Account-based MQA scoring (L4)

The steps

1. 01

   Standardize the MQA Scorecard

   Start by establishing a cross-functional 'MQA Task Force' comprising the Head of Growth and Sales Leadership. The goal is to define the exact criteria for a Marketing Qualified Account (MQA) using three dimensions: Fit, Intent, and Engagement. • Fit: Define your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) using firmographics. Open your CRM (Salesforce/HubSpot) and pull a report of 'Closed Won' deals from the last 24 months. Identify commonalities in Industry (e.g., SaaS), Annual Revenue (e.g., $50M+), and Employee Count (e.g., 200-500). • Intent: Decide which third-party keywords indicate high purchase intent. If using 6sense or Demandbase, select 20-50 high-intent keywords (e.g., 'competitor name pricing' or 'best account-based platform'). • Engagement: List high-value first-party actions. Assign 'weights' to these: a demo request is 50 points, a webinar attendance is 10 points, and a whitepaper download is 5 points. Owner: RevOps Leader & Sales VP. Time: 4-6 hours. Pitfall: Don't set the threshold too low, or Sales will be flooded with low-quality leads and ignore the signals. Definition of Done: A documented 'MQA Scorecard' signed off by both Marketing and Sales leadership.

2. 02

   Train the Predictive Model

   You must now build a scoring model based on historical success. Access your intent platform (e.g., 6sense, Demandbase, or ZoomInfo Operations) and navigate to the 'Predictive Modeling' or 'Scoring' section. • Upload a CSV of your last 12 months of 'Closed Won' Opportunity IDs and 'Disqualified' Account IDs. This allows the AI to differentiate between 'good' and 'bad' patterns. • Configure the Fit model: Select firmographic fields (Industry, Revenue, Tech Stack). • Configure the Intent model: Map your intent keywords to the model. Set a 'lookback period' of 30-90 days to ensure you are capturing current interest, not stale data. • Formula Example: (Fit Score * 0.4) + (Intent Strength * 0.4) + (Engagement Velocity * 0.2) = Total MQA Score. Owner: Marketing Ops or Data Analyst. Time: 3-5 hours. Pitfall: Using less than 50-100 closed-won accounts will lead to an inaccurate model; if you lack data, use a heuristic-based point system instead of AI. Definition of Done: A live predictive model in your intent tool providing a 0-100 score for every account in your CRM.

3. 03

   Implement Signal Decay Logic

   High scores are meaningless if they represent activity from six months ago. You must implement a decay logic to ensure the list Sales sees is fresh. • In your Marketing Automation Platform (Marketo/HubSpot), create an 'Engagement Score' field at the Account level. • Build a workflow or 'Smart Campaign' that runs daily. Use a calculation: 'New Score = Current Score * 0.9' (this creates a 10% daily decay) or 'If last activity > 30 days, reset score to 0.' • Sync this score to your CRM Account object. • Ensure the intent platform is set to 'Daily Refresh' in its integration settings to pull in new 3P signals overnight. Owner: Marketing Ops. Time: 2 hours. Pitfall: Forgetting to exclude your own employees' activity from the scoring, which can artificially inflate account scores. Definition of Done: An automated 'Scoring Engine' that updates every 24 hours, visible on the Salesforce Account layout under a field named 'Predictive MQA Score.'

4. 04

   Automate High-Intent Routing

   Now, connect the data to the sales workflow. You don't want AEs digging for data; you want the data to find them. • Navigate to your CRM Lead Routing tool (LeanData, Distribution Engine, or native Salesforce Flows). • Create a rule: 'If Account Score >= 80 (Top 10%) AND Account Owner is Active, then Trigger Notification.' • Set up a Slack or MS Teams alert using a tool like Rattle or a direct HubSpot integration. • Alert Template: '🔥 HOT MQA: [Account Name] just hit a score of 85. Recent activity: [Key Person] searched for [Competitor Name] 3 times today. Click here to view the Outreach snippet.' • Ensure accounts scoring 50-79 are routed to a 'Automated Nurture' track rather than a person. Owner: RevOps. Time: 4 hours. Pitfall: Overbearing notifications. If an AE gets 20 'High MQAs' a day, they will mute the channel. Only route the top 5-10% of total accounts. Definition of Done: A functional routing rule that successfully pushes a test account to a Sales rep's Slack immediately after a score change.

5. 05

   Build the Sales Command Center

   To ensure adoption, create a dedicated 'MQA Dashboard' in your CRM. Sales reps should start their day here instead of their inbox. • Create a Tabular Report filtered by 'Account Score' (Descending). • Include columns: Account Name, Last Engagement Date, Top Intent Keywords, and Assigned AE. • Create a 'Pipeline Conversion' chart showing the conversion rate from 'MQA' status to 'SQL' (Sales Qualified Lead). • Schedule a bi-weekly 'Feedback Loop' meeting. Ask reps: 'Was this account actually ready to talk?' If not, go back to Step 2 and adjust weights. • KPI Check: Look for an MQA -> SQO (Sales Qualified Opportunity) conversion rate improvement of 15%+. Owner: RevOps & Sales Ops. Time: 3 hours. Pitfall: Failing to provide 'context' in the dashboard. Don't just show a score of 90; show *why* the score is 90 (e.g., 'Attended 2 webinars'). Definition of Done: A live Salesforce Dashboard accessible by all Sales reps, refreshed daily, showing the 'Top 50 MQAs' to target this week.

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