By , emfluence Marketing Platform Channel Sales Manager
Lead Scoring. Most of us have heard about its importance, for marketers and salespeople alike. Which potential buyers have taken interest and are window shopping, either glancing as they walk by, or peering in with both hands wrapped around their eyes for focus. Not through actual windows of course, but digitally – emails, web pages, landing pages, surveys – and with their activity – views, clicks, visits, conversions.
Marketing automation software can score these leads – and tell sales who is ready to be contacted. This should be done ideally through collaboration between marketing and sales departments, so that an agreement is made as to how those scores are measured – and when sales should be notified through their CRM to make contact.
So that’s it then, right? Not necessarily! Timing is everything, we all agree on that. So the timing of when a certain leads hit a certain scoring threshold and should be contacted is the big idea here – the point at which they may be most likely to convert to an actual sale. But is this simplest of models where it should stop?
Let’s talk more about timing. Marketing can see interest gain then wane from a somewhat interested buyer. More of a long-term play at times, if a buyer only nibbles, never taking that bait along with bobber under the water. But important to track and observe nonetheless. Salespeople, on the other hand, need to know when that buyer is hot, when that bobber is submerged.
So what if two (or more) distinct lead scoring timelines could be created? The first for marketing, with a look back at activity the past say - 12 months. Any activity over that period would add to the lead score, and if at any time the preset threshold for contacting sales was hit, sales would be contacted via CRM. Otherwise marketing keeps an eye on and continues nurturing.
The second scoring timeline would be for sales, with a shorter look back at activity, the past say – 60 days. Same plan for contacting sales, when that threshold is hit. Each contact scoring timeline could be customized for its purpose, based on possible and desired activity.
This could be extended further to account management or operations – a lead scoring timeline for existing clients, with a lookback period in years, not months or days. Are clients staying engaged with what marketing is continuing to send to educate? Could be beneficial for several reasons – tracking specific user engagement, noticing changes in roles or turnover, even info for contract renewal and renegotiation.
Lead scoring is powerful and can result in more sales. Multiple lead scoring timelines can give different departments even more of what they each need, for even greater results.
Want to learn more about multiple lead scoring models in the emfluence Marketing Platform? , or about how our marketing automation software works with Dynamics.
