What is lead scoring and how do I prioritise my leads?
Lead scoring means assigning a numeric value to each prospect, reflecting how likely they are to buy. The practical purpose is simple: who calls whom, and first.
Short answer
- The score combines two things: how well the lead matches your ideal customer profile and how active they are.
- Profile criteria are static: industry, company size, county, the person’s role.
- Behavioural criteria are dynamic: opened the quote, visited the pricing page, replied to an email.
- Leads above a set threshold go straight to a rep; the rest stay for a scheduled follow-up.
- Recalibrate the scoring quarterly, comparing scores against deals actually won.
A ready-to-use scoring model
Points per criterion (B2B example)
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Industry on the target list | +20 |
| Company with over 10 employees | +15 |
| The person is a decision maker | +20 |
| Visited the pricing page | +15 |
| Replied to an email | +25 |
| Generic email address (info@) | −10 |
| No activity for 30 days | −20 |
How to put scoring into operation
- Analyse the last 50 won deals and note what they had in common.
- Turn those traits into scored criteria — at most 6–8 of them.
- Set the threshold above which a lead is auto-assigned to a rep.
- Add score decay for inactivity, otherwise the "hot leads" list fills up with dead contacts.
- After a quarter, compare conversion rate by score band and adjust the points.
Common mistakes
- Scoring behaviour only, without profile. You will prioritise curious browsers, not buyers.
- Building 25 criteria. Nobody can explain why a lead has 63 points any more.
- Never subtracting points, so the score grows forever and loses meaning.
- Never recalibrating. A model built two years ago describes a market that has moved.
How 4softcrm helps
- Rule-based lead scoring on leads and deals: you define the criteria and the points, with no AI and no black box.
- Rule-based automations that create follow-up activities, so new leads are not left unanswered.
- Rules can be edited at any time, so you recalibrate the points after comparing scores with won deals.