In B2B marketing and sales, teams often rely on scoring methodologies to prioritize their prospects. Traditionally this meant static account scoring and then pivoted toward lead scoring: ranking individual leads or contacts based on their engagement and fit, and more recently, tracking intent data signals (e.g. content consumption or keyword searches) to find “in-market” buyers. Overfocusing too narrowly on individual leads or on accounts actively signaling intent is causing organizations to overlook a vast number of potential opportunities. Today we explore why a dedicated account scoring approach is essential, and how over-pivoting toward intent signals leave a large segment of future customers untouched.
Account scoring is a data-driven method to evaluate and rank entire accounts (companies) by how likely they are to convert to customers. Rather than looking at just individual leads, account scoring quantifies how closely a target company aligns with your ideal customer profile (ICP): the firmographic and behavioral traits of your best customers. In essence, it’s a rating system for an account’s propensity to buy: the more an account resembles your ICP and shows relevant engagement, the higher its score.
This approach is especially valuable in B2B contexts where purchasing decisions involve multiple stakeholders and long sales cycles. By consolidating data across all contacts in an organization, account scoring provides a holistic view of an opportunity. For example, if several employees from Company A interact with your marketing (one downloads a white paper, another requests a demo, a third attends a webinar), those activities combined, along with Company A’s attributes like industry, size, and current tech stack, will give Company A an elevated score. This helps your team recognize that Company A (the account) is engaged and fits your target profile, even if no single lead’s activity would have stood out on its own.
It’s important to distinguish account scoring from traditional lead (or contact) scoring. Lead scoring focuses on the individual person’s actions and profile. For instance, a marketing director who downloads an eBook or fills out a form might be assigned points as a lead. This model works reasonably well in simpler sales motions (like B2C or single-decision-maker scenarios). However, in B2B sales you are ultimately selling to an entire organization, not just one person. A single person’s behavior is only one piece of the puzzle.
Account scoring aggregates signals at the company level. It considers all the leads from that company and how closely the company matches your ICP, rather than treating each lead in isolation . As one guide puts it, in B2B “you often sell to companies, not individuals… What you really want to know as a salesperson is ‘what accounts should I be targeting right now.’ That’s where account scoring comes in.” In short, lead scoring might tell you who has engaged, but account scoring tells you which accounts deserve attention and resources.
Focusing on the best-fit accounts through account scoring can significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your go-to-market efforts. Rather than chasing every “squeaky” lead that shows interest, account scoring directs your team’s focus to the accounts that are most likely to become valuable customers. This has several concrete benefits for B2B organizations:
In summary, account scoring helps B2B companies concentrate their resources on the right accounts at the right time. It complements other strategies like Account-Based Marketing (ABM) by identifying early which prospects deserve personalized outreach and sales focus . Done right, it prevents missed opportunities by ensuring high-potential accounts don’t slip through the cracks just because one contact at that company hasn’t filled out a form.
Intent data, or signals that a prospect is actively researching or showing interest in a topic, has become a popular tool for identifying “hot” prospects. There’s no doubt that intent signals are valuable: they can alert you when an account is in an active buying cycle, allowing for well-timed engagement. However, relying too heavily on intent data alone comes with serious limitations. Industry research and experts have noted several pitfalls if organizations pivot exclusively toward an intent-driven approach:
Narrow focus on in-market accounts
At any given time, only a small fraction of your B2B target market is actively looking to buy. Research indicates that roughly only 5% of prospective customers are “in buying mode” now, while the remaining 95% are out-of-market and not actively looking to purchase or even aware of your offering. Concentrating solely on accounts that trigger intent signals means you’re zeroing in on that thin 5% slice and ignoring the other 95% who aren’t signaling intent today. This leaves a huge portion of future potential customers untouched.
Lack of fit context
An intent signal by itself doesn’t tell you if the interested account is actually a qualified or desirable customer. A company might be researching your product category, but that doesn’t guarantee they match your ICP or have the ability to buy. As one source points out, intent data alone won’t reveal if “they’re a big enough company, in the right industry… do they look anything like the companies you’ve closed business with in the past?” In other words, searching doesn’t necessarily indicate ability or likelihood to purchase. If you chase every account showing topical interest without filtering for fit, you risk wasting effort on organizations that would never convert or that you’d never target in the first place.
Intent signal overload
The most active intent signals (e.g. surges in research on certain topics) are non-exclusive, your competitors likely see them too. Over-reliance on the same third-party intent feeds means many vendors end up flocking to the exact same in-market accounts . Those prospects quickly become inundated with sales outreach from multiple companies at once, which dilutes your message and often irritates the buyer. The result is an “arms race” to contact a limited pool of intent-flagged accounts first, rather than a thoughtful, personalized engagement. Meanwhile, longer-term relationship-building and brand differentiation suffer in the rush.
Missed long-term opportunities
Perhaps the biggest downside of an intent-only focus is the opportunity cost. By neglecting prospects who aren’t signaling immediate interest, you fail to nurture relationships with the majority of your audience, the ones who will enter the market in the coming months or years. Over-focusing on short-term intent can lead to neglecting brand-building and education for those not yet in-market. When those 95% eventually have a need, they may not consider your solution if you haven’t already planted the seeds through earlier engagement. In short, an intent-centric strategy can create a myopic view of the market and “missed opportunities with prospects who don’t fit neatly into predefined intent categories.”
As the above points illustrate, intent data should augment your strategy, not dominate it. It’s a powerful signal for timing, but without a broader account-based view, you risk focusing on too small a window of demand.
Next, we’ll look at how account scoring helps capture those missed opportunities by balancing intent with a more holistic approach.
Embracing account scoring doesn’t mean you ignore intent data, in fact, the best results often come from integrating intent signals into an account scoring framework. The idea is to use intent data in context, as one layer of insight about an account, rather than as the sole filter for outreach. Here’s how a balanced approach can work:
Score for Fit First
Begin by evaluating which companies in your total addressable market best fit your ideal customer profile. Account scoring models (whether rule-based or predictive) can rank your target accounts by how closely they resemble your ICP, factors like industry, company size, tech stack, past buying behavior, etc. This propensity-to-buy stage pinpoints the “right companies” to focus on, before worrying about whether they are actively shopping or not. In other words, you identify high-potential accounts regardless of their current intent level. These are the accounts you want to be engaging and nurturing over time.
Overlay Intent Signals
Next, within that universe of right-fit accounts, look at which ones are showing signs of being “in-market” now. Intent data (from third-party providers or your own website analytics) can reveal if employees at those target accounts are researching topics related to your solution. Applying this as a second layer highlights the “ready companies” among your target list . Sales can prioritize outreach to these accounts immediately, since timing is favorable. For the remaining high-fit accounts that aren’t yet exhibiting intent, marketing can put them into nurturing programs, ensuring your brand stays on their radar until they do enter a buying cycle.
Identify Key People
Even at an account level, deals are made by people. Within high-scoring accounts that have intent signals, use persona and engagement scoring to find the right contacts. For example, if Company X is surging on intent and fits your ICP, which specific individuals at Company X should sales approach? Scoring at the contact level (e.g. job title relevance, individual engagement with your content) can pinpoint the likely decision-makers or champions. This ensures that once an account is selected, you focus on the right person within that account.
Tailor Outreach and Content
Finally, armed with a list of high-fit, high-intent accounts and the right contacts, your team can conduct highly targeted, account-based outreach. Marketing can tailor content and advertising to those accounts’ known interests, and sales reps can personalize their pitch to the company’s context. Meanwhile, lower-intent (but still good-fit) accounts continue to receive broad marketing touches (such as educational content, newsletters, or brand campaigns) to warm them up over time. In this way, you cover both short-term and long-term opportunities.
By combining account scoring with intent data in a structured way, you ensure that no great account gets left behind. High-fit accounts with intent get fast-tracked to sales, while high-fit accounts without current intent still get nurtured until their need emerges. This balanced strategy prevents the scenario where you only chase the same small pool of “in-market” prospects that everyone else is chasing. Instead, you’ll be cultivating relationships across your market so that when the 95% turn into active buyers, your company is already top-of-mind.
In today’s competitive sales landscape, a singular focus on lead scoring or intent signals can cause you to miss the forest for the trees. Account scoring refocuses your efforts at the right level, the account, ensuring you target companies that truly match your ideal profile and not just individuals who momentarily raised their hand. Yes, intent data is a valuable indicator, but it represents only the tip of the iceberg in terms of market opportunity. By broadening your strategy to engage the much larger segment of potential customers who aren’t actively buying right now, you build a foundation for future growth. As experts observing the 95-5 rule note, shifting your marketing to also nurture and educate the 95% of prospects out-of-market is a smart play that leads to stronger brand awareness, loyalty, and long-term revenue.
In practice, that means using account scoring to guide your teams toward the best accounts, and using intent signals as timely clues within that framework, not as the whole game plan. Organizations that strike this balance will capture both the low-hanging fruit of today’s intent signals and the abundant orchard of tomorrow’s opportunities. By developing a robust account scoring strategy, you ensure that you’re not leaving those future customers on the table, but actively cultivating them for sustained B2B success.
Sources:
CaptivateIQ Blog – “The Definitive Guide to Account Scoring”Stach Consulting – “The 95-5 Rule & B2B Marketing: What You Need to Know”