Sales and marketing teams have a lot on their plates. With all the work there is to do, the last thing they need is to lose time going after the wrong opportunities. And even when you’ve narrowed down a list of ideal prospects working at ideal companies, only 15% of your potential buyers are in […]
Sales and marketing teams have a lot on their plates. With all the work there is to do, the last thing they need is to lose time going after the wrong opportunities. And even when you’ve narrowed down a list of ideal prospects working at ideal companies, only 15% of your potential buyers are in the market at any given time. That’s why prioritization is so important: when you can identify the leads that are most promising (aka most likely to turn into customers), you get to focus your efforts and save valuable time.
That means you can spend more time doing all the other things that make your job great, like crafting the right content for your audience or crushing it on a sales call. Of course, that’s often easier said than done. The problem is figuring out where to even start with setting your priorities. There’s so much data out there; what’s the best way to look at it?
Well, that’s why we’re here. Here’s how you can use data to sort out your prospecting priorities.
The basics: data that helps prioritize leads
At a basic level, setting pipeline priorities usually means looking at a bunch of factors that can all add up to a likelihood to convert. Often this includes:
- Segmentation based on behavior, demographics, and other factors.
- Ranking lead sources based on how much they indicate a prospect is likely to buy.
- Looking at data on a lead’s engagement with your content or calls to action.
There are a few widely-known qualification methods, too (and a couple of them come with handy acronyms). Like BANT (budget, authority, need, timing) and CHAMP (challenges, authority, money, prioritization). These help you figure out the quality of your leads and who to go after first.
And of course, there’s always everyone’s favorite prioritization technique: lead scoring.
Using data to score leads is foundational to prioritization
Lead scoring is one of the most common ways to use data to prioritize opportunities, and for good reason. It helps measure how prospects’ actions show their buying potential, meaning it’s a way to know which prospects to go after first.
You probably already know how it works, but here’s a quick refresher:
- Assign a number value to prospect behaviors (like scrolling through pricing pages, downloading content, etc.). Higher intent actions get higher scores. Other actions or inactive time earn a deduction from the total score.
- Use that final number value to rank prospects’ interest in what you’re selling.
- The higher the score, the more likely they are to buy from you.
*Insert record scratch here*
Okay, all that stuff we just talked about is fine, but you can still do better.
Sure, they’re time-tested techniques that a lot of go-to-market teams rely on. But really, they can only do so much. And we know you’re looking for something more than that.
The information you really want is where your prospects are, where they’re headed, and how you can reach them there before your competitors. Any salesperson or marketer in any industry knows that’s the real key to closing a deal. You want to prioritize the prospects you can get to first. Everything else is pretty much extra fluff.
The best and simplest way to do that (short of some kind of ESP) is with intent data.
Intent data is a prioritization powerhouse
Of all the ways to prioritize leads, intent data is our favorite. Because remember that stat we mentioned about only 15% of buyers being in-market at any given time? That basically means that 85% of those potentially perfect customers aren’t really interested in listening to what you have to say right now. Ouch.
Plus, a lot of B2B solutions have long commitments. So your target customer might be in the market for a few months…but then tied up in a contract for a few years. In fact, 32% of SaaS companies have contract terms that are on average two years or more. So basically, if you don’t snag your prospect during that small window of opportunity, your chance is gone for a pretty long time.
Naturally, your efforts are best spent going after that smaller percentage who are looking for the kind of solution that you offer and getting there ASAP. And while lead scoring can help with that, intent data can give you even more insight (with less math).
Intent data, like the kind Lusha offers in our Warm Outbound Suite, shows which companies (and which specific locations) are actively looking for what you sell. You want to make sure that your intent data (and the contact data you’re using to cross-reference it) is as up-to-date as possible.
Good intent data isn’t just about what keywords they’re searching for, although that’s part of it. Intent data combines those searches with other behavioral signals to assign scores relative to specific topics. Naturally, the higher the score, the higher the intent.
How to actually use intent for prioritization
That sounds cool and all, but how do you actually use it?
Think of intent data as another layer you can add to your prospecting filters. When you’re prospecting and going after your ideal customer profile (ICP), use intent signals to narrow that list down even more.
Let’s take it step by step:
- Enter your ICP details into prospecting filters (location, size, etc.).
- Select intent topics to track as an additional filter.
- Receive list of prospects that features an intent score for your selected topics. Intent scores are based on company-wide intent signals and show for every person at that company.
- Select the prospects who fit your buyer profile and work at companies with high intent scores, and prioritize them first.
- Reach out to those prospects with personalized messaging informed by intent.
- Enjoy your success.
Here’s why this is valuable.
If you’re just looking at prospecting based on your ICP, you’re still going to pull up thousands of results. And while that sounds great, your salespeople only have so many hours in a day. They need to point their focus at the path of least resistance. Adding intent signals is going to help you whittle that down to a much more manageable list of super hot opportunities to work on tackling first.
The higher an intent score, the hotter the lead. The score comes from a combination of all the behavioral signals that show likelihood to buy. When companies search for a product or service, they’re leaving breadcrumbs of buying signals all over the internet. AI and machine learning algorithms gobble up those crumbs to produce actionable intent data. When an ICP company has a high intent score for your topic, that means that they are leaving lots of those breadcrumbs. Basically, it’s a neon sign pointing right at them that says “looking to buy!”
At that point, it’s pretty simple to guess why it makes sense to put them at the top of your priority list.
Instead of wasting your time on discouraging “spray and pray” tactics, cast your line right where your most hungry prospects are and reel them right in.
Key Takeaways
- Prioritizing your pipeline includes looking at lead source, prospect segments, and behaviors.
- Lead scoring is one of the most basic ways to prioritize your leads based on data analytics.
- Intent data can increase your prioritization power by showing you who’s actively in-market for your solution – and is the simplest way to prioritize with data.
