Lead generation is one of the top priorities for companies. Usually the leads flow from multiple channels into a CRM solution. Not all of them generate revenue however and hence the shape of sales funnel. It is usual to see people domain specific selling leads. The question on credibility and value of these lists become a matter worth investigating. The question is how you can assign a score to a lead so that your sales team can focus on the ones which are most likely to convert.
Most of the inbound lead generation tools have this feature. However, you can do a few quick checks manually to be able to come to a score. The approach and parameters are highlighted below.
Factors which affect the Score of an inbound lead
Following are the steps which can help you to arrive at a score. They are put sequentially so that it can help you better.
1. Social Media profiles
To be assured of the genuineness of the person inquiring, you can check whether the social profiles (Linked in, Twitter, Facebook exists). This would then mean that the first level check is passed. You must focus on linked in first as most of the B2B companies are there on this platform.
2. Email used
The lead generated would have an email ID associated with him. If this is a company or official ID then this adds to the score. Other personal email ids like gmail etc means lesser score on this dimension.
3. Designation / Authority of the person
This step cannot be done automatically and is linked to the first step. When you are selling goods or services, you may want to check whether the lead has proper authority to take decision. In most cases, you may have gatekeepers who will finally lead you to the decision maker. There is nothing wrong about this as long as you are aware of this fact.
For example, if you are in a business where price negotiation plays an important role, you may want to keep some margin till you reach the actual decision maker.
4. Time spent and Number of pages navigated on the website
Again this is something that you would need a tool for. Thus this serves as an add on to your website and relays the information about a new lead who is visiting your website. If the decision time is long and you need to nurture the lead, this could be vital to your business. Thus a lead who went cost last quarter, and just browsed few pages on your website could be termed as a warm lead. The more engaged a lead is, the more likely he is to buy your services.
Advantages of scoring
There are various advantages of lead scoring. However it may be noted that its more useful for companies which are either high volume sales or low volume high value leads. In either of the cases mentioned above the solution yields positive ROI. Some of the benefits are listed below.
- Higher conversion rate
- Increased revenue generation
- Informed follow-up knowing the past history of the lead.
Related Articles
Summary
It can thus be inferred that few manual checks can help you in putting a score to the lead. More advanced techniques are available in popular inbound marketing tools. In these website can be integrated with CRMs so that lead can be automatically captured and scored.