Sales teams waste a lot of time chasing the wrong leads. If you’re tired of manually sorting through your CRM or arguing over what “qualified” even means, automated lead scoring can help. This guide walks you through setting up lead scoring in SureConnect so you can focus on the customers who are actually worth your time.
This isn’t a magic wand—lead scoring only works if you set it up with a little thought and keep it simple. If you’re a sales manager, operations pro, or just the person stuck sorting bad leads from good, this is for you.
1. What is lead scoring (and why bother)?
Lead scoring is about ranking leads based on how likely they are to buy. You assign points to leads based on things like:
- The info they share (job title, company size, etc.)
- What they do (open emails, visit your site, book a demo)
- Whether they fit your ideal customer
Done right, you get a sorted list: hot leads at the top, time-wasters at the bottom. The goal is simple—spend less time guessing, more time selling.
But here’s the catch: Automated lead scoring is only as good as the rules you set up. If you feed it junk data or overcomplicate your scoring, you’ll just create new headaches.
2. Prep: Know what a “good lead” actually looks like
Don’t even open SureConnect yet. First, get clear on what a good lead means for your business. Too many teams skip this and end up scoring the wrong stuff.
Ask yourself: - Who actually ends up becoming a customer? - What traits or actions do your best customers have in common? - What red flags usually mean a lead’s going nowhere?
Common things to look at: - Demographics: Job title, company size, industry, location. - Behavior: Opened emails, downloaded a whitepaper, requested a demo. - Source: Did they come from a trade show, your website, or a cold call?
Pro tip: Talk to your sales team. They know which signals matter and which ones are fluff.
3. Set up your lead scoring model in SureConnect
Now, let’s get into SureConnect and actually set up the scoring. Here’s a step-by-step process—no fluff, just what you need.
Step 1: Get to the lead scoring settings
- Log into SureConnect.
- Go to
Settings(usually a gear icon). - Look for “Lead Scoring” or “Lead Qualification.” It may be under “Automation” or “CRM Settings”—the naming sometimes changes with updates.
If you can’t find it:
Check the help docs or reach out to support. Some plans might hide lead scoring behind a paywall—don’t be surprised.
Step 2: Pick your scoring criteria
SureConnect lets you assign points to different data fields and actions. Here’s what usually works (and what to ignore):
- Useful scoring fields:
- Job title (“Director” or above? +10 points)
- Company size (“100+ employees”? +8 points)
- Industry matches your target? +7 points
- Requested a demo? +15 points
- Opened 3+ emails? +5 points
-
Visited pricing page? +10 points
-
Stuff to skip or downgrade:
- Generic email addresses (e.g., “info@company.com”)—knock off a few points
- Leads with missing key info—set a baseline penalty
- Social follows or likes—not as strong as direct engagement
Don’t get fancy:
Limit yourself to 5–7 main criteria. If you’re scoring 20 things, your team will just ignore the results.
Step 3: Assign point values
This is where most teams overthink things. You want the numbers to reflect what matters, but the exact values aren’t as important as the spread.
- Big buying signals = bigger points. (Demo requests, budget authority)
- Minor signals = small points. (Newsletter signups, social clicks)
- Subtract points for obvious red flags.
Pro tip:
Start simple. You can always tweak later. Your first version won’t be perfect.
Step 4: Set up score thresholds
Decide what score counts as “hot,” “warm,” or “cold.” In SureConnect, you can usually create segments or alerts based on these ranges.
- Example:
- 40+ points: “Hot lead”—notify sales ASAP
- 20–39 points: “Warm lead”—nurture with automated emails
- Below 20: “Cold lead”—send to drip campaign or ignore
Don’t obsess over the numbers:
Thresholds are just educated guesses at first. Adjust after a few weeks.
Step 5: Test with real data
Before you unleash the scoring on your whole database, test it on a sample set of leads.
- Does it push real opportunities to the top?
- Are the duds getting low scores?
- Are any weird edge cases slipping through?
Check with your sales team—do these scores make sense in the real world, or are they flagging junk leads as “hot”?
4. Automate actions based on lead scores
The whole point of automated scoring is to trigger stuff without manual sorting. SureConnect can usually do things like:
- Assign hot leads directly to a rep or team
- Send instant alerts/slack notifications for high scores
- Add warm leads to a nurturing sequence
- Suppress cold leads from manual follow-up
Set up these automations in SureConnect:
- Go to the “Automation” or “Workflow” section.
- Create rules:
- “If lead score > X, assign to [rep/team]”
- “If lead score < Y, add to [email sequence/drip campaign]”
- “If lead score changes, notify [channel]”
Warning:
Don’t over-automate. You still need humans to review edge cases and spot patterns the system misses.
5. Review and adjust—don’t “set and forget”
A lot of teams set up lead scoring and never touch it again. Bad move. Your scoring should get smarter over time.
- Check in monthly: Pull a report—are hot leads actually closing? Are you missing good prospects?
- Ask sales: Are they happy with the leads they’re getting? Or are they just ignoring the scores?
- Tweak as you learn: Change point values, add or drop criteria, adjust thresholds.
Pro tip:
Don’t try to perfect your model right away. Small, regular tweaks beat one big overhaul every year.
6. What works, what doesn’t, and what to ignore
What actually works:
- Focusing on a handful of real buying signals (not just activity for activity’s sake)
- Keeping your model simple enough that sales actually trusts it
- Regular check-ins to adjust and improve
What doesn’t:
- Overloading your model with every data point you can find
- Treating all web activity as meaningful (not every pageview is a buying sign)
- Relying 100% on automation and ignoring human feedback
What to ignore:
- Fancy predictive AI scoring (unless you have a massive, clean data set—most don’t)
- Over-complicated “lead grading” systems that no one understands
- Vendor promises that you’ll never need to adjust your model
Keep it simple, keep it useful
Automated lead scoring in SureConnect can save you a ton of time—if you keep it straightforward and tune it regularly. Start with the basics, see what works, and don’t be afraid to adjust. No need for perfection or buzzwords. The goal is just to help your team spend more time selling (and less time arguing about which leads matter).
Ready to get started? Block an hour, do the setup, and review it in a month. You’ll wonder why you waited so long.