How to Score Your Prospects

Scoring your prospects can help you manage your time. Who is a priority?

I challenge you to rate your prospects A, B, C. I’ve created eight questions that will help you do just that. 

My top category ‘A’ means they fit my ICP, I can help them, they have great lifetime value including downstream revenue and referral potential.

Now, are there magic thresholds? No, but I believe that there’s a max. At max, maybe 10% of your prospects are A’s, and there’s probably 40-50% that are B’s and 40-50% that are C’s. 

Only 10% are A’s, because my whole objective is to spend more time on fewer customers.

1. Do they fit your ICP? 

If they don’t fit your ICP, I don’t care if they’re an A, B, or C. They shouldn’t be in there. They must fit your ideal customer profile, period. 

2. Can you help them? 

In other words, they may be somebody that fits your ICP, but you can’t help them. Now I really have to question why they’re in my pipeline. 

Maybe they could be in my pipeline because I can help them a year from now, or six months from now. I’ll get into that in just a bit….

3. What’s the lifetime value of the customer? 

I want to look at each opportunity. Is this a one-time sale or is this a sale that’s going to wind up resulting in X, Y, Z?

Is this a customer that the sale is so significant, they’re so big, they’re so influential that the lifetime value is absolutely huge? If it is, guess what? I’m going to give them an A. 

4. What’s the sales cycle? 

The sales cycle is going to vary based on the type of customer you’re dealing with. If you have a customer who is a small opportunity and they have a long sales process, I’m not even going to worry about them at all. 

They may even have some lifetime value, some potential, but their sales cycle is so difficult because of the bidding process, quoting, budgets and procurement. I’m just not going to dance with them. Or, if I do dance with them, I’m going to put them in the C category.

5. Is there downstream revenue?

If I get to work with this customer, they’re in turn going to help me get involved with their customers. I’m going to be able to serve their customers upstream. I may be able to help their suppliers. I’m looking at what is the downstream revenue potential for this opportunity.

6. Positioning in your industry. 

Is this a high profile company in your industry that, if you captured that logo, would mean working with a great company? 

Positioning in your industry may also be individuals. They may be led by a CEO or someone else that has a tremendous amount of influence in the industry. That person’s going to wind up going to work for somebody else or leading somebody else, and they’re going to take me with them. 

7. What’s the referral potential? 

In other words, how much other business could this customer get me? Referral potential, meaning it may be other divisions within their company or other companies that they own. It may be others in the industry because they’re kind of a big wheel in their industry association. It is not like they’re a flagship, but they just have a lot of connections. 

Read Mark’s Tips for How to Ask for a Referral

8. What’s the learning potential?

Is this a customer that, if we were to land, we would learn a tremendous amount? I have done this a number of times over the years in my own business because a company will help me be better. I think, “Well, we want to develop this technology more. Here’s a company that’s working with the technology, and if we get them as a customer, that’s going to help us develop X.”

I’ve shared with you eight questions to help you determine if a prospect is an A, B, or a C. 

Each score requires a different time commitment, too.

My B’s, I’m still catching regularly. They’re in my cadence, and I’m touching base. As for the C’s, if I run out of time, I run out of time. I may stay engaged with C’s for two or three months trying to get them. And if I’m not having success, if we haven’t found traction, cut them out. On the other hand, for A’s I’m going to stay in the game with them for several years. 

I’ve had customers that I’ve had to prospect for two to three years before they became a customer. But they were such big opportunities that they were worth it. 

If all I did was focus on those A’s as a salesperson, I would starve to death, so that’s why I need some B’s and some C’s. 

Elevate Your Emails to Close More Deals

Uncover the power of sending fewer, more targeted emails rather than resorting to mass blasts.

Episode 225 is out NOW on all podcast platforms.

Digital Tools & Strategies for Better Lead Generation

Join me and Kak Varley as we explore the fascinating intersection of lead generation and digital marketing from a sales perspective.

Ep. 226 out now! Find it here. 

Copyright 2024, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog.  Mark Hunter is the author of A Mind for Sales and High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results.