If you’re tired of chasing lukewarm leads and want your sales team focusing on deals that actually have a shot, this guide’s for you. I’ll walk you through how to automate lead scoring in Winn so you can qualify faster, skip the manual busywork, and (hopefully) spend less time arguing about which leads are “good.” This isn’t magic, but done right, it’s a game changer.
Why bother automating lead scoring?
Manually scoring leads is the kind of thing that sounds reasonable—until you realize it’s a time sink and basically impossible to do consistently. Here’s what happens without automation:
- Sales reps waste hours researching leads.
- Everyone uses their own criteria (“I just have a feeling about this one…”).
- Leads slip through the cracks when nobody updates the spreadsheet.
- Handoffs between marketing and sales get messy.
Automating lead scoring means you get a consistent, fair process—no more gut checks or spreadsheet chaos. And if you use something built for the job (like Winn), you won’t need to duct-tape together a bunch of tools or learn to code.
Let’s break it down, step by step.
Step 1: Get clear on what a “qualified lead” looks like
Before you start fiddling with automation, you need to know what you’re looking for. This is where most teams go wrong—they skip straight to scoring without agreeing on what matters.
Ask yourself:
- What are the traits of our best customers? (Industry, company size, job title, etc.)
- What actions signal real interest? (Visited pricing page, booked a demo, replied to an email)
- What’s a total dealbreaker? (Wrong location, no budget, student email address)
Pro tip: Don’t overcomplicate it. Start with 3-5 clear criteria. You can always add more later.
Step 2: Map out your scoring rules
Now you’ll turn those criteria into something a machine can understand. In Winn, this means creating scoring rules—basically, if-this-then-that statements.
Common scoring factors:
- Demographics: Company size, industry, job title, location
- Behavior: Email opens, link clicks, web page visits, demo requests
- Source: Where did the lead come from? (e.g., referral, ad, organic search)
Example rules:
- +10 points if company has over 100 employees
- +5 points if lead opened 2+ emails in a week
- -10 points if company is outside target region
Don’t get sucked into over-optimizing here. Start simple. Complexity is the enemy of actual adoption.
Step 3: Set up lead scoring in Winn
Assuming you already have a Winn account and your CRM data is connected, here’s the nuts-and-bolts part.
1. Navigate to Lead Scoring
- Log into Winn.
- Go to the settings or automation section (depends on your setup).
- Look for the “Lead Scoring” or “Qualification Rules” area.
2. Define your scoring criteria
- Use drop-downs or rule builders to match the criteria you mapped out.
- Assign point values to each rule. Don’t stress too much about getting the numbers perfect—you’ll tune them later.
3. Set thresholds
- Decide what score marks a lead as “Qualified,” “Unqualified,” or “Needs Review.”
- For example:
- 50+ points = Qualified
- 20-49 points = Nurture
- <20 points = Unqualified
4. Save and test
- Save your rules and run a batch on your current leads.
- See who comes out as “Qualified.” Gut check: do these look right?
- If the results are nonsense, tweak your rules—not all data is perfect, and that’s normal.
Heads up: Not every field in your CRM will be clean. Missing data can throw things off. Sometimes it's better to ignore a messy field than to try to force it into your scoring.
Step 4: Automate notifications and handoffs
The point of automating lead scoring is to move faster—not to create a new black hole where leads disappear. Here’s how to make sure your team actually acts on the scores:
- Set up alerts: When a lead hits “Qualified,” trigger an email or Slack notification to the right sales rep.
- Auto-assign leads: Use Winn’s routing to send qualified leads straight to the right person or team.
- Integrate with your CRM: Make sure lead scores are visible in your CRM so reps don’t have to bounce between screens.
What to skip: Don’t over-automate. If every little action triggers a new alert, your team will start ignoring them. Keep it to what matters: new qualified leads, and maybe a weekly summary.
Step 5: Review, fix, and improve
No lead scoring system is perfect out of the gate. Here’s how to keep yours useful:
- Check win rates: Are “qualified” leads actually closing? If not, revisit your rules.
- Talk to sales: Are reps happy with the leads, or are they still complaining? (They will, but listen for patterns.)
- Iterate quarterly: Don’t mess with the scoring every week. Give it a little time, then adjust based on real data.
Warning signs you need to review:
- Tons of “qualified” leads, but no new deals.
- Sales reps keep working “unqualified” leads anyway.
- Your scoring system takes an hour to explain to a new hire.
Simple usually wins. You want something that works, not something that looks fancy in a flowchart.
What works, what doesn’t, and what to ignore
What works:
- Keeping your scoring model simple and transparent.
- Automating handoffs so leads never fall through the cracks.
- Regularly checking if your top-scored leads are actually closing.
What doesn’t:
- Overweighting vanity metrics (like social media follows).
- Relying on incomplete or outdated data fields.
- Making the scoring rules so complex that nobody understands them.
What to ignore:
- Trendy “AI-powered” scoring if your lead volume is low—basic automation is usually enough unless you’re drowning in leads.
- Overpromising to your team that lead scoring will fix every problem. It won’t.
Keep it simple, and keep tuning
Automated lead scoring isn’t rocket science—it’s mostly common sense, written down and handled by software. Start with a basic version in Winn, see how it works for your team, and adjust as you go. Complicated scoring models rarely survive contact with reality, so don’t be afraid to start small.
Focus on what actually helps you close more deals faster, and skip the rest. The goal is less busywork, not more dashboards to stare at.