Lead Generation For Dummies
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Lead scores are based on numerical values placed on factors such as active and latent buying behavior. When you're scoring a sales lead, you must understand the difference between the two buying behaviors:

  • Active behavior involves sales readiness and purchase intent.

  • Latent behavior describes a behavior that shows less engagement and sales readiness.

To score a lead, define the buying behavior and score appropriately. For instance, just because someone downloaded a free mini-version of an author's e-book doesn't mean that your sales team should pick up the phone and call her right away. Effective lead scoring will guide you to your next move.

Here's a look at sample lead scoring ranges:

Critical: 10 to 15 points
Important: 5 to 9 points
Influencing: 1 to 4 points
Negative: -1 to -15 points

And here's how you can apply those scores to buying behaviors:

Active and Latent Buying Behaviors
Behavior Latent Score Active Score
Downloads early stage content +3
Visits a web page or a blog +1
Watches a thought leadership webinar +5
Visits a pricing page +10
Watches a detailed demo +10
Downloads late-stage content +12
Searches for branded keyword term +8

The key here is that the follow-up for active versus latent leads is very different. For an active score, your sales reps should follow up immediately. For a latent score, trigger a personalized message instead.

You can also score leads negatively based on actions. For instance, a student might download a ton of early-, mid-, and late-stage content for a research paper. If that person fills out your form and indicates she is a student, you can give a negative score, say -15. They're most likely doing research and not actually interested in a purchase. The same is true for a person who visits your website's career page.

About This Article

This article is from the book:

About the book author:

Dayna Rothman is the senior content marketing manager at Marketo, a leader in the marketing automation space. Dayna leads content creation and strategy at Marketo and is the managing editor for the Marketo blog, which receives more than 400,000 unique visitors per year. Dayna has also been featured as one of the top 25 content marketers to watch according to Kapost, and one of the top 50 content marketing influencers according to Onalytica.

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