If you’re in B2B sales, you already know: not all leads are created equal. Some are ready to buy. Some just want a demo to kill time. If your team’s drowning in a list of names, it’s time to get serious about lead scoring and prioritization. This guide is for sales leaders, ops folks, and anyone tired of gut-feel “prioritization.” We'll focus on practical, battle-tested ways to build a lead scoring system in Ctd—and, just as important, how to avoid the usual traps.
What Is Lead Scoring (and Why Bother)?
Lead scoring is assigning points to your leads based on how likely they are to convert. The idea is simple: your sales team spends their time on the people most likely to buy, not just the ones yelling the loudest.
But here’s the thing: a scoring system is only as good as the signals you feed it. Over-complicate it, and your reps will ignore the scores. Go too simple, and you’ll miss the hidden gems. The sweet spot is a system that's easy to use, easy to tweak, and actually lines up with who ends up buying.
Step 1: Define What a “Good Lead” Looks Like
Before you even open Ctd, get clear on what makes a lead valuable to your business.
Start with the basics: - What types of companies actually buy from you? (Industry, size, geography) - Who inside those companies signs the deal? (Role, seniority) - What behaviors tend to show real interest? (Requesting a demo, visiting pricing, replying to emails)
Don’t just guess. Pull a list of your last 20 closed/won deals and look for patterns. If you have a CRM or sales analytics tool, use it. If not, a spreadsheet works fine.
What to ignore: Don’t get hung up on vanity metrics like social followers or how often someone opens your emails. Stick to signals that have actually led to revenue in the past.
Pro tip: Get input from your reps, but don’t let the loudest voice set the rules. Sales reps are great at spotting one-off “unicorn” leads, but you need patterns.
Step 2: Pick Your Scoring Criteria
Once you know what a good lead looks like, break your scoring into two buckets:
- Firmographic fit: What’s true about the company/person? (e.g., company size, industry, job title)
- Behavioral signals: What have they done? (e.g., downloaded a whitepaper, attended a webinar, replied to outreach)
Examples of scoring attributes: - Company size (e.g., 100-500 employees = +10 points) - Role (e.g., C-suite = +15, Manager = +10) - Visited pricing page = +10 - Booked a meeting = +20 - Used a personal email = -10 - No website = -15
What works: Stick to 5–8 criteria to start. Too many and you’ll get lost in the weeds.
What usually doesn’t: Overweighting activity. Someone who clicks every email isn’t always more valuable than a perfect-fit company that’s quiet but ready.
Step 3: Map Your Data in Ctd
Now it’s time to set this up in Ctd. Here’s how to do it without pulling your hair out:
1. Import or Sync Lead Data
- Bring in your leads from your CRM, marketing automation, or spreadsheets.
- Make sure you’ve got the fields you need (company size, role, last activity, etc.).
2. Create Custom Fields for Scoring
- In Ctd, set up custom number fields (e.g., “Firmographic Score,” “Behavioral Score,” “Total Lead Score”).
- You might want a field for “Score Reason” so reps can see why a lead’s ranked the way it is.
3. Build Scoring Rules
- Use Ctd’s workflow or automation builder to assign points for each attribute or action.
- Example: If “Job Title” contains “Director” or “VP,” add 10 points to the “Firmographic Score.”
- For behaviors, trigger points when someone books a call, replies to an email, etc.
4. Calculate the Total Score
- Set up a formula or workflow to sum the Firmographic and Behavioral scores into the Total Lead Score.
- Update this score anytime something changes (new activity, new data, etc.).
Pro tip: Don’t automate everything right away. Test your rules with a sample set first. Manual review beats a broken automated system every time.
Step 4: Prioritize Leads for Your Sales Team
Scoring’s useless if it doesn’t drive action. Here’s how to make lead prioritization actually work:
- View: Build a Ctd view or dashboard that sorts leads by Total Lead Score, highest to lowest.
- Buckets: Break leads into tiers (e.g., Hot = 70+, Warm = 40–69, Cold = <40).
- Assignment: Route the “Hot” leads to your best reps or SDRs. Set up alerts for new “Hot” leads so nothing slips through the cracks.
- Workflow: Make it part of your daily routine. “Start at the top of the list” beats “follow your gut” every time.
What works: Clear, simple tiers. Everyone knows what “Hot” means.
What usually doesn’t: Overly granular scoring (e.g., “Is a 71 better than a 70?”—nobody cares).
Pro tip: Give reps a way to flag false positives or negatives. Use this feedback to adjust your scoring over time.
Step 5: Iterate and Improve—Don’t “Set and Forget”
Lead scoring is not a Ronco rotisserie: you can’t just set it and forget it.
- Review monthly: Are your “Hot” leads actually closing? If not, tweak your rules.
- Talk to reps: Are they ignoring the scores? That’s a sign your system’s off.
- Check your data: Garbage in, garbage out. Make sure your lead data is accurate and up to date.
- Adjust weights: Maybe you’re overvaluing webinar attendance. Maybe a new industry is starting to buy. Stay flexible.
What works: Small, regular tweaks. Don’t overhaul everything at once.
What doesn’t: Chasing every “cool new signal” just because a vendor says it’s predictive.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Overcomplicating the model. More rules ≠ better results. Start simple.
- Ignoring sales feedback. If reps don’t trust the scores, they’ll go rogue.
- Not closing the loop. If you don’t check which scored leads actually convert, you’re just shuffling names.
- Letting old data pile up. Regularly clean out dead or outdated leads.
Tools and Integrations: Keep It Practical
Ctd plays nice with most CRMs, email tools, and marketing platforms. But don’t fall for the “integrate everything” trap right away.
Start with: - CRM sync (so you don’t have leads in two places) - Email integration (to track activity) - Simple reporting (so you can see if your scores match reality)
Skip the fancy predictive AI stuff until your basic scoring is working and trusted.
Final Thoughts: Keep It Simple and Keep Improving
Lead scoring in Ctd isn’t magic. It’s a way to help your team focus on the right people, at the right time, using the data you already have. Start with what’s working, ignore what isn’t, and don’t be afraid to tweak as you go. The goal isn’t a perfect score—it’s more closed deals and less time wasted on tire-kickers.
Set it up, test it, and keep improving. That’s how real sales teams win.