Your sales team ignores lead scores. Not because they don't believe in qualification—because the scores feel arbitrary. A prospect who replied to an email gets the same grade as one who scheduled a meeting. Company size counts, but response time doesn't. You're assigning numbers that don't map to actual conversion probability. The fix isn't a new marketing automation platform. It's a transparent, data-driven formula that lives inside your CRM and your sales team can see, understand, and challenge. You don't need Marketo or Pardot. Pipedrive, HubSpot, and Orin can all execute this natively, and the math is simple enough that reps will trust it. Why your current lead scores don't work Marketing automation platforms assign points like this: Email opened: +5 points Email clicked: +10 points Downloaded whitepaper: +15 points Visited pricing page: +20 points A prospect who clicked three emails is suddenly hot. A prospect who ignored your outreach but booked a meeting with sales directly scores lower. Your sales team sees the contradiction and stops trusting the system. The deeper problem: those platforms score engagement, not fit or buying intent. A CEO at a 50-person SaaS company who opened your email isn't warmer than a coordinator at a 5,000-person enterprise who ignored it but took a meeting. Company size, industry, and actual conversation matter more than click counts. A better approach scores three things: fit (does this company match your ideal customer profile), intent (has this person actually engaged—meetings, demos, responses, not just opens), and timing (how recently did they engage). Everything else is noise. The three-factor formula Here's a system that works across Pipedrive, HubSpot, and Orin. It uses only data your sales team already tracks. Factor 1: Fit (0–40 points) Grade the prospect's company against your ideal customer profile. You don't need a 50-criterion checklist. Pick three that matter: Company size (headcount): 15 points if they match your sweet spot, 5 if they're smaller, 0 if they're too big or too small Industry or product category: 15 points if they're in a vertical you target, 5 if they're adjacent, 0 if they're outside your core Geography: 10 points if they're in a market you operate in, 0 if they're not A prospect in your target company size, in your target vertical, in a country you serve = 40 points. A prospect outside any of those = 0. This is binary and defensible. Your sales team can verify it in 10 seconds by reading the company profile. Factor 2: Intent (0–40 points) Grade actual engagement, not email opens. Actions that predict a meeting or a deal: Replied to your outreach (email, WhatsApp, LinkedIn DM): 15 points Scheduled or attended a call/demo: 25 points Shared information (answered discovery questions, agreed to next steps): 15 points Someone who booked a call gets 25 points. Someone who replied to one outreach gets 15. Someone who has done both gets 25 (don't double-count; take the highest). A prospect with zero replies gets 0. The difference between intent and engagement: opens, clicks, and form fills are noise. Replies, meetings, and information-sharing predict conversion. Only score the second group. Factor 3: Timing (0–20 points) Recency matters. A prospect who replied last week is warmer than one who replied three months ago. Last interaction in the past 7 days: 20 points Last interaction in the past 30 days: 10 points Last interaction more than 30 days ago: 0 points Use the most recent date across all touchpoints: last email reply, last call, last WhatsApp message. If you can see it in your unified messaging inbox , it counts. How to map scores to grades and action Once you have a 0–100 scale, convert it to grades that tell reps what to do next: A (80–100): Hot lead. Contact immediately. Your offer matches their fit, and they're actively engaged. This is your follow-up priority. B (60–79): Warm lead. Good fit, some engagement or recent interaction. Schedule a call. These close if you stay in touch. C (40–59): Engaged but not yet qualified. They've shown interest, but fit is unclear or engagement is old. Research the company, then reach back out with a specific angle. D (20–39): Possible fit, low engagement. They're in your target profile, but haven't replied yet. Add to a nurture sequence or try a different channel. F (0–19): Not a fit or completely cold. Different product, different industry, different geography. Unsubscribe or deprioritize. The grades create accountability. An A-grade prospect should close within 48 hours or move to B. A B-grade should have a scheduled call or become C. Reps can see the logic. How to track conversion by grade Build the formula into your CRM, then measure which grades actually convert. This is where the system proves itself. In Pipedrive, HubSpot, or Orin's CRM , create a custom field that calculates the score automatically using conditional logic. Most modern CRMs support this natively: If company size is between X and Y,