How lead scoring works
A score is assigned from two kinds of signal. Fit signals describe whether the lead matches your ideal customer: budget, location, company size, course or product interest. Engagement signals describe demonstrated intent: calls answered, pages visited, quotation requested, site visit attended. A lead flagged hot after three calls and a pricing page visit is scoring on both.
What it is for
Sequencing effort. A rep who cannot work every open lead in a day should work them in the right order, and scoring makes that order explicit rather than intuitive. The business benefit is prioritised outreach and higher conversion on the same headcount.
The common mistake
Introducing scoring before the follow-up mechanics work. If a pipeline is dropping the third and fourth contact attempt, perfect prioritisation simply means dropping the highest-scored leads more efficiently. Fix assignment, SLA timers and call cadence first; add scoring once those hold.
Related capabilities
Scoring works alongside duplicate detection (so one person is not scored three times), colour indicators for lead health, and lead archiving to keep low-scoring dead leads out of the active view without deleting their history.