The lead scoring rules automatically assign values to contacts based on predefined criteria. However, sales reps will have personal interactions with prospects throughout the sales process that may merit a change in lead score.
For Example: A sales rep may contact a "five star" lead and find out they have had to shift focus due to an urgent project with an impending deadline. The prospect is still interested in your product, however they've had to postpone their decision until this project is completed approximately 3 months from now. This prospect may still be a qualified lead, but the sales rep no longer wants that lead at the top of their list.
Sales reps can manually adjust a lead score by manually applying or removing tags from a contact record. Each score criteria can add or subtract up to 10 points. To create a process to manually adjust scores, you will create 20 tags and create a score criteria that corresponds with each tag.
- Create the following 20 tags and add them to a "Score" tag category. Each tag can be applied to a contact record once.
+1 Lead Point
+2 Lead Points
+3 Lead Points
+4 Lead Points
+5 Lead Points
+6 Lead Points
+7 Lead Points
+8 Lead Points
+9 Lead Points
+10 Lead Points
-1 Lead Point
-2 Lead Points
-3 Lead Points
-4 Lead Points
-5 Lead Points
-6 Lead Points
-7 Lead Points
-8 Lead Points
-9 Lead Points
-10 Lead Points
- Create a criteria that corresponds with each of the tags. The criteria will add or subtract points from the lead score each time a sales rep manually applies or removes a tag from a contact record.
For Example: After speaking with the prospect above, the sales rep manually applies a tag to their contact record. The rep decides to deduct 10 points from the lead score because 3 months is a fairly lengthy delay, so he applies the "-10 lead points" tag to the contact record. The contact record is updated and moves down the call list based on the decrease in lead score. If the sales rep does not feel like the prospect has been re-prioritized appropriately, then the rep can apply another tag to decrease the lead score even more.
Situations are always changing. In this case, the prospect calls the rep two weeks later and indicates their time frame has adjusted again. They are going to be ready to purchase in the next 4 to 6 weeks instead of waiting 3 months. The sales rep can manually adjust the lead score again by either applying a tag that adds points to the lead score OR by removing a tag that subtracted points. For example, a lead score will be increased by 20 total points if a sales rep adds the +10 lead points tag AND removes the -10 lead points tag at the same time. - Train your sales reps. Make sure sales reps understand how lead scoring works and how to manually adjust the score based on their discernment and personal interactions with a prospect.
- Get feedback from sales reps. If sales reps are manually adjusting scores frequently, then you may need to evaluate the lead scoring rules. If a large number of leads are being scored too high, then you may need to decrease the number of points associated with less important activity or increase the ideal lead score.
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