Rodok
Abderrazzak AbouyaalaLead scoring is a way of giving each lead a number, or a label such as hot, warm or cold, so a sales team knows who to contact first. The score combines how well the lead fits your ideal customer (fit) and how much they have done or shown that suggests they are ready to buy (intent).
Why lead scoring matters
A sales team rarely has time to contact every lead. Without a score, reps pick by gut feeling, by who replied last, or by whoever is first in the list. A score gives the team one shared way to decide what to do next, and it lets marketing and sales agree on when a lead is "ready" for a person to reach out.
The two parts of a score
- Fit. Does this person and company look like your best customers? Typical inputs are job title, seniority, company size, industry and country.
- Intent. Is there evidence they are looking or about to buy? Typical inputs are visiting your pricing page, replying to an email, starting a trial, or an outside event such as a new role or a hiring push. These outside events are buying signals.
Scoring on fit alone finds the right companies at the wrong moment. Scoring on intent alone finds busy people who are a poor match. The strongest models use both.
A simple points model
You can start with a spreadsheet. The numbers below are illustrative; use your own closed deals to set them.
| Input | Points |
|---|---|
| Title is a VP or director in the function you sell to | +20 |
| Company has 20 to 500 employees | +15 |
| Industry matches your best customers | +10 |
| Started a new role in the last 90 days | +20 |
| Replied to an email | +25 |
| Visited the pricing page | +15 |
| Free email address (such as Gmail) | -10 |
A lead with 60 points or more goes to a rep today. A lead between 30 and 59 goes into a sequence. Below 30 waits. Review the cut-offs every quarter against which leads actually became customers.
Common mistakes
- Never checking the model against results. If your hot leads close no more often than your cold ones, the points are wrong.
- Scores that only go up. Intent fades. Take points off after 30 to 60 days of silence.
- Too many inputs. Six or seven inputs you trust beat thirty you don't.
Lead scoring in Rodok
Rodok's trackers find people who match a signal you describe, such as new VPs of Sales at B2B software companies in the US. AI then judges each one for fit and marks it hot or warm with a short write-up of why, so you see the reason next to the score. You can read more about qualifying leads.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good lead score?
There is no universal number. A good score is one where the leads above your cut-off close at a clearly higher rate than the leads below it. Check this against your own closed deals.
What is the difference between lead scoring and lead qualification?
Scoring is a quick number or label, often automatic. Qualification is the judgment a person makes, usually after a conversation, about whether a lead has a need, budget, authority and timing. Scoring decides who to talk to first; qualification decides whether to keep going.
Can small teams use lead scoring?
Yes. A team of three can use five rules in a spreadsheet or a CRM field. The point is to agree on who gets contacted first, not to build a model.
