Leads not weeds: focusing on the prospects with potential

What lead scoring is, why it’s important, and how to create your own system for prioritising leads.

Just as a skilled gardener knows which plants grow best, a savvy sales rep understands the importance of focusing on the leads most likely to be fruitful. This where lead scoring comes in. But what is lead scoring? And how can it help you cultivate better relationships with your customers?

In this blog, we’ll explore the basics of lead scoring and how it can help your business bloom.

What is lead scoring?

Lead scoring is the process of creating your own value system to determine how much attention to give each potential customer. And although every customer is valuable, this is about determining who is most likely to convert.

Imagine your business as a beautiful garden, brimming with a variety of plants and flowers. In this garden, your prospects are the new seeds waiting to be nurtured.

Lead scoring acts as your gardener’s tool, helping you identify and prioritise the most promising seeds for optimal growth. And by assigning values to leads based on their potential, you can effectively allocate your resources and focus on those that are most likely to bloom into loyal customers.

So grab your gardening gloves and join us on this journey of understanding how to cultivate and harvest the most fruitful leads through the art of lead scoring.

How to sort the leads from the weeds

Setting up your own lead scoring system can take time initially, but it makes your sales process much more efficient, saving time and effort in the long run. By applying the principles of cultivation, nurturing, and selecting the right seeds, you can unlock the potential of lead scoring.

The sooner you can get started with lead scoring, the sooner you can reap the benefits. Here’s how to get started.

Review your past harvests

Gardeners take one look at the flowers in their garden and know which plants grow best. Likewise, you can dig into the information you have on your existing customers to get an idea of the types of customers that are drawn to your business.

By analysing factors such as:

demographics,
engagement levels,
and past purchasing behaviour

you can identify a blueprint for leads that are most likely to sprout into loyal customers.

This can also help you identify the leads that are unlikely to convert. But we’ll get into that more later.

Create your own yardstick

What matters most to a gardener? How tall a plant grows? Which plants look most beautiful in your garden? For a business, lead scoring can identify the leads that are most likely to sprout into loyal customers that hold the greatest value for your business.

By assigning scores based on criteria such as potential revenue, industry relevance, or specific product interests, you can direct your sales team to focus on leads that align with your business objectives. This approach allows you to optimise your resources and achieve maximum return on investment.

How you create your lead scoring model will be up to you. You’ll need to develop a scoring formula that combines the weighted variables into an overall lead score. The formula can be as simple as a weighted sum or a more complex calculation involving multiplication, exponentiation, or other mathematical operations. Experiment with different formulas and adjust them based on feedback and performance evaluation.

However you decide to create your scoring formula, they’ll always be common factors to consider when assessing your leads:

The lead source
Engagement level
Their budget
Decision-making authority
The alignment of their needs with your offerings

Regularly review and refine your scoring model to ensure it remains accurate and aligned with your ever-evolving business goals.

Prune unqualified leads

Just as a gardener removes unhealthy or unwanted plants to maintain the vitality of their garden, your sales team should prune unqualified leads. Lead scoring empowers you to identify those leads that are unlikely to convert or bring substantial value to your business.

To spot unqualified leads, start by defining your ideal customer profile and setting qualification criteria. Ask qualifying questions to gather relevant information, analyse demographic and firmographic data, evaluate engagement and behaviour, review lead sources, assess budget and purchasing power, and monitor the effectiveness of lead nurturing efforts.

By weeding out these unqualified leads, your team can focus their efforts on the prospects with the highest potential for success, resulting in greater productivity and a more efficient sales process.

Nurture with personalisation

Stick a dahlia in a sunny spot and it’ll bloom year after year, but a fuchsia in the same space will wither away. To get the most out of your lead scoring, you need to nurture your leads with personalised experiences.

Utilise the insights gathered through lead scoring to personalise your interactions with potential customers. Craft targeted messages, provide relevant content, and deliver personalised recommendations. By addressing their specific needs and pain points, you can foster trust, build stronger relationships, and increase the likelihood of conversion.

Here at Sopro, we’re obsessed with personalisation, as we believe it brings about the best relationship with your customers. We utilise personalisation in all our messaging and interactions with our clients – and we swear by it.

And once you’ve nurtured these leads, you’ll have a garden of healthy leads ready to harvest.

Keep your leads blooming

By embracing lead scoring best practices, you can create a thriving garden of sales opportunities for your team. By identifying the leads most likely to convert and bring value to your business, you can optimise your sales efforts, save time and resources, and maximise your overall success.

Just as a diligent gardener tends to their plants with care, you can nurture your leads with precision, resulting in a bountiful harvest of loyal customers and sustained business growth.