If you work in B2B sales, you know the drill: too many leads, not enough time. Some are gold, some are a waste of everyone’s energy, and most fall somewhere in between. If you’re using Membrain as your CRM, you’ve probably noticed it tries to keep things practical, not flashy. This guide is for sales managers, ops folks, or anyone who needs to cut through the noise and set up real-world lead scoring and qualification in Membrain—without overcomplicating things or falling for “AI-powered pipeline transformation” nonsense.
Let’s get right to it.
What is Lead Scoring—And Why Bother?
Lead scoring is just a system to help you figure out which leads deserve your team’s time. You assign points to leads based on things like job title, company size, engagement, or whatever matters to your sales. The higher the score, the more likely that lead is worth chasing.
A good lead scoring system: - Saves your reps time. - Gets junk leads out of the way fast. - Gives you a fighting chance to focus on the right accounts.
A bad lead scoring system: - Is so complicated nobody trusts it. - Promotes “activity for activity’s sake.” - Ends up ignored after a month.
Membrain is built for B2B sales with longer, more complex cycles—not for chasing a million cold emails. So, the goal here is a simple, practical system your team will actually use.
Step 1: Define What Makes a Good Lead (Don’t Overthink It)
Before you touch Membrain, get clear on what a “good lead” looks like for your business. This is the most critical part—and the one most teams skip.
Ask yourself: - What must be true for a lead to have a shot at closing? (Industry, role, budget, pain point, etc.) - What are the biggest red flags or deal-breakers? - Are there any “nice to have” signals that bump a lead up the list?
Pro tip: Start simple. Three to five criteria are usually enough. You can always tweak later.
Common criteria: - Decision-maker title (e.g., VP, Director) - Company size or revenue - Industry fit - Urgency or timeline - Engagement (responded to outreach, attended a demo)
Write these on a whiteboard or Google Doc. Get buy-in from sales and marketing—if you skip this, your scoring system will be dead on arrival.
Step 2: Map Your Criteria to Membrain Fields
Now, check if Membrain has these data points available for each lead. In Membrain, you’ll deal with Contacts, Companies, and Activities.
Here’s what to look for: - Do you already capture job title, company size, and industry? If not, can you add these as custom fields? - Are fields standardized (picklists) or all over the place (free text)? Standardize wherever possible—trust me, it’s worth it. - Is engagement tracked? (e.g., email opens, meetings booked) Membrain may not track every digital touchpoint like a marketing automation tool, but you can use Activity types or tags.
To add or edit fields in Membrain: - Go to “System Setup” > “Data Fields.” - Add custom fields or adjust existing ones. - For picklists (like industry or lead source), keep options short and clear.
Don’t:
- Try to track every possible datapoint “just in case.”
- Get hung up on perfect data; just set up what you need to get started.
Step 3: Build a Simple Scoring Model
Time to assign points. You don’t need fancy math. The goal is to rank leads, not run a hedge fund.
A practical approach: - Decision-maker title: +10 points - Right industry: +5 points - Company size (fits your target): +5 points - Responded to outreach: +7 points - Requested a demo: +10 points - Obvious red flag (e.g., “student project”): -15 points
How to set this up in Membrain: - Membrain doesn’t have a built-in “lead score” field, but you can create a custom numeric field called “Lead Score.” - Create an internal process (with your team or via automation) to update scores as you learn more about a lead. - If you want to get fancy, use Membrain’s “Process Automation” or “Triggers” to update scores based on field changes or activities (more on this below).
Keep it real:
If you’re working with a small number of high-value leads, manual scoring is fine. For bigger teams or higher volume, look for ways to automate the updates.
Step 4: Automate What You Can (But Don’t Go Overboard)
Membrain Automation Basics: - Go to “Process Automations” under “System Setup.” - Create a new automation triggered by field changes (e.g., when “Job Title” contains “VP,” add 10 points to “Lead Score”). - You can also trigger based on new activities (like “Meeting Booked”).
Examples of simple automations: - When “Industry” is updated to one of your target industries, add points. - When a meeting is logged, add engagement points. - When a deal is marked “Lost,” reduce score or mark as “Do Not Pursue.”
What doesn’t work: - Rube Goldberg machines. If your automation flowchart looks like a spiderweb, it’ll break or get ignored. - Trying to automate things your team never actually updates in the CRM. Garbage in, garbage out.
Pro tip:
Start with just one or two automations. See if they add value. Expand only if your team asks for it.
Step 5: Set Up Lead Qualification Stages
Lead scoring is just a number. You still need to define what happens when a lead “graduates” to the next step.
How to do this in Membrain: - In your sales process, define clear qualification stages (e.g., “New Lead,” “Qualified,” “Sales Accepted”). - Set criteria for each stage. For example, “Qualified” means a lead has a score of 20+ and meets key criteria. - Use Membrain’s visual pipeline to drag leads between stages—or automate if you’re confident in your scoring.
Why this matters:
If you don’t tie scoring to real process steps, nobody will care about the number.
Step 6: Use Filters and Views to Prioritize Work
Once you’ve got your fields, scores, and stages in place, you need to make it dead simple for reps to find the best leads.
How to do this: - In Membrain’s “Prospecting” or “Leads” view, add filters for “Lead Score” (e.g., show only leads with 15+ points). - Create saved views for “Top Leads,” “Needs Follow-Up,” or “Unqualified.” - Share these views with your team, and make sure they know how to use them.
Don’t:
- Hide your best leads in a sea of junk.
- Rely on team memory—make it obvious who to call next.
Step 7: Review, Adjust, and Ignore the Hype
Your first scoring system won’t be perfect. That’s fine. The key is to check every month or quarter:
- Are high-scoring leads actually converting?
- Are reps following the process, or ignoring it?
- Are there criteria nobody cares about—or missing ones that matter?
How to adjust: - Hold a quick standup to get feedback from the team. - If you see a pattern (e.g., too many false positives), tweak the points or criteria. - Don’t be afraid to kill off unused fields or steps.
Ignore: - Overhyped features you don’t need. If your team is small, skip “AI predictions” or “intent data” for now. - Any system that’s so complex you need a PhD to maintain it.
Final Thoughts: Keep It Simple, Iterate Fast
Lead scoring and qualification should make your sales team’s life easier, not harder. The goal isn’t to build the prettiest spreadsheet or most advanced automation—it’s to help real humans spend time on the right leads.
Start small. Get feedback. Adjust as you go. Most importantly, make sure your team actually uses what you build. That’s the only “best practice” that matters.
Now get to it—your pipeline (and your sanity) will thank you.