Lead Scoring Basics: Fit, Intent and Timing
How to rank a lead list so your team contacts the best fits first, using signals you can check on a company's own website.
Every list has a few great leads, a lot of maybes and some that should never have been there. Lead scoringLead scoringRanking leads by how well they fit your ICP and how likely they are to respond. puts them in that order so your team spends its hours on the top of the list, not the alphabetical start of it.
Three things to score
Fit
How closely does the company match your ICPIdeal customer profile (ICP)A description of the type of company that gets the most value from your product and is most likely to buy.? This is the most important part and the easiest to check: industry, size, location and whether they sell the way your customers do. Fit rarely changes, so score it once and revisit it occasionally.
Intent
Is there a sign they need you now? Intent dataIntent dataSignals that a company is actively looking for a solution like yours right now. can be expensive, but many signals are free and sit on the company's own website:
- job postings for roles your product supports,
- a new product, market or location,
- a pricing page that changed recently,
- tools on their site that you integrate with or replace.
Timing
Can you reach them, and is now a good moment? A perfect fit with no reachable contact is not a lead for today. Timing also covers things like a recent funding round or the end of a quarter.
A simple scoring model
You do not need a data science team. Start with points:
| Signal | Points |
|---|---|
| Matches industry and size | 30 |
| Matches situation (for example, hiring sales) | 25 |
| Clear problem you solve is visible | 20 |
| Decision maker identified | 15 |
| Reachable on at least one channel | 10 |
Anything above 70 goes into this week's outreach. Between 40 and 70 waits. Below 40 is removed or parked. The numbers matter less than using the same rules for every lead.
Mistakes to avoid
- Scoring on data you cannot verify. If you cannot check it, do not give it points.
- Too many signals. Ten signals with small weights is noise. Five clear ones is a model.
- Never re-scoring. Companies change. Re-score monthly, or when you learn something new.
- Ignoring results. If high scorers do not reply, your weights are wrong. Adjust them.
Fit first, then intent
When in doubt, trust fit over intent. A company that matches your ICP but shows no signal is a good lead for later. A company with a strong signal and poor fit is a distraction.
