What’s the focus for many B2B marketing and sales teams? Leads.
Marketing must find them; sales must turn them into prospects, and eventually, customers. And lead scoring has been the go-to method for determining where sales teams should focus the most energy.
Lead scoring is the process for determining the quality and value of individual prospects, typically ranking them against a predetermined scale.
But lead scoring can also sap productivity by requiring manual data entry and errors borne of guesswork.
With companies looking for ways to maximize productivity, it’s worth revisiting:
- The amount of time spent on lead scoring
- Whether it provides useful insights, and
- Whether there’s a better way
(Spoiler alert: too much, only sometimes, and definitely.)
Lead Scoring is a Tall Order
How much does traditional lead scoring really tell you about your leads’ goals and intentions? Are they actually in the market for your solution — on a path to buy — or are you all wasting precious time chasing accounts that lack budget or are just kicking tires?
Lead scoring is a manual process, and therefore incredibly time-consuming. Scores are often based on:
- A contact’s company size and title
- A contact’s activity on your website (content downloads, page visits, etc.)
- A contact’s email activity (opens, clicks)
- A contact’s interactions with sales
Assuming these details indicate high interest, a sales or marketing rep must analyze, score and rescore the contact and their associated account with each activity.
Some of the scoring can be automated within the CRM, based on known contact activities. But even then, these scores are based on preconceived beliefs and values, as well as flat-out assumptions, with only anecdotal data to support them. It’s an educated best guess.
Anyone who’s ever worked an MQL knows that an ebook download or page view doesn’t necessarily mean a person is ready to buy from you. A lot of promising-looking leads that are based on those assumptions usually turn out to be junk.
Meanwhile, many of your potential future customers are completely invisible to traditional lead scoring methodologies. That’s because they’re spending a lot of time researching outside of your website and content — activity that could impact how you score a lead but you’re unable to track.
There’s a better way to qualify accounts today, and it allows you to focus your time on more valuable work, like crafting messaging that drives revenue.
AI Generates Stronger, Faster Lead Scores
Thanks to improvements in AI and predictive analytics, you no longer have to guess. You can use these innovations to save yourself time and energy.
Predictive intelligence technology uses artificial intelligence to analyze past deals and identify patterns of engagement that automatically predict which accounts are most likely to buy from you. AI can also interpret intent data across third-party sites and connect it to internal account data sources, recognizing common buying signals.
This intelligence not only pinpoints which accounts are ready to buy, but also identifies potential customers outside of your database.
Armed with this information, you can create impactful marketing content, deliver it to the right customers, and determine the best time to begin direct outreach.
Using a predictive intelligence tool, you can discover:
- Which accounts are ready to make a purchase
- Who are the most important personas within those accounts
- Which anonymous accounts are browsing your website
- When prospects are entering the buying phase of their journey
- How to upsell existing customers
- How to use your data to open opportunities and market more effectively
Uncover Your Best Leads Without the Hassle
Although lead scoring was at one time a best practice for prioritizing potential customers, there’s now a better way to do things. Predictive intelligence provides a full picture of your prospects and eliminates guesswork.
AI-powered lead scoring is just one of 6sense’s capabilities. We also provide revenue teams with insights into keywords being searched and other research being conducted by target accounts. This intel allows marketing teams to craft personalized messaging campaigns to influence likely buyers, and arms BDRs and account executives with talking points and conversation strategies for outreach.
To learn more, book a demo or visit our resource pages.
