Why sales think your leads are rubbish (and how propensity changes the conversation)

It’s an all-too-familiar situation in the B2B tech space.

Marketing confidently reports hitting their lead targets. Campaign dashboards look strong, content is being downloaded, and the pipeline is set for a much-needed boost.

And yet, sales teams are far from impressed.

• “These leads aren’t ready for a sales conversation”

• “They’re just researching what’s possible”

• “The prospect has no urgency to engage”

All of which leaves marketing feeling frustrated and sales feeling both underwhelmed (quality) and overwhelmed (quantity) in equal measure. A reality that acts to quietly erode trust between all involved, with initial excitement replaced by bland indifference.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: sales aren’t wrong. The leads they’re being asked to follow up, to put their names against in the sales pipeline, are typically far from ideal.

Not because they’re of a poor quality, or missing one or all of the Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline criteria – but because they’re simply been uncovered too early.

False positives at scale

Enterprise tech buying journeys are obviously long, complex, and political. We all know this. Like we know decisions rarely rest with one person, or that before any sales conversation happens buyers are already deep in their research phase:

• Reading articles

• Attending events and webinars

• Questioning their network

• Testing initial assumptions

• Sharing links internally

Behaviour that generates the clicks and downloads that encouragingly point to a sense of activity. The trouble however is that such activity doesn’t always equal readiness, and is the source of many false positives in a B2B environment where:

• Long buying cycles mean extended research phases

• Early-stage exploration inflates engagement metrics

• Individuals research without organisational alignment

To marketing, this looks like momentum. To sales, it feels like noise.

The limits of activity-based lead scoring

Traditional lead scoring systems reward what’s easy to measure:

• A whitepaper download

• A webinar attendance

• A demo request

These signals tell you what happened, but they won’t tell you what’s likely to happen next. Plus, when all activity is weighted similarly context disappears. A single download from a junior researcher will often be treated the same as repeated engagement from senior stakeholders inside a dedicated buying committee.

The result is volume without clarity, where timing is ignored, fit underweighted, and group dynamics remain invisible – with sales team left to filter manually.

The shift: from leads to likelihood

Change begins when we consider the fundamental question being asked of a lead. For marketing it’s typically: “is this lead engaged?” For sales though, what they really care about is: “how likely is this account to buy?”.

Moving the needle from engagement to likelihood is where true alignment begins. An ambition that also shines a light on the audience insights available. Because while intent data may surface behaviour, alone it cannot distinguish between curiosity and commitment. Propensity modelling goes further by evaluating patterns and uncovering:

• Frequency and depth of engagement

• Account-level activity across different roles

• Alignment with ideal customer profiles

• The consolidation of interest around specific solutions

This is the ultimate difference between intent and propensity data: from reacting to clicks to assessing (and acting upon) meaningful movement. It’s also about empowering sales by moving the focus beyond individuals to identify:

• Which organisations are demonstrating sustained research

• Whether multiple stakeholders are engaging

• How interest is spreading across a buying group

• Whether activity is intensifying or fading

So instead of providing sales with a list of names, marketing can prioritise accounts based on a detailed understanding of why individual organisations matter – and provide the vital context needed to turn first conversations into active pipeline opportunities.

The outcome: a better conversation

When marketing shifts from chasing volume to prioritising likelihood, the entire sales dynamic changes. Quantum’s propensity modelling makes this possible by identifying those prospects demonstrating coordinated research activity and sustained engagement – the signals that indicate real buying movement.

As a result:

• Sales time is concentrated on high-propensity accounts

• Outreach is informed by observed behaviour, not guesswork

• Conversations begin warmer, earlier and with greater relevance

Because in B2B tech, the challenge isn’t generating more activity. It’s identifying the organisations most likely to move from interest to revenue – then acting before your competitors do.

Ready to progress from chasing lead to prioritising likelihood? Then get in touch to see how Quantum helps activate propensity-driven sales growth.