How Lead Scoring & Sales Alignment Increased Lead Conversion by 50%
The Challenge
The client approach us with a familiar but costly problem: although they were generating strong organic traffic, their lead management process was too fragmented to turn that interest into revenue.
Each business unit handled leads differently. Qualification criteria were unclear, follow-up was inconsistent, and HubSpot had become overly complex, filled with conflicting lifecycle stages, duplicated properties, and disjointed workflows.
Despite healthy demand, the team lacked confidence in what constituted a high quality MQL, which meant high intent prospects were not being prioritised, routed correctly, or actioned quickly.
The business didn’t need more leads, they needed clarity, consistency and control.
Defining What a Quality Lead Looks Like
We facilitated a cross-functional workshop to define, once and for all, the behavioural and fit criteria that genuinely signalled buying intent. This alignment became the foundation of the new system, ensuring every team spoke the same language when referring to an MQL.
Building a Smart Lead Scoring Model
Using the unified definitions, we designed a complete lead scoring framework inside HubSpot.
Leads were categorised from C1 (low fit / low engagement) through to A1 (high fit / high engagement), based on a blend of:
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Demographic and firmographic fit
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Website Engagement
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Buying signal activities
Only truly sales-ready leads hit the top tier.
Creating a Reliable Handoff From Marketing to Sales
We mapped out a clean, repeatable handoff motion for A1 + A2 leads. This revealed critical gaps in:
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Engagement tracking
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UTM consistency
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Data capture
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Activity attribution
Fixing these gave the client the visibility they had been missing.
Driving Consistency Across Business Units
With the scoring model and qualification criteria established, we implemented structured routing and clear follow up expectations. Sales teams now received leads with context, history and prioritisation logic, improving confidence and speeding up response times.
The Results
Within weeks, the organisation saw a measurable lift in performance
- 50% increase in MQL > SQL conversion, driven by clear definitions and stronger prioritisation
- Improved collaboration between marketing and sales through shared qualification rules
- Cleaner, more structured lead routing, reducing manual triaging and delays
- Better data quality and engagement visibility, exposing and resolving tracking issues
- A stronger HubSpot foundation, enabling accurate reporting and long term scalability
Key Takeaway
This project demonstrates how aligning teams around a single definition of lead quality, supported by a robust scoring and routing framework, can transform funnel performance. By simplifying HubSpot, improving data capture, and establishing a clear handoff process, we helped the client dramatically improve conversion and restore confidence across sales and marketing.