Matrixx0070 Lead Triage
When to use
Use this when inbound leads are piling up and the owner or a small sales team needs to know exactly who to contact first today — instead of working the list in random order or letting hot leads go cold.
Not for: building a call list from existing CRM deals with history (use smb-call-list) or CRM data hygiene (use smb-crm-cleanup). This triages fresh, un-worked inbound.
Method
- Gather the leads. List new and open inbound leads with source, date received, stated need, budget signal, and any prior contact.
- Score each lead. Rate on fit (matches ideal customer), intent (urgency and buying signals), value (estimated deal size), and freshness (newer and un-contacted ranks higher). Decision point: combine into one score, but let strong intent override a mediocre fit — an urgent buyer beats a perfect-profile tire-kicker.
- Rank and cut to five. Surface the top 5 to call today; hold the rest in a warm queue.
- Draft the approach. For each of the five, write a one-line context brief and a suggested opening (call or message) referencing their stated need.
- Set follow-ups. Recommend next-touch timing for leads not reached and for the warm queue.
- Flag mismatches. Note leads that are poor fit or spam to deprioritize.
Present outreach drafts for the owner to approve before sending; customer contact is owner-approved.
Example
18 new leads. Top pick: "Marisol, form fill 2 hrs ago, needs a catered event for 60 next month, budget noted" — score 9/10 (high intent + fresh + fits). Opening: "Hi Marisol, saw you need catering for 60 next month — happy to lock a date; what's the day?" Warm queue: a good-fit lead with no urgency → next touch in 3 days. Deprioritized: a "free samples?" message with no event → spam-ish, hold.
Pitfalls
- Scoring fit over intent. A ready-to-buy lead who's slightly off-profile still outranks a perfect fit with no urgency.
- Working the list oldest-first. Freshness matters — a 2-hour-old inbound converts far better than a week-old one.
- Generic openings. Reference the lead's stated need, not "just following up."
- Sending unapproved. Draft the outreach; the owner approves before any message goes out.
Output format
Leads reviewed: <n> | new: <n>
Call these 5 today:
1. <name> — source <..> — score <n>/10 — need <..>
Opening: "<suggested>"
Warm queue (ranked): <lead> — next touch <when>
Follow-up schedule: <not-reached leads — timing>
Deprioritized / spam: <lead — why>
Reference
Scoring rubric (weighted, 100-point scale)
Score each lead on four dimensions, multiply by the weight, and sum. Fit and intent carry the most weight because they predict conversion; freshness is a tiebreaker and a decay multiplier, not the whole score.
| Dimension | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Fit | 30 | Match to ideal customer profile — industry, size, geography, use case |
| Intent | 35 | Buying signals — explicit need, timeline, "how much / how soon", demo request |
| Value | 20 | Estimated deal size and margin |
| Freshness | 15 | How recently they came in and whether un-contacted |
Fit anchors (0-30): 30 = squarely in ICP; 20 = adjacent, workable; 10 = edge case; 0 = out of market. Intent anchors (0-35): 35 = asked to buy / booked a call / stated a deadline; 25 = requested pricing or a demo; 15 = downloaded/asked a question; 5 = passive browse; 0 = no signal. Value anchors (0-20): scale to your own average order value — 20 = well above AOV, 12 = around AOV, 5 = below, 0 = unknown/tiny. Freshness anchors (0-15): 15 = < 1 hour and un-contacted; 12 = same day; 8 = 1-3 days; 4 = 4-7 days; 0 = > 7 days or already worked.
Score bands and SLA
| Band | Score | Action | Response SLA |
|---|---|---|---|
| A — Hot | 75-100 | Call today, personally | < 1 hour if possible; same day mandatory |
| B — Warm | 50-74 | Call within 24-48h; nurture sequence | 1 business day |
| C — Cool | 25-49 | Automated nurture; revisit weekly | 3-5 days |
| D — Disqualify | < 25 or spam | Archive with reason | none |
The 5-minute rule matters: contacting a web lead within 5 minutes vs 30 minutes can raise the odds of a real conversation by roughly an order of magnitude, and drops sharply after the first hour. This is why a fresh B-lead often outranks a day-old A on who to call first this second.
Override rules
- Intent trumps fit. A ready-to-buy lead slightly off-profile (high intent, mid fit) still ranks above a perfect-fit tire-kicker with no urgency.
- Freshness as a decay multiplier. For time-sensitive businesses, multiply the intent+value subtotal by 0.9 per day un-contacted after day one — a hot lead going cold should visibly fall.
- Hard disqualifiers (auto-D regardless of score): no budget authority, out of service area, competitor recon, obvious spam, or explicitly "just researching, no timeline."
Opening-line framework
Reference the stated need, propose a concrete next step, keep it one or two sentences. Structure: {recognize their need} → {credible one-line proof/answer} → {specific ask with a date}. Avoid "just following up" and "touching base." Example spine: "Hi {name}, saw you need {stated need} by {their timeline} — we do exactly that; would {day/time} work for a quick call to lock it in?"
Follow-up cadence for un-reached leads
A persistent, multi-touch cadence recovers far more than one-and-done. Suggested sequence across ~2-3 weeks: Day 0 (call + email), Day 1 (call at a different time of day), Day 3 (email with a specific value point), Day 5 (call), Day 8 (short "still interested?" email), Day 14 (break-up email — "should I close your file?"). Vary channel and time of day; most connects happen on attempts 2-6, not attempt 1. Move to the warm/nurture queue only after the cadence is exhausted.
Metrics
Track speed-to-first-contact (median minutes), contact rate (reached ÷ attempted), lead-to-opportunity conversion by band (validate that A > B > C — if not, the rubric weights need recalibration), and time-to-first-touch vs conversion to prove the freshness effect in your own data.