If your sales team is tired of chasing every lead like it’s the next big deal—only to end up with a lot of wasted time—automated lead scoring can help. This guide is for B2B sales teams who want to set up a no-nonsense, automated workflow using Sendler, without a bunch of guesswork or tech headaches. We’ll walk through what actually matters, what you can skip, and how to keep your lead scoring useful (not just “busywork for the CRM”).
Why Lead Scoring? (And What to Ignore)
Let’s get real: most B2B sales teams already know what makes a great lead. But, when you’re dealing with a lot of contacts, it’s easy to get bogged down or miss the signals. Automated lead scoring isn’t magic—it just saves you the hassle of sorting the wheat from the chaff, so you can focus on real opportunities.
A few things to keep in mind: - Lead scoring works best when it’s simple. Over-complicate your rules, and you’ll just confuse yourself (and your team). - Ignore “AI-powered scoring” unless you have a mountain of clean data and someone to manage the machine learning. For most teams, rule-based scoring is plenty. - Don’t try to automate judgment. Automated scores should be a starting point, not the final word.
Step 1: Know What Actually Matters to Your Team
Before you touch Sendler, sit down and list what really makes a lead worth your time. Common signals for B2B include: - Job Title or Role: Is this person actually a decision-maker? - Company Size: Are they big enough to afford your solution? - Industry: Are they even in your target market? - Engagement: Did they open emails, click links, sign up for a demo? - Timing: How recently did they engage?
Pro Tip: If your team argues over “what matters,” stick to just 3–5 traits to start. You can always come back and tweak later.
Step 2: Set Up Your Lead Fields in Sendler
Sendler’s strength is that it’s flexible, but you need to feed it the right info. Double-check that your lead/contact records have fields for all the criteria you care about.
- Make sure you have custom fields for things like job title, company size, industry, and any engagement metrics you plan to use.
- If you’re missing anything, set up those fields now. Don’t shoehorn everything into a “notes” field—you’ll regret it later.
What to ignore: Don’t obsess over every possible field. Too many fields just create clutter. Stick with what you’ll actually use in your scoring.
Step 3: Build Your Lead Scoring Model
Now the fun part. In Sendler, go to your lead scoring settings (usually under Automation or CRM Settings, depending on your setup).
1. Assign Point Values
For each trait or action, give it a point value based on how important it is. Example:
- Job Title: “Director” or above: +20 points
- Company Size: 100+ employees: +15 points
- Industry: matches target: +10 points
- Opened marketing email: +5 points
- Clicked a link in email: +10 points
- Requested a demo: +30 points
2. Set Negative Scores
Don’t forget to subtract points for red flags, like: - Generic email domain (gmail.com, etc.): -10 points - Unsubscribed from emails: -20 points
3. Keep It Simple
If you’re not sure about a field, don’t use it yet. You can always add it later. Resist the urge to make a 20-rule monster.
Pro Tip: Write down your scoring rules somewhere outside of Sendler too. It’ll save headaches when you need to explain it to a new team member or revisit it next quarter.
Step 4: Automate Lead Scoring Triggers
Now, set up the automation so your scores update in real time.
- In Sendler, use workflow automation to trigger a score update whenever a lead does something important—like opening an email, visiting your pricing page, or booking a meeting.
- Most B2B teams use “if/then” logic. For example:
- If a lead’s job title matches “Director” or higher, add 20 points.
- If they visit the pricing page, add 10 points.
- If they don’t engage for 30 days, subtract 15 points.
How to do this in Sendler:
- Create a new workflow for each action you want to score.
- Set the trigger (e.g., “email opened” or “web page visited”).
- Add an action to update the lead score field by your chosen point value.
- Test it with some dummy leads to make sure it’s firing as expected.
Heads up: If you’re syncing data from other tools (like LinkedIn or your website), make sure those events are feeding into Sendler. Otherwise, your scoring will be way off.
Step 5: Define “Hot” vs. “Cold” Leads
A score is only useful if you know what it means. Decide what makes a lead worth a call, and what can safely be nurtured by marketing.
- Example:
- Hot lead: 50+ points
- Warm lead: 30–49 points
- Cold lead: under 30 points
Set up filters or smart lists in Sendler so your team can see “Hot” leads at a glance.
Don’t overthink: The exact numbers aren’t sacred. Pick something reasonable, see how it works, and adjust.
Step 6: Route and Notify Automatically
Don’t make reps hunt for good leads—bring them right to their inbox or dashboard.
- Use Sendler’s notifications to alert sales reps when a lead crosses your hot threshold.
- If you have multiple reps or teams, set up rules to auto-assign leads based on territory, product line, or workload.
- For “cold” leads, set up a nurture sequence to keep them warm without wasting your sales team’s time.
Honest take: Most teams forget this piece, then wonder why nothing changes. Alerts and routing are where the scoring system actually pays off.
Step 7: Review, Tweak, and Keep It Honest
No lead scoring system gets it perfect on the first try. Every month or so:
- Check if your “hot” leads are actually closing. If not, your model needs work.
- Ask sales reps for feedback—are good leads slipping through, or are you sending them duds?
- Adjust your point values and rules based on what’s actually working, not what you think should work.
Ignore the hype: You don’t need to overhaul everything every quarter. Small tweaks go a long way.
What Works, What Doesn’t, What to Ignore
- Works: Rule-based scoring based on real engagement and firmographic data.
- Doesn’t work: Wildly complex models, “AI” that’s a black box, or scoring based on vanity metrics (like webinar attendance if it never leads to deals).
- Ignore: Most of the “best practices” you’ll read if they don’t fit your sales cycle. You know your buyers better than a blog post does.
Keep It Simple (And Don’t Wait for Perfect)
Automated lead scoring in Sendler can save your team a ton of time—if you keep it simple and actually use the scores to prioritize work. Don’t get hung up on building the “perfect” system from day one. Start with what you know, automate the basics, and tweak as you go. Your sales team (and your sanity) will thank you.