If you’re drowning in a pile of leads and tired of guessing who’s worth your time, this guide is for you. Maybe you’re in sales ops, marketing, or just the “spreadsheet person” who got stuck with lead scoring. Either way, you want to spend less time clicking and more time closing. Here’s how to automate lead scoring workflows in Factors—and skip the hype while you’re at it.
Why bother automating lead scoring?
Manual lead scoring is a slog. Even if you’re disciplined, it’s error-prone and impossible to scale. Automating it means:
- No more gut-feel guesses about which leads to call first.
- Sales doesn’t waste time on dead ends.
- Marketing can prove they’re handing off solid opportunities.
- You actually trust your CRM data.
But let’s be honest: automation only works if your rules make sense and your data isn’t garbage. So don’t expect miracles, but do expect some sanity back in your day.
Step 1: Get your data house in order
Before you even open Factors, make sure you have good, usable data. Garbage in, garbage out—that’s not just a cliché.
What to check: - Are you capturing the right fields? (Think: email, company size, industry, job title, web activity, etc.) - Is your CRM (or wherever you keep your leads) not a complete mess? - Can you reliably tell a “hot” lead from a “cold” one, at least on paper?
Pro tip:
Don’t get fancy yet. Start with the basics—if you have to, run a quick export and clean up any weird or missing fields. You’ll save yourself hours of troubleshooting later.
Step 2: Map out your ideal scoring model
Automating junk logic is still junk. So, sketch out what a “good lead” actually looks like for your team.
Consider: - Demographics: Company size, industry, location, job title - Behavior: Website visits, email opens, demo requests, downloads - Fit vs. Interest: Are you weighting who they are or what they do more heavily?
How to avoid analysis paralysis: - Don’t overthink it. Start with 3–5 criteria you know matter. - Assign simple point values (e.g., +10 for “requested demo,” +5 for “VP title”). - Ignore the “but what about…” edge cases for now.
Example: - +10 points: Visited pricing page - +7 points: Company size matches target - +5 points: Downloaded a whitepaper - -5 points: Used a free email address (gmail.com, etc.)
Write this out in a doc or spreadsheet. You’ll translate it into Factors in a bit.
Step 3: Set up your lead scoring rules in Factors
Now the fun (and sometimes frustrating) part: building your rules in Factors.
-
Log into Factors and head to the Lead Scoring section.
Usually under “Automation” or “Workflows.” If you can’t find it, check their docs or support. -
Create a new Lead Scoring Model.
Give it a clear name (e.g., “2024 Inbound Lead Scoring”). -
Add your criteria as rules.
For each scoring rule: - Choose the field (e.g., “Industry”)
- Set the condition (e.g., “equals ‘SaaS’”)
- Assign a point value (positive or negative)
Repeat for all your criteria.
- Set up scoring buckets or ranges.
Example: - 20+ points = “Hot”
- 10–19 = “Warm”
- <10 = “Cold”
This makes it easier for sales to sort leads later.
Watch out for: - Overlapping rules (e.g., if “Visited pricing page” and “Requested demo” both trigger at once, is that double-counting? Sometimes yes, sometimes that’s fine.) - Vague criteria (“Engaged with content” is too broad—be specific.) - Forgetting to add negative scores for low-quality leads.
Pro tip:
Test your rules on a batch of recent leads. Does the “hot” bucket actually match your best opportunities? If not, tweak the weights.
Step 4: Automate the workflow (don’t just score—act)
Scoring is only useful if it triggers something. In Factors, you can chain actions off your lead scores.
Common automations: - Auto-assign “Hot” leads to your best reps. - Add “Warm” leads to a nurture sequence. - Notify sales via Slack or email when a lead crosses a threshold. - Push “Cold” leads to a re-engagement campaign.
How to set this up in Factors: 1. Go to “Workflows” or “Automations.” 2. Create a new workflow triggered by lead score changes. 3. Define the actions: - Assign owner - Send notification - Update lead status in CRM - Enroll in email sequence
Double-check that the triggers and actions match your process. Don’t just automate for automation’s sake—make sure it actually helps your team move faster.
Honest take:
Automated notifications sound great, but can get ignored if you overdo it. Only ping people when it matters, or you’ll train them to tune out.
Step 5: Test with real leads (and fix what breaks)
Nothing works perfectly the first time. Before you roll this out to your whole team, run a no-pressure test.
- Pick 20–50 leads from the last month.
- Run them through your Factors scoring rules.
- Check: Did the best leads get the highest scores? Any surprises?
- Ask a couple of reps to sanity check: “Would you call this lead first?”
Things to watch for: - Good leads marked “Cold” (maybe your rules are too strict) - Too many “Hot” leads (did you set the bar too low?) - Random or missing data causing weird results
Iterate. Seriously, nobody nails it on the first try.
Step 6: Monitor, tweak, and don’t set-and-forget
Lead scoring isn’t a Ronco rotisserie—don’t “set it and forget it.” Things change:
- Your ideal customer profile shifts
- Marketing launches new campaigns
- Sales complains about junk leads again
What to do: - Review scores and outcomes every month or quarter - Adjust rules and weights as you learn - Archive old models so you don’t lose track of changes
Pro tip:
Keep a simple changelog (“In March, increased ‘demo request’ to +15 points”) so you know what you’ve tried. It’s less confusing when things break later.
What you can ignore (for now)
- Super-complex AI scoring: Unless you have mountains of data, the basics work just fine.
- Every possible field: More rules ≠ better results. Stick to what matters.
- Making it perfect: It won’t be. Good enough is better than nothing.
Wrapping up: Start simple, tweak often
Automating lead scoring in Factors isn’t magic, but it is a huge time saver if you keep it simple and stay hands-on. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of done—just get your first version live, see what breaks, and fix it as you go. The only real mistake is never getting started.