Key takeaways
- Value is fit, deal potential and timing together, not company size alone.
- Effort to win matters: a smaller, faster deal can deserve more of your time.
- Tiers make prioritisation practical for a busy team.
- Set the scoring rules from what your won deals had in common.
- Re-score when something changes, not only once a quarter.
What makes a prospect high-value
A prospect is high-value when it fits well, could become a sizeable or strategic customer and has a reason to act soon.
Size helps, but it is not the whole picture. A large company with no current need is worth less this quarter than a mid-sized one that has just hired a leader to fix the problem you solve. Strategic value counts too: a well-known name in a new industry can open doors to its peers.
How do you score prospects
Score prospects on a few criteria you can check from research, each on a simple scale.
Give each criterion a score from one to three and add them up. Keep the rule simple enough that two sellers scoring the same account reach the same answer.
- Fit: industry, size, location and business model against your ideal customer profile.
- Potential: likely deal size, the number of teams or seats, and room to grow.
- Timing: a recent trigger, a stated priority or a contract renewal.
- Access: a known contact, a warm route in or a reply already received.
- Effort: the likely length of the sales cycle and the number of approvers.
How do you turn scores into priorities
Turn scores into tiers and give each tier a different amount of effort.
Tier one accounts get deep research, several stakeholders and personal touches. Tier two get a lighter, segment-level message. Tier three go into nurture, such as a newsletter, until a trigger moves them up. An illustrative firm selling compliance software might put banks that have just entered a new market in tier one, other banks in tier two and unrelated financial firms in tier three.
How do you check your scoring works
Check it by comparing the tiers with what actually happened: did tier one accounts produce more meetings and deals than the others?
If not, look at the wins that came from lower tiers and ask what they had in common. Adjust the weights, not just the scores of single accounts, so the rule improves for everyone.
How to identify high-value prospects, step by step
Agree the scoring rule once, then apply it every week.
- List the traits your best recent customers shared at the time they bought.
- Turn those traits into four or five criteria, each scored from one to three.
- Score every prospect on your list and add up the totals.
- Sort prospects into three tiers and set the effort each tier gets.
- Re-score accounts when a trigger appears, and review the rule against results each quarter.
Where Pebbles Ai fits
- CapabilityProspecting & customer recordsThe CRM, in Beta, keeps ideal customer profiles, a score badge on records and admin-defined custom fields, such as a Choice field that records each account's tier.
- CapabilityResearch & analysisAsk an assistant to research a prospect from its website and public sources before you score it, with numbered citations you can check.
Common questions
Should company size decide priority?
It should be one input, not the deciding one. Timing and fit often matter more than size for winning a deal this quarter.
How often should prospects be re-scored?
Whenever new evidence appears, such as a trigger or a reply, and in a full review each quarter.
Is prioritising prospects the same as lead scoring?
Not quite. Prospect prioritisation ranks accounts you plan to approach; lead scoring usually ranks people already engaging with you. The two often share criteria.
About this page. Written by the Pebbles Ai team for people who run sales, marketing and growth. Last updated .
