WHAT IS ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT, AND HOW IT WORKS IN HUBSPOT
In the dynamic realm of business, effective account management plays a pivotal role in nurturing...
The connection between marketing and sales is crucial for a company's success. A powerful way to facilitate this collaboration is by using lead scoring, a process that assigns scores to leads based on their profile and behavior. In this blog, we will explore the best practices of establishing strong alignment between marketing and sales through lead scoring, highlighting the best practices to implement and leverage HubSpot's platform effectively.
The best practices for Perfect Alignment between Marketing and Sales
Lead Scoring Process for Transitioning from Lead to MQL
Effectively Managing Unqualified Leads
One of the primary challenges in uniting marketing and sales is to share common objectives. This means both teams must work together to generate leads and convert them into customers. Achieving this requires close collaboration to define clear lead qualification criteria and determine the point at which a lead should transition from marketing to sales.
Clear definition of qualified leads is crucial to avoid misunderstandings between marketing and sales teams. Both teams must agree on criteria that qualify a lead, such as:
Once these criteria are established, the lead scoring process can be implemented to evaluate and score each lead based on relevance and interest.
Transparent communication between marketing and sales teams is a fundamental pillar of perfect alignment. Regularly sharing information about leads and their progression in the sales process allows both teams to stay informed, enabling them to make data-driven decisions at every stage of the buyer's journey.
Frequent analysis of lead performance stands as a critical driver in the ongoing enhancement of the lead scoring process. Through close collaboration, marketing and sales teams can identify gaps in their strategies and make necessary adjustments, leading to a more refined approach that generates a higher number of qualified leads and boosts conversion rates. This proactive approach to data-driven decision-making empowers both teams to stay agile and responsive in a dynamic market environment, ensuring sustained growth and competitiveness in the industry.
The lead scoring process is a critical step in efficiently transferring a lead from marketing to sales. Here are the steps to achieve this:
Criteria such as industry, company size, decision-maker role, etc., should be taken into account to assess the lead's relevance to your business.
Interactions with the website, content downloads, email openings, social media engagement, etc., should be tracked to evaluate the lead's engagement with your brand.
By assigning points to each criterion, a cumulative score is obtained, indicating the lead's level of interest and qualification. You will see below how to setup the lead scoring property in HubSpot
(HubSpot score property setup)
Once a lead reaches a predefined score, they become an MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) and are transferred to sales for personalized follow-up.
In order to automate the lead lifecycle stage, you will use a powerful no-code tool included in HubSpot: the workflows (see screenshot below for simple automation)
(Lead scoring automation workflow)
It is inevitable that some leads may not meet the qualification criteria or are not yet fully qualified for sales engagement. To effectively manage these leads, consider the following approaches:
If a lead does not meet any of the qualification criteria, they can be completely disqualified, and no further marketing contact is made.
For leads showing potential but not yet meeting the required criteria, lead nurturing is an effective approach. Placing them back into a lead nurturing process allows marketing to continue nurturing the relationship and aiming to increase their score to become potential MQLs in the future.
Establishing perfect alignment between marketing and sales through lead scoring is vital for optimizing lead generation and conversion processes. Utilizing the powerful HubSpot platform enables marketing and sales teams to collaborate closely and benefit from a seamless flow of data, ultimately maximizing the effectiveness of their sales strategies. By defining clear qualification criteria, systematically evaluating leads, and continuously adjusting strategies, the company can not only improve sales performance but also deliver a more consistent and personalized customer experience.
Want to know more about aligning Markting & sales? Download our free guide on 6 key actions to align Marketing & Sales → Download it here
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