product(s) purchased
Years at current position State Complimentary technologies used (CRM,
Designations/Certifications Zip ESP, ERP, CMS, MRM, MA)
Honors and awards received Country Recycled count
Social network participation Phone area code Lead source
Social network connections Headquarters or satellite Website
Social network influence Location of branches Sponsorship
Public recommendations Size of branches PPC
Affiliations - groups and associations Website traffic Content syndication
Career interests Website plug-ins Online ad
Personal interests Year founded Budget defined (Monthly, Quarterly,
Degrees received Organizational structure (proprietorship, Annually)
partnership, corporation) Timeframe (Project completion deadline)
Geographic markets served
Competitors
Partners
Fiscal year end
Industry

Did everyone in sales and marketing mark
the same attributes? Discuss any that don’t
match and then compare to your reporting
and buyer personas you have created.
Do the demographics match your personas
and the data in your reports? If not, discuss
these with the group.

Part Three

200+ Behavior Based Scores to Consider (Implicit data)
Online demo pplication directory (Google
A Blog posts Manuals RSS/XML feeds
Open Marketplace/Appexchange) Viewed Viewed Viewed
O
pened demos for Integrated Viewed multiple times Viewed multiple times Subscribed
multiple products Utilized post integration Commented Downloaded Subscribed to multiple
Watched Clicked link inside Clicked link inside
Watched multiple times Phone call Rated Images
Watched different demos Answered S
hared via social sharing Reference guides Viewed
C
all lasted more than 2+ button Viewed Viewed multiple times
Live demo minutes Viewed multiple times Downloaded
Scheduled discovery call C
all lasted more than 5+ Press releases Downloaded
P
articipated in discovery minutes Viewed Clicked link inside Videos
call C
all lasted more than 15+ Viewed multiple times Viewed
Scheduled initial demo minutes Clicked link inside Workbooks Viewed multiple times
Participated in initial demo Called in (inbound call) D
ownload asset promoted Viewed Downloaded
Scheduled follow-up demo inside Viewed multiple times Clicked link inside
P
articipated in follow-up Widget Downloaded
demo Interacted with Books/eBooks Clicked link inside Recorded webinars/
Downloaded Viewed webcasts
Free trial H
osted a free version on Viewed multiple times Case studies Registered
Downloaded their website Downloaded Viewed Viewed
Participated Clicked link inside Viewed multiple times Viewed multiple times
Articles Downloaded Downloaded
Free software Viewed Product data sheets Clicked link inside Clicked link inside
Downloaded Viewed multiple times Viewed R
eached out and did
Utilized post download Clicked link inside Viewed multiple times a reference with Live webinars/webcasts
P
urchased or downloaded Downloaded Downloaded Registered for
additional licenses Clicked link lnside Emails Viewed
M
ultiple licenses being Presentations Opened Commented during
used at one time Viewed Brochures Opened multiple times Asked question during
Viewed multiple times Viewed Clicked in R
eviewed follow-up
Clicked link inside Viewed multiple times Clicked in multiple times recording
Downloaded Downloaded Rated event
Clicked link Inside

Part Three

200+ Behavior Based Scores to Consider (continued)
Livestreamed events Web pages Online courses Podcasts Additional Behaviors
Registered for Viewed landing page Viewed information on Listened
Viewed F
ills out form on landing Registered for Listened multiple times
Commented during page Completed Downloaded
Asked question during U
ses instant chat Registered for multiple Subscribed
R
eviewed follow-up functionality Completed multiple
recording U
ses request a call back Videocasts
Rated event functionality Certifications Viewed
Viewed webpage- any Viewed information on Viewed multiple times
Surveys V
iewed webpage- product Registered for Downloaded
Visited specific Received certification
Completed Viewed webpage- pricing R
eceived multiple
Viewed results V
iewed webpage- certifications How does this compare with
P
articipated in multiple customer pages or reviews your reporting? Do the behaviors
match the data? If not, discuss
surveys Viewed multiple webpages Community
these with the group.
V
iewed multiple webpages Submitted an idea
Tradeshow in one week Submitted multiple ideas
Attended Shared via social sharing Read about best practices
Visited booth Browser used Read about ideas
Watched demo Visit Knowledge base
A
ttended multiple
Search Activity R
ead about product
tradeshows S
earches for company information
name Asked a question
Roadshow/Seminar Searches for product name Asked multiple questions
Registered S
earches other (scored on Answered a question
Attended term) A
nswered multiple
Attended multiple events Search engine used questions
Shared a best practice
Microsites S
hared multiple best
Viewed practices
Shared via social sharing


Part Three

Bad Behaviors (Implicit data)
While most activities give positive scores,
there are actions that do the opposite.
Activities that deserve a negative score
may include:

Email unsubscribe
Non-product web visit
Career page
Press room
Investor page
Leadership page
website activity for a long period
No
of time
Change in purchase timeframe
No progression in buying cycle
Added to “Do Not Call” list
Spam complaint
Negative social media comment
Declines contract/warranty renewal

Don’t ignore negative scoring attributes
when building your model. Use them
to your advantage in conjunction with
other scoring methods.


Part Three

Creating an Explicit Scoring Model Scoring Demographics – Our Example

Now that everyone on the team has idenfied Attribute Value Scores
the critical, imporant, and influencing factors Critical: (10-15 points)
that should affect your lead score, you must
create the lead score itself. First, compare Title Director or VP +12
the suggestions by each of the team Industry Healthcare, Financial, or High Tech Industry +10
members. Does everyone agree? Differences
should be discussed so that the best scoring Purchase Authority Decision Maker +15
model can be created. You will want to make Company Revenue Greater than 500 Million +10
a list of the agreed factors, and assign a score
Product Using competitive solution +15
to each.
Timeline Identified, less than 3 months +12

Important: (5-9 points)

Location US +8

Company Revenue 100 Million to 499 Million +8

Title Manager +7

Timeline Identified, more than 3 months, less than 8 months +5

Influencing: (1-4 points)

Location English Speaking, Non US +4

Timeline Identified, more than 8 months +3

Title Analyst, Coordinator, or Specialist +4

Company Revenue Less than 100 million +1

Negative:

Title Student -15

Title Consultant -5

Industry Services -6
Industry ecommerce -10

Location Non English Speaking Country -10


Part Three

Your Turn Scoring Demographics – Your Turn

Insert the demographic attributes Attribute Value Scores
important to your organization in the space Critical: (10-15 points)
to the right. Mark the appropriate score next
to the attribute.


Part Three

Creating an Implicit Scoring Model Scoring Behaviors – Our Example

Here is our sample for scoring on behaviors. Behavior Scores
You will notice we identified specific active Critical: (10-15 points)
buying behaviors as critical, and more latent
behaviors, like visiting a general web page, Visits pricing pages +10
as influencing. Downloads Marketo reviews +12

Timeline 3 months +15

Watches demos +5 overview demo

+10 detailed demo


Downloads buyers guides +8

Downloads data sheets +8

Searches for “Marketo” +8

Heavy web activity +5


Watches any webinar +4

Downloads any white paper +2

Watches any video +2

Visits any web page +1

Bad Behavior: (negative points)

Email unsubscribe -10

No website activity for one month -5

Added to “Do Not Call” list -5

Negative social media comment -4
Visits career page -2

Visits investor page -2


Part Three

Your Turn Scoring Behaviors – Our Example

Insert the scoring behaviors for your Behavior Scores
organization in the space below. Mark Critical: (10-15 points)
the appropriate score next to the attribute.



Bad Behavior: (negative points)


Part Three

Weighting Behavior vs. Demographics in You will want to review your scores to make Identifying Sales-ready Leads
your Scoring Model sure that those you would want to send to
While you will list the demographic and sales actually meet the minimum score to be Most concur it’s important for sales and marketing to agree on
behavioral scores separately, you will add sales-qualified. This will often occur if basic which leads should be passed from marketing to sales and which
should stay in the nurturing queue. To make sure the two teams
them together in your scoring model to demographics are close to target and the are in agreement it often helps to create a chart, like the one below.
make your total lead score. Review the lead has participated in one or two critical In the example you can see how we use demographic and behavior
scores to make sure that for a typical behaviors. This is very important because if scores to decide which leads will be sent to sales.
sales-ready lead the demographic score you send too many leads to sales they may
makes up no more than half of the total use their time inefficiently, and if you send too Which leads should go to sales?
score. This is important, as a lead that does few leads the reps will not be able to sustain Behavior Score
not have any behavior, active or latent, their pipeline. Refine the scoring until the
50• 24-50 0-25 0
may not be ready for sales interaction. appropriate leads are being sent to sales.
1 2 3 4
Identifying Sales-ready Leads What happens if a lead doesn’t reach the
Demographic Score 50+ A
Now that you’ve created a lead scoring threshold? Put them into a nurturing track
model, you will need to determine the until they show sales-readiness with 24-50 B

threshold – the point where you hand over implicit behavior. 0-25 C
a prospect to sales. How is this threshold
0 D
established? Start by looking at past
opportunities. At what point does your
typical lead appear sales-ready?
Do you only want to pass ‘A’ leads over
to your reps?


Part Three

Pre-deployment optimization Post-deployment optimization Allowing sales to control the score
You need to test your scoring system on As soon as you start seeing results When a sales rep disagrees with a lead score,
existing pipeline leads and opportunities you should be revising your scoring and believes it is not sales-ready, it may cause
before you launch it. Here’s how to set and associated processes. You must optimize the lead to be ignored, or placed into a static
up your own test bed: your lead scoring for the changing market stage. To prevent this you should give your
dynamics, new products, etc. Holding regular sales reps the opportunity to alter the score,
• ake a random sample of records in
T meetings with marketing and sales to review allowing them to put the lead in the proper
the company’s CRM system (open and update the most accurate scores stage. If too many leads are coming back
opportunities, closed lost, etc.). is a prerequisite. to marketing, you know it’s time to update
• xamine each contact’s demographic
E the scores.
characteristics and activity records. • eview scores of won and lost
R
• ssign each record a score based on
A opportunities. Did your top prospects have When you give your sales reps the
the new lead scoring criteria. the top scores? opportunity to recycle leads and alter scores,
• xamine the percentage of your sample
E • ook closely at high scoring leads that don’t
L then you can monitor and tweak scoring
that would qualify as a sales lead. turn into opportunities. What can you do to weights. If too many leads are coming back to
improve scoring to prevent the wrong leads marketing, then changing the score threshold,
If your ideal prospect is a marketing director coming through with a top priority score or score values, becomes an option.
at a Fortune 500 company who attended a from marketing?
product-specific webinar, then a combination • ook at demographic segment scores for
L
of those attributes should equal, or exceed, region, title, and company to see if scores
the threshold-point barrier to qualify them are improperly adjusted.
as sales-ready. • ook at online behaviors to ensure
L
actions taken by your best leads are
properly scored.

Regular conversation allows marketing
and sales to analyze and adapt the lead
scoring system based on what they’ve
learned and helps develop a shared idea
of what needs to be done for improvement.
For more on this see “The Feedback Loop”
in the next section.


Part Four

Advanced Scoring Strategies


Part Four

Product Scoring How Marketo does Product
Scoring
Until now, we have looked at how to measure General behavioral scoring measures interest Marketo’s Revenue Performance
a lead’s general interest in your company. But in your company, but product scores allow Management suite consists
what if we want to score leads for multiple, you to measure interest in what you’re of three core products: Marketo
distinct products? actually selling. Lead Management, Marketo
Sales Insight and Revenue
Company X sells phones and phone headsets Product scoring has the potential to become Cycle Analytics. By having a
to the North American market. Let’s assume very complex. We don’t have to necessarily separate score for each product,
Marketo can adjust the message
they sell only one kind of headset and one measure interest, e.g., for each stock keeping the customer or prospect
kind of phone, and there is one customer unit (SKU) separately. But most sophisticated is receiving.
profile for both products. marketing automation systems will allow you
to do this and assess relative interest in a
With two lead scores – one for each product specific product, product line, or SKU through
– Company X’s demand generation team product scoring.
gathers deeper insight: a sales manager can,
for example, assign leads to a specific sales rep
who can follow up – with relative certainty –
that there is purchase intent for the product.


Part Four

Account Scoring Score Degradation
B2B buying decisions are becoming more Setting boundaries for your prospects’ Case Study
complex. Procurement processes are scores helps manage your marketing pipeline
designed to minimize the risk of big purchase inventory. For example, you may want QlikTech – Global Scoring
decisions. The number of people involved to score early awareness behavior from
in each committee depends on the size of 0 – 30; introduce a new range of 30-70 QlikTech – provider of a powerful, accessible
the buying organization as well as the cost as the prospect company starts to explore business intelligence solution enables
and importance of the purchase. Amongst and commit to change; and a 70-100 range organizations to make better and faster
tech companies, for example, purchases as they move to conversion. You need to decisions – operates around the globe,
valued at $100,000 - $1M, are typically made offset the natural growth in points that can with a focus in 13 key regions. To roll out
up of four to eight people (according to accumulate from non-active buying behavior. an effective lead scoring program globally,
MarketingSherpa and TechWeb’s Business QlikTech started with a simple global
Technology Buyer Survey, 2009). The buying Score degradation, often called score corporate scoring model first and then
unit gets bigger as the price goes up. decay or negative scoring, reduces enabled each region to modify local scoring
over-inflated scores or brings down scores to reflect their specific requirements,
Expect every individual on a buying as buyer intent changes (e.g. moving out programs and language.
committee to score points as normal, though of active buying mode).
in some scenarios, no individual will pass the Scoring at QlikTech includes rules at the global
sales-ready threshold, but the sum of their You can introduce a decay mechanism level, at the regional level and at the product
behavior tells a very different story. A flurry with a reoccurring score reduction, level to track downloads. These rules all
of activity from one company is a solid either as a simple subtraction, or a contribute to a lead’s score depending
buying sign. percentage reduction. on their actions.

An account score groups the individuals Another boundary-setting tactic is a score For QlikTech, scoring is an iterative process
involved in a buying process and provides cap. In this scenario, a lead score cannot grow of improvement between Sales and Marketing
a group view of readiness to buy. You can use above a certain point unless certain criteria as well as between Corporate and Regional
a sum, an average or even a weighted average are met (e.g downloaded a certain asset, Managers. Ongoing reviews help ensure
of individual scores, until the group reaches or interacted with a sales rep). scores are continually adjusted and refined so
sales-ready status. Sales is getting the right quantity and quality
Demographic scores can change with new of qualified leads.
Effective account scoring must determine information to qualify or disqualify the lead.
which individuals belong in the same Such scores usually rely on explicit data,
account. You can group by accounts in your such as job title, but can be set back by new
CRM system, or use sophisticated marketing behavioral data. If a lead makes repeated visits
automation systems, to infer connections to your careers page, they are indicating a
based on IP addresses and company names. change of profile that needs a lower score.


Part Four

The Feedback Loop The Feedback Loop - How Marketo Does It

Lead scoring methodologies, especially when
new, are an imperfect science. You meet with
sales, build common definitions, and assign
scores based on your understanding of the
buying process.

It is the feedback loop that turns guesswork
into accurate predictions of sales-readiness.
Don’t undervalue simple, ad-hoc discussions
with the sales reps that receive the first
qualified leads. Their feedback allows
you to measure insight against the scores
and interesting CRM information. For
example, at Marketo, a discussion with the
telequalification team led to score reductions
for careers page visitors to screen out job
applicants.

A structured check-up process is another way
to assess your lead scoring campaign, examine
your complete lead database and segments as
well as individual leads.


Part Four

Lead Scoring Check-up Process
Schedule check-up processes • uild a list of disqualified sales leads
B How Marketo Does It
at least quarterly. and note their favored assets for meaningful
differences with the opportunities list. Marketo’s demand gen team
• Take stock of your database scores.
• nderstand relative importance of implicit
U reviews its own lead scoring
rules on a regular basis.
How many leads have scores between vs. explicit indicators. Marketers often In addition to talking with sales,
0 – 10, 10 – 20, 90 – 100, etc. Where do overestimate the importance of latent we evaluate our lead scoring
the majority of your leads lie? Do outliers behaviors (e.g. downloading a new campaigns against their specific
with very large scores indicate scoring white paper). ability to predict the creation
methodology errors? Is a scoring decay • sing your customer list, focusing on the
U of a prospect opportunity.
mechanism in place? latest wins of your target market, evaluate The metric, Campaign Member
• Do you have new pieces of collateral and
their demographic scores against the to Opportunity Conversion
are they being scored properly? Remember qualification threshold. If they fall below it Ratio, is key in deciding which
online behaviors are truly
that significant changes, such as a website then you need to adjust both your positive indicative of active buying
redesign, change your marketing collateral and negative scoring campaigns. behavior, and which behaviors
ecosystem – meaning your scoring may need • ssess who in the buying organization
A we scored more heavily after
to be reviewed. was pivotal to the closed deal. A common one of our scoring reviews.
• Build a list of new opportunities created
mistake, outlined by SiriusDecisions in their
since the last check-up. Which online paper, When Good Lead Scoring Models
behaviors were most correlated with Go Bad, is to overestimate the C-suite’s
moving to the opportunity stage? Which influence over buying decisions. Example: New Opportunities This Quarter –
content assets performed best? A marketing • ake changes and capture adjustments
M Interaction with our Online Assets
automation system that integrates in the scoring campaigns. Sophisticated
seamlessly with your CRM can deliver this marketing automation platforms – through Asset % of Opportunities
information for you (see next page). catch-up campaigns – make it possible Pricing Details Page 95
• Evaluate accuracy of BANT information
for you to retroactively score leads with
to overcome the inherent weakness new methodology and create a potentially Contact Us Page 91
of self-reported information. Use data massive shift in lead position. Case Study + Contact Us Page 89
from qualified sales leads and actual
Pricing Page 87
sales to compare actual vs. self-reported
BANT figures. State of the Industry - Analyst Report 77

Case Study 33

Webinar 15

Careers Page 12


Part Four

Advanced Scoring - Additional Considerations
Remember that buying behavior will never SiriusDecisions Demand Spectrum
be 100% predictable. Behavior will depend
on factors of size, industry, etc. Public Demand Type Key Characteristics Key Requirements
companies, enterprises, and mid-market,
Disruptive product/services
all have different buying approaches.
A well-segmented database provides more New Concept No budgetary line item Market Leadership
stable, predictive models. Requires issue creation

In an established market, buyer familiarity, Retools existing process
budgets and buying processes are more likely New Paradigm Solves current problem better Process/Solution Change
to be defined, making scoring easier.
Replaces current line item
The SiriusDecisions Demand Spectrum to the Necessary product/service
right sheds some light on how demand type Established Market Highly contested market Competitive Positioning
impacts meaningful BANT collection: do not
add BANT variables to scoring unless you Trying to steal market share
know it’s relevant.

SiriusDecisions Brief, What’s the Score


Part Five

Lead Lifecycle Management


Part Five

Lead Lifecycle Management Case Study
As you begin to develop and improve your lead scoring, it’s MarketSource – Revenue Cycle
important to consider your overall revenue cycle. Your revenue cycle, Model and Sales/Marketing
traditionally called a “funnel”, starts with your demand generation Alignment
programs, and ends with a closed deal and new customer. The MarketSource, a leading provider of sales
number of stages between these points depends on your internal and marketing services, uses a revenue
marketing and sales processes. cycle model to help marketing and sales
to work together for execution and process
improvements. The model maps lead stages,
Revenue Cycle Management velocity and blockages and the reporting
Considering your new lead scoring system’s helps define lead scores for movement
place in your revenue cycle will help you see between stages.
the big picture and clearly show you if your
process needs to be more robust to cover No Lead Left Behind John Ledoux, Revenue Engineer for
additional stages of your revenue cycle, The example above ignores an important rule The Pedowitz Group, who manages the
beyond its main “when to pass a new lead of revenue cycle management: no lead left lead to revenue process says: “The Revenue
to sales” purpose. behind. Leads should never reach a dead end Cycle Model provides a microscope into my
in your revenue cycle. Below is a different marketing. If we see that leads are getting
For example, it’s easy enough to draw example that turns the philosophy into action. stuck at the Marketing Qualified Lead stage,
a simple representation of your current then we need to review our nurturing
revenue cycle. Here, anonymous visitors In the new model, a new stage titled “Names”, programs to ensure we are communicating
immediately become leads, then holds incoming prospects as they enter your effectively to move prospects to the next
opportunities, and ultimately customers. revenue cycle. As you may only wish to push stage. Likewise, if we are seeing too many
some of them straight to sales, but for the disqualified leads at the Sales Accepted
Unfortunately this revenue cycle, although rest you can use tactics like email nurturing Lead stage, we are able to adjust our scoring
simple, leaves a lot to be desired. It passes to further engage with them and use your and our process accordingly.”
every new unqualified name to sales. So what lead scoring system to decide when they
happens to the leads that do not become become sales-ready.
opportunities? How many opportunities are
lost if they simply drop out of your process?
These leads should stay alive, as they could
resurface one day with the budget and
executive support they originally lacked.


Part Five

Sales Accepted Leads
When a salesperson receives a lead they
must decide whether to promote the lead
to opportunity or recycle it back to marketing.
The question is simple but crucial: is the
prospect ready to enter a buying cycle?
If they are not ready for sales, the lead will
be pushed into the “Recycled” stage.

Recycled Leads
Recycled doesn’t mean the lead has reached
the end of the road though, instead it The best way to ensure speedy sales follow-up Following up on SLAs
represents another holding stage, much like is an up-front consensus between sales and What happens if your agreed SLAs are not
“Names”. As people enter Recycled, their lead marketing on a reasonable Service Level met? You need a plan to secure the successful
score can be pushed back down, either to Agreement (SLA). An SLA establishes the adoption of your new process. One common
zero, or by a relative amount determined by time limit for task completion and will be tactic is to raise the visibility of leads that
how high their score reached before recycling. different for every company. Companies with miss their SLAs. Use missed SLA alert emails
Now your lead scoring rules kick in again. large call centers may have an SLA measured to notify reps and sales managers of a hot
If a recycled lead gathers a high enough in minutes, but others may find two weeks individual lead now cooling off. It is a great
score they will be moved backed to sales is perfectly reasonable. It may take a little method for updating salespeople who travel
for qualification once again. negotiation, but marketing’s incentives or don’t log into the CRM frequently.
should align with the sales managers:
Now you can see the many roles of lead prompt follow-up translates into more deals Prevention is better than a cure. Send a note
scoring throughout your revenue cycle. in the pipeline. to the lead owner when the SLA is in danger
of being missed. If the SLA is missed, a further
Setting Lead Follow-up SLAs Two or more SLAs for each lead is not alert email can be sent to the rep and their
Now that you have your revenue cycle uncommon: the first SLA focuses on manager. Many companies will issue a third
mapped out, and have a good idea how “touching” the lead, through phone, email communication to the senior directors and
to implement your scoring rules, it’s time or face-to-face, and the second SLA looks executives if the SLA is missed again.
to consider how you can track sales at when a lead should either become a
as they follow up with newly scored legitimate or recycled opportunity. If your
and prioritized leads. qualification process has several steps, you
may wish to set SLAs for each phase, to ensure
accurate flow.


The Definitive Guide to Lead Scoring

The Definitive Guide to Lead Scoring

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The Definitive Guide to Lead Scoring