If you’re sick of wasting time on leads that go nowhere, you’re not alone. Most B2B teams spend a ton of effort chasing lukewarm prospects—and it shows. Lead scoring isn’t magic, but when you set it up right, you’ll spend more time talking to people who actually care. This guide is for anyone using Leadliaison who wants a no-nonsense way to build lead scoring models that do what they’re supposed to: help you focus on the right folks.
Let’s cut through the clutter and get your scoring model working for you.
Why bother with lead scoring?
Before you jump in, ask yourself: Do you really need lead scoring? If you’re only dealing with a handful of leads a week, you might not. But if your inbox is full of form fills, demo requests, and mystery downloads, lead scoring can keep your team from spinning their wheels.
Here’s what lead scoring can actually help with:
- Prioritize outreach—so sales isn’t guessing who to call
- Filter out tire-kickers and students
- Get marketing and sales on the same page about what a “good” lead looks like
What it won’t do: fix a broken funnel, rescue bad data, or magically close deals. It just helps you focus.
Step 1: Get your definitions straight
You need to know what a “good” lead even means for your company. This is where most teams get stuck.
Don’t overthink it—start with: - What job titles do you want? - What company sizes or industries matter? - What actions (downloads, demo requests, email opens) show real interest?
Pro tip: Sit down with both sales and marketing for 30 minutes. Write down the top 3-5 things that actually predict a deal. Ignore “vanity” actions like webinar sign-ups unless you’ve seen they actually lead to sales.
Step 2: Clean up your data
If your CRM or marketing automation is full of junk—like missing job titles or a million Gmail addresses—your scoring model’s going to be garbage in, garbage out.
Do this before you build a model: - Standardize fields (job titles, industries, etc.) - Weed out obvious junk (students, competitors, spam) - Make sure forms collect the data you need
Skip this and you’ll just be scoring bad leads more efficiently.
Step 3: Decide on explicit vs. implicit scoring
Leadliaison supports both “explicit” (who the lead is) and “implicit” (what they do) scoring. You need both, but don’t treat them equally.
Explicit (fit): - Job title - Company size - Industry - Location
Implicit (behavior): - Visited key pages (pricing, demo) - Downloaded buyer’s guide - Opened/clicked emails (but don’t overweight this) - Attended a webinar
What to mostly ignore: - Social media likes - Blog views (unless your blog is purely for buyers) - Generic email clicks
Pro tip: If you’re new to scoring, start with 3-4 criteria for each type. Don’t try to build a 20-factor model right away.
Step 4: Build your scoring model in Leadliaison
Now you’re ready to actually set up the scoring rules in Leadliaison. Here’s how to do it (assuming you’ve got admin access):
1. Go to the Scoring section
- Log into Leadliaison.
- Head to Marketing > Lead Scoring (sometimes just called Scoring Models).
2. Create a new scoring model
- Click New Model or Add Model.
- Name it something obvious, like “2024 B2B Outreach Scoring.”
3. Set up explicit (fit) rules
Assign point values to key fit criteria. Examples:
- Job Title: Give +20 for VP or Director, +10 for Manager, 0 for “Student” or “Intern.”
- Company Size: +15 for your target range, 0 for too small/large.
- Industry: +10 for target industries, -10 for non-targets.
- Location: +10 if in your target geos.
Be honest about what actually matters. Don’t give points just because you wish a certain type was your buyer.
4. Set up implicit (behavior) rules
Assign points for actions that show buying intent.
- Visited pricing page: +15
- Requested a demo: +30
- Downloaded a whitepaper: +10
- Opened an email: +2 (not a big deal by itself)
- Clicked link in email: +5
Don’t go nuts with points for every little thing. Reserve big points for actions that actually correlate with real opportunities in your history.
5. Add negative scoring (optional, but smart)
Subtract points for:
- Unsubscribes (-20)
- Bounced emails (-20)
- Visited careers page (-10)
- Student/competitor email domains (-50)
Negative scoring helps keep your list clean and stops sales from chasing dead ends.
6. Set decay rules
Interest fades. Set up a decay (e.g., -5 points after 30 days of inactivity). Otherwise, you’ll end up with “hot” leads who haven’t visited your site in a year.
Step 5: Test your model before you trust it
Don’t just turn it on and walk away. Run your model on recent leads and compare the scores to what your sales team actually thinks is good. You’ll almost always find surprises.
Ask: - Are top-scoring leads actually closing? - Are any “junk” leads sneaking through? - Is sales ignoring high-scoring leads? (Maybe your signals aren’t as good as you thought.)
Tweak your rules and point values based on feedback. This isn’t a “set and forget” thing.
Step 6: Put your scoring to work
Now, use the scores to actually do something:
- Set up alerts or tasks for sales when someone passes a threshold (e.g., 60 points).
- Build smart lists or segments for targeted campaigns.
- Suppress low-scoring contacts from sales follow-up or expensive campaigns.
Don’t: Use lead scoring as the only filter for outreach. It’s just one tool. Good reps still need to use their brains.
Step 7: Keep it simple and review quarterly
Your first model won’t be perfect. That’s normal. Don’t build a monster spreadsheet with 100 rules—nobody will maintain it.
- Review your scoring model every quarter.
- Remove rules that don’t matter or add confusion.
- Adjust point values as your market shifts.
If nobody’s using the scores, something’s wrong. Simple models get used; complicated ones get ignored.
A few honest tips (from experience)
- More data isn’t always better. Over-complicating things makes for cool dashboards, but worse outcomes.
- Ask sales what’s actually working. If they ignore high scorers, your model’s broken.
- Don’t chase every behavior. Focus on actions that predict sales, not just activity.
- Be wary of “set and forget.” Lead scoring needs ongoing attention—set a calendar reminder to review.
Keep it simple, and don’t sweat perfection
Lead scoring in Leadliaison is a tool, not a silver bullet. Start basic, use real feedback, and tweak as you go. If your team’s actually using the scores to work smarter, you’re already ahead of most. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good—just get started and adjust as you learn.