# How to Build Account Scoring Models for Prioritization
In the world of Account-Based Marketing (ABM), your success depends entirely on where you point your resources. Without a robust account scoring model, your sales and marketing teams are essentially guessing which Australian businesses are ready to buy, leading to wasted budget and missed opportunities. By building a scoring model, you transition from subjective hunches to data-driven prioritisation, ensuring your best talent is always working on the highest-value accounts.
Why Account Scoring Matters
Account scoring allows you to rank your Target Account List (TAL) based on two critical factors: how well they fit your business (Firmographics) and how interested they are in your services (Intent). For Brisbane-based businesses looking to scale, this means higher conversion rates, shorter sales cycles, and a much better relationship between your sales and marketing departments.---
Prerequisites
Before you begin, ensure you have the following:- A defined Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
- Access to your CRM (e.g., HubSpot, Salesforce, or Pipedrive).
- A list of your current customers to identify common traits.
- Basic spreadsheet software (Google Sheets or Excel).
- Input from both your Head of Sales and Head of Marketing.
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Step 1: Define Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
You cannot score what you haven't defined. Look at your top 10 most profitable Australian clients. What do they have in common? Consider industry, annual revenue, employee count, and location. Screenshot Description: You should see a spreadsheet or CRM dashboard showing a list of your current 'Closed Won' deals with columns for Industry, Revenue, and Location.Step 2: Categorise Your Scoring Criteria
Divide your scoring into two main buckets: Fit (Static data) and Engagement (Behavioural data).- Fit: Does this company look like our best customers? (e.g., ABN registered, 20+ employees).
- Engagement: Is this company interacting with us? (e.g., visited our pricing page three times this week).
Step 3: Assign Values to Firmographic Data (Fit)
Assign point values to specific attributes. For example:- Industry: Mining & Resources (+20 points), Retail (+5 points).
- Company Size: 50–200 employees (+15 points).
- Location: Queensland-based (+10 points).
- Negative Fit: Competitor (-100 points).
Step 4: Define Intent and Engagement Signals
List the actions a prospect takes before they usually buy. In an Australian context, this might include downloading a whitepaper on local compliance or attending a Brisbane networking event you sponsored.- Email open: 2 points.
- Website visit: 5 points.
- High-intent page visit (Pricing/Contact): 15 points.
- Webinar attendance: 20 points.
Step 5: Establish Weighting and Thresholds
Not all actions are equal. A CEO visiting your site is worth more than an intern doing research. Decide on a "Sales Ready" threshold—for example, any account that reaches 60 points is automatically passed to the sales team for direct outreach.Step 6: Normalise the Data
Ensure your data is clean. If your CRM has "QLD" for some entries and "Queensland" for others, your scoring model might miss them. Standardise your dropdown menus in your CRM to ensure the scoring engine can read the data accurately.Step 7: Build the Model in Your CRM or Spreadsheet
If you use HubSpot or Salesforce, use the 'Calculated Property' or 'Lead Scoring' tool. If you are doing this manually, create a Google Sheet where your 'Total Score' column is a sum of your Fit and Engagement columns. Screenshot Description: In HubSpot, navigate to Settings > Properties > Lead Scoring. You will see a builder where you can add 'Positive' and 'Negative' attributes with associated point values.Step 8: Calculate Decay (The 'Cooling Off' Period)
Engagement scores should not last forever. If a prospect visited your site 50 times six months ago but hasn't returned, they aren't a hot lead anymore. Set a decay rule where engagement points decrease by 10% every week of inactivity.Step 9: Align Sales and Marketing on the 'Hand-off'
This is the most critical step. Meet with your sales team and agree: "When an account hits 70 points, the BDR (Business Development Rep) will call them within 4 hours." Without this agreement, the scoring model is just a vanity project.Step 10: Run a Pilot Test
Before rolling this out to the whole team, apply the model to 50 existing accounts (a mix of known 'good' and 'bad' ones). Does the model correctly identify the 'good' ones as high-priority? If not, adjust the point weighting.Step 11: Implement Tiered Messaging
Once accounts are scored, categorise them into Tiers:- Tier 1 (80+ points): 1-to-1 bespoke outreach, custom landing pages.
- Tier 2 (50-79 points): 1-to-few industry-specific email sequences.
- Tier 3 (20-49 points): General brand awareness and automated nurturing.
Step 12: Review and Optimise Monthly
Market conditions in Australia change. Perhaps a new regulation makes a specific industry more likely to need your services. Review your top-scoring accounts every month to see if they actually converted. If high-scoring accounts aren't buying, your 'Fit' criteria might be wrong.---
Pro Tips for Success
- Keep it simple: Start with 5-7 criteria. Over-complicating the model makes it impossible to troubleshoot.
- Use Negative Scoring: Don't forget to subtract points for 'junk' leads, such as students or job seekers.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Ignoring the 'Silent' Account: Some great prospects never visit your website because they are already talking to a competitor. Use third-party intent data if your budget allows.
- Set and Forget: Thinking the model is "finished." It is a living document that needs regular calibration.
- Disconnected Systems: Building a model in a spreadsheet that never gets updated in the CRM where the sales team actually works.
Troubleshooting
- Problem: All accounts have the same high score.
- Problem: Sales says the high-scoring leads are "rubbish."
- Problem: Data is missing.
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Next Steps
Now that you have a scoring model, it's time to build the campaigns that target these high-priority accounts. Check out our guide on "Creating High-Conversion LinkedIn Ads for ABM" or learn how to align your sales and marketing teams for better results.Need help setting up your CRM for automated account scoring? The team at Local Marketing Group can help you build and implement a custom model tailored to the Australian market. Contact us today to get started.