If you’re staring at a pile of leads in your CRM and thinking, “There’s got to be a better way to figure out who’s worth my time,” this guide’s for you. We'll walk through the nuts and bolts of setting up and tuning lead scoring models in SecondBody, so you can spend less time guessing and more time closing deals.
No fluff—just what works, what to skip, and a few hard-won tips from the trenches.
Why Bother With Lead Scoring?
Look, not all leads are created equal. Some are tire-kickers, some are just curious, and a few are actually ready to buy. Lead scoring helps you separate the wheat from the chaff—so you’re not wasting time on folks who’ll never convert.
If you’re using SecondBody, you get tools for lead scoring built in, but good tools don’t fix bad thinking. Let’s keep things realistic: lead scoring isn’t magic, but it will help you focus your energy where it matters.
Step 1: Get Your Data House in Order
Before you dive into models and point systems, make sure your data doesn’t suck. Garbage in, garbage out.
What to Check
- Lead sources: Are you tracking where leads are coming from? Web forms, downloads, manual imports—it should all be clear.
- Contact fields: Are important fields (like email, company size, role) actually filled in, or are you staring at a bunch of blanks?
- Activity tracking: Are you capturing actions like email opens, page visits, or demo requests? If not, lead scoring will be a shot in the dark.
Pro tip: It’s usually better to have a few clean, reliable data points than a ton of half-baked ones.
Step 2: Decide What Actually Matters
Not every signal is worth the same. Don’t just copy a generic lead score template; think about what really matters for your business.
Common Factors (and Whether You Should Care)
- Demographics
- Company size: Bigger isn’t always better. Score based on your actual sweet spot.
- Job title/role: Who usually signs the deal? Score those folks higher.
- Behavior
- Email opens: Meh. Easy to fake or trigger by accident.
- Clicks: Better than opens, but still not a buying signal alone.
- Demo requests or pricing page visits: Now we’re talking.
- Repeat visits: Shows real interest.
- Source
- Inbound vs. outbound: Inbound leads (who found you) are often warmer than those you cold-emailed.
What to ignore:
Don’t get too clever with social media likes or random website events. If you can’t tie it to real buying intent, skip it.
Step 3: Build Your First Model in SecondBody
Time to roll up your sleeves. Here’s how to get a basic model off the ground in SecondBody.
1. Find the Lead Scoring Section
- Log in to your SecondBody dashboard.
- Head to the “Leads” or “Scoring” section (menu labels change, but it’ll be obvious).
- Look for “Create Lead Scoring Model” or similar.
2. Set Up Your Scoring Rules
SecondBody usually lets you assign points based on both attributes and behaviors.
Example:
- Job Title = “Director” or “VP” → +15 points
- Company Size = 50-500 employees → +10 points
- Visited pricing page in last 7 days → +20 points
- Clicked email link → +5 points
- No activity for 30 days → -10 points
You get the idea: assign more points to actions or attributes that actually predict a deal.
Keep it simple:
Start with 4-6 rules. You can always add more later.
3. Set Thresholds
Decide what scores will trigger your team to act.
- Example:
- Above 40 points = “Hot lead” (send to sales)
- 20-39 points = “Warm lead” (nurture)
- Below 20 = “Cold lead” (ignore or send basic drip emails)
Don’t overthink it—these buckets just help you prioritize.
4. Test With Real Leads
Before you roll this out company-wide, test your model on 50-100 real leads.
- Does it flag the ones that actually converted in the past?
- Does it miss obvious duds?
If your model’s telling you that every intern who downloaded a whitepaper is “hot,” you’ve got some tuning to do.
Step 4: Tune and Optimize (Without Losing Your Mind)
This is where most people fall off—setting up a lead scoring model is easy; keeping it useful is the hard part.
What to Watch (and Ignore)
- Monitor conversion rates: Are your “hot” leads actually closing? If not, rethink your scoring.
- Avoid chasing every new “signal”: You don’t need to score 20 different behaviors. Stick to what moves the needle.
- Review regularly: Once a quarter is plenty for most small teams. Big changes in your business? Revisit sooner.
Common mistakes:
- Point inflation: If every lead is scoring high, your model’s meaningless.
- Too many rules: If you need a PhD to explain your scoring, you’ve gone too far.
Pro tip:
Talk to your sales team. Are they happy with the leads they’re getting? If not, ask why. The best models come from real conversations, not just data.
Step 5: Automate (But Don’t Overdo It)
SecondBody lets you set up automations based on lead scores—like sending a Slack alert when a lead goes “hot” or moving them to a different campaign.
How to Use Automations Wisely
- Alert sales when a lead crosses the “hot” threshold.
- Kick off a nurture sequence for “warm” leads.
- Drop “cold” leads into a long-term drip—just in case.
What to avoid:
Don’t auto-assign every hot lead to the same rep, or launch a barrage of emails. Automation should help, not annoy.
Step 6: Keep It Honest—Measure and Adjust
Lead scoring isn’t set-and-forget. Here’s how to keep your model from going stale.
- Review closed-won deals: Did they have high scores? If not, your model’s off.
- Look for false positives: Leads with high scores who never buy. Check what’s inflating their score.
- Update as your business changes: New products, new markets, new patterns—your scoring should keep up.
Reality check:
No model is perfect. The goal is to help your team focus, not to predict the future.
A Few Advanced Moves (If You’re Ready)
If you’ve nailed the basics and want to get fancy:
- Machine learning scoring: SecondBody claims to have ML-based scoring. Sometimes it works, sometimes it spits out nonsense. Use it side-by-side with your manual model, and don’t trust it blindly.
- Custom events: If you have solid tracking, you can score based on deeper actions (like webinar attendance or feature use).
- A/B test your rules: Run two models and see which actually helps your team close more deals.
But really—most teams never need to go beyond the basics, and that’s fine.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
The best lead scoring models are simple, clear, and based on what actually matters to your business. Don’t get lost in the weeds or chase every new scoring trend.
Start small in SecondBody, get feedback, and adjust as you go. You’ll save time, avoid wild goose chases, and actually help your team focus on closing real deals—not just chasing numbers on a dashboard.