How to Do Lead Scoring for MQL Handoff: A Practical Guide

In many organizations, sales teams find themselves wasting time on leads that do not convert—leads that consume resources, enter the sales process, and ultimately do not close. Low conversion rates and missed targets are strong indicators that your lead qualification process needs refinement. A common cause? Ineffective or overly complicated lead scoring models.

This post outlines a practical, straightforward approach to lead scoring for MQL handoff. The goal is to ensure your sales team focuses only on high-potential leads.

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Start Simple: Focus on Firmographic Fit

Before diving into intent data or behavioral scoring, begin with the basics—firmographic data. This refers to the structural characteristics of the lead and their associated company, including:

• Job Title (related to your Ideal Customer Profile, or ICP)
  
• Industry
  
• Employee Count
  
• Revenue
  

Recommendation: If you have not yet clearly defined your ICP, it is advised to ignore intent scoring for now. Prematurely focusing on behavioral signals can lead to confusion and misalignment if the foundational attributes are not yet in place.

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How to Set Up Lead Scoring in HubSpot

To create a simple but effective scoring system, follow these steps within your HubSpot account:

1. Navigate to Lead Scoring

• Go to your Marketing Hub
  
• Scroll down and select Lead Scoring
  
• Click Create New Score
  

2. Create a Contact Fit Score

• Add a property group for the Contact
  
  
  • Example: Job Title (e.g., “Sales Manager”, “CTO”)
    
  • Assign a point value that aligns with your ICP

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• Add a property group for the Associated Company
  
  
  • Example: Number of Employees, Industry, Location
    
  • Assign relevant point values for each
    

This setup forms the foundation of your Contact Fit Score. It is designed to evaluate leads based on how closely they match your ICP—not on how they behave yet.

Use the Score to Evaluate Historical Performance

Once your score is active, HubSpot will automatically apply it to all existing contacts, including those in your Closed-Won and Closed-Lost deals.

Analyze Results:

• Do your Closed-Won deals score high?
  
• Are any Closed-Lost leads scoring higher than expected?
  

If the answer to either is yes, adjustments are needed:

• Tweak weights on certain criteria
  
• Add disqualifying attributes (e.g., industries or roles that historically do not convert)
  

This ongoing refinement ensures your scoring model becomes more predictive and less arbitrary over time.

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Final Thoughts

Lead scoring does not need to be complex to be effective. In fact, beginning with a simple, firmographic-based model allows your team to move faster and make decisions with more clarity. Once your ICP is validated, you can layer in intent data and behavioral triggers.

By aligning your MQL handoff process with a focused lead scoring model, you ensure that only the most qualified leads reach your sales team—maximizing efficiency and improving conversion rates.

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