Six Tips to Kick-Start Your Lead Scoring Finding customers starts with prioritizing your prospects and scoring your leads. Use these tips to move beyond the basics.

As entrepreneurs, it's fair to say that many of us are fledglings when it comes to prioritizing prospects and scoring leads. We know, for instance, that collecting data from those who make inquiries about our products or services allows us to focus our attention on those prospects that are more likely to become customers. But actually doing it is another story.

Enter, Silverpop, an Atlanta-based email marketing-automation service, which offers six tips to kick your lead-scoring -- and customer finding -- efforts into high gear.

1. Create multiple lead scoring models. By constructing different scoring models, you have the opportunity to increase the relevance of your messages, says Silverpop. For instance, create one scoring model for each of the products or services you offer, because one product might appeal to one customer while the others hold absolutely no interest to that customer. You should also create a separate scoring model for prospects, as it will help you evaluate what's needed to make a sale. By contrast, a scoring model for customers might help you build on customer loyalty.
   
2. Incorporate more behaviors into your scoring. To get a better understanding of your lead, go beyond profiling people and organizations by creating a model that factors in added behaviors such as how much time they spend on your site and what they do while they're there. Look at their visits to your company blog, social actions generated from your website, video viewings and who's downloading what. These all factor into the scoring equation.
   
3. Slow and steady wins the race. Another great tip from Silverpop is to spoon-feed your leads. Don't try to gather all the data you need in one sitting. That leaves way too many forms abandoned. Instead, ask your prospects for a little information, then wait until they sign on again or visit your website to ask another question or two. With patience, you'll end up with a raft of valuable details.
   
4. Use web tracking to nurture your leads. Applying web analytic insights into your email marketing efforts can let you know what your prospects are seeking -- whether they're casually visiting your site or going straight to pages with specific products or services. Armed with analytics ammo, next time you can send them information that targets their specific stage within the purchasing cycle.
   
5. Track web activity before prospects opt-in. And while we're on the topic of gathering data, don't forget to log your website visitors' activity before they sign up for your emails, webinars or white papers. Watch what products or services they spend the most time on when they visit as an unregistered visitor. That way, when they finally pull the trigger and sign up for an eNewsletter or to be kept informed of your latest news and offerings, you're ready with a score and a product to push.
   
6. Tap reports to fine tune your efforts. Finally, when you've closed a deal, trace the lead backward to see what it was that attracted that particular customer. In other words, find out what worked so you can try those methods again on new prospects.

What kind of lead scoring techniques have worked for you? Please share in the comments section.