Leads are the lifeblood of business. Leads generate sales, and great sales numbers do two things:
- they keep your business’s doors open during the day, and
- they let you sleep at night.
Ultimately, the more effectively you source and manage the leads that are coming into your funnel, will define how easy or impossible you make it to hit those great sales numbers. Lead scoring helps avoid the impossible and head toward Easy Street. Let’s talk about some techniques that will allow you to create a lead scoring program that makes it easier for you to grow your business, and how lead scoring can be the perfect solution to defining how you need to prioritize resources to maximize your success.
Data Driven Lead Scoring
Your CRM and marketing automation system have been gathering data on when you win and when you lose. You need to look closely at this data, and connect the dots to the attributes of a lead that that create big donations for your business (these will be your best leads and should be highly ranked and Priority One) and as you piece together the puzzle of lead characteristics that historically don’t give you a dime (these leads should be scored less).
Use a Combination of Technology & Human Intelligence
Talk with your with your team and your co-workers who are on the front lines, interacting with your constituents. Have them define the characteristics of your “perfect donor.” By gathering their input, you can understand the finer details of who you need to focus on to create more of your ideal constituents. Dig down to the most granular levels, such as:
- job titles
- demographics
- company size
- household income
- industry
- interests
Once you have that donor profile, you can begin to sprinkle in the technology to attract more of these people to your organization. On this piece, you want to look at which interactions with your leads are the strongest indicators of their willingness to make a contribution.
- Which high value pages are your biggest constituents going to on your website?
- Are you seeing your most frequent donors coming from your “Contact” forms, direct phone calls or from certain third parties?
Understanding which behavior is the strongest indicator of an imminent or large donation will allow you to mesh human brainpower with the power of technology to bring more of these people to your organization.
Analyze and Evaluate Your Lead Scoring System
Always remember that the profile of your donors will evolve and the personas of your key donors may change. So, make sure your lead scoring system is kept up to date and up to performance by optimizing it on a quarterly basis. Continuously collect input from your team to ensure you are still looking at the right target donors. Get feedback on the tech side regarding which actions and behaviors are working at generating income and make sure you’re adjusting them as needed.
The beauty of a lead scoring system is it allows you to focus your resources on your most lucrative constituents that can really improve your income and de-prioritized time and energy behind activities that generated little to no hope for a donation.
If you’re looking for more information on how you can create lead scoring strategies that will drive more donations, more efficiently, feel free to contact us. We are happy to help.