One of the often-overlooked functions of a CRM is lead scoring. We tend to put a lot of emphasis on workflows, sales automation and building process that make life easy for the sales team. But lead scoring often gets forgotten, and there are plenty of reasons why it shouldn’t be.
Lead scoring is the art of assigning scores to every lead you generate. It’s a way of filtering out junk leads and focusing your attention on the ones most likely to result in sales. Best of all, your CRM marketing tools can do it all for you.
Firstly, how do you generate leads?
Before we jump too far ahead, let’s think about the different ways you generate leads. Often, you’re asking people to sign up for something. Maybe join an email list, or provide their details for a free download. Maybe you use social media to advertise special deals, directing customers back to your website where they fill out a web form. There are plenty of ways to generate leads, and different methods work depending on your business and target audience.
How does lead scoring work in CRM marketing?
Lead scoring is the processing of assigning points to each lead based on certain actions they take. This may include things like opening an email, signing up for a newsletter, visiting certain parts of your website and much more. The beauty is, there are no strict rules about how you assign those points. It’s different for every business, and you can play around with it until you land on a formula that works.
For example, if you believe signing up for a free e-book is the best indicator that a customer is ready to buy, allocate higher points for this action. If opening a marketing email is a good sign, but not as important as visiting your ‘Pricing’ page, you can assign fewer points. It takes some trial and error, but it’s worth it in the long-run.
Automated lead scoring
All of that sounds great, but you’re probably wondering how much effort is needed to keep on top of all this scoring. Well, the answer is very little if you have a good CRM marketing tool in place. Remember, your CRM manages all aspects of customer relationships, so it can track exactly what your leads do. All you need to do is set the triggers.
You can even program your CRM to automatically notify account managers or sales reps when a customer moves through the lead scoring model. For example, if they were a low probability lead, but then return and take a more promising action, they may become a medium prospect and your sales team can take action.
Focus your CRM marketing efforts for better results
Ultimately, lead scoring is a great way to categorise your leads and put more effort into those high-quality customers. You can also set your workflows to deliver the highest quality leads to your most experienced sales staff. CRM marketing is all about working smarter, not harder. Lead scoring and the subsequent workflows are perfect examples of this!
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