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With a plethora of marketing automation tools available online, B2B marketing automation has developed into a major phenomenon. Lead scoring is essential for  streamlining the marketing process, making campaigns more effective and helping to prioritize customers with greater potential for sales conversions. In lead scoring each customer is given a score based on various information such as the company profile, the size and location of the company, their purchasing patterns, the products or services they are interested in, the kinds of blogs and forums they participate in, the white papers they download, the newsletters they subscribe to, their frequency on the sites, etc.

All this information is passed on to the sales teams where the customers are ranked as potential buyers according to the scores. This gives the sales team a better idea of which customers to pursue and which to ignore thus making the sales programs more effective and successful. The relationship between marketing and sales is interdependent as the marketing team helps the sales team to categorize the hot leads, and the sales team then takes them forward until the sales are closed. Here are some relevant B2B lead scoring tips:

1. Lead scoring has the capability to forecast future trends and to provide a funneled list of prospective leads. However, to ensure success the sales and marketing teams have to make a list of the benefits as well as the challenges, and both teams have to devote some time to this activity to set the expectations.
2. When planning the lead scoring strategy, it helps to have the sales management team on board as they are aware of lead scoring and can share invaluable input. Also it is vital to ensure that the sales representatives are properly trained regarding this strategy
3. Consulting with and involving sales management in setting the criteria for the scores is advantageous, and the sales representatives can provide their feedback too.
4. Once the lead scoring step is complete, the information is passed on to the sales team for follow-up. Sufficient time should be provided to the sales teams for this follow-up and to ensure that no leads are overlooked. A few reminders can be sent to the responsible sales members. If the sales representative is unable to follow up with any lead they should return it to the marketing team.
5. If the sales team is incapable of making a sale due to the prospective customer’s reluctance to buy immediately, the leads should be sent back to the marketing team for nurturing. The reasons and the intentions of the customer should be passed on so that a nurturing campaign can be pursued accordingly in the future.
6. Providing the sales team accessibility to the customer database wholly helps them to find the hot and worthy leads.
7. There should be a system present to integrate the sales team’s feedback with the prospective lead’s recent activity. This helps to keep track of the lead’s movements.

Marketing automation tools equipped with automated lead scoring features are a bonus for B2B marketing purposes which help in prioritizing prospective leads, resulting in guaranteed sales results.

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