SYSTEM
HIGHWAY6.0
Replacing a broken validation-based lead system with behavioral scoring intelligence
Current Accept Rate
Target Accept Rate
Sales Time Wasted
Workflows Replaced
The Origin Philosophy.
The Highway system was built with a clear philosophy: behavioral scoring should determine when a lead is ready for sales. Marketing would educate and nurture prospects, tracking engagement through a point system. Only when someone accumulated enough evidence of buying intent would they cross the threshold to become an SQL.
Download whitepaper → Get points, enter TOFU
Attend webinar → More points, progress continues
View pricing, engage with case studies → Score builds
Hit threshold → Go to sales, educated and primed
What Actually Got Built.
Internal pressure pushed for a validation-based model instead. The system got flipped. Every form submission went directly to sales for manual validation—no differentiation between a whitepaper download and a demo request.
Download whitepaper → Get points, enter TOFU
Attend webinar → More points, progress continues
View pricing, engage with case studies → Score builds
Hit threshold → Go to sales, educated and primed
SQL Acceptance Rate
Leads Rejected by Sales
The Problem The this Created.
The Highway system was built with a clear philosophy: behavioral scoring should determine when a lead is ready for sales. Marketing would educate and nurture prospects, tracking engagement through a point system. Only when someone accumulated enough evidence of buying intent would they cross the threshold to become an SQL.
Sales Doing Marketing's Job
Instead of closing deals, reps spend time manually validating whether someone who downloaded a guide is actually interested in buying. That’s qualification work—marketing’s responsibility.
No Lead Education
Prospects reach sales before they understand what the company offers. Sales conversations start at square one because nobody nurtured the lead through consideration.
No Intent Differentiation
Someone requesting a demo (high intent) gets processed the same as someone grabbing a free resource (low intent). The system can’t tell the difference.
Marketing Can't Prove Value
Without scoring driving qualification, there’s no way to show that nurture programs work. Marketing is just a lead capture mechanism, not a qualification engine.
Sales is spending 0% of their lead-related time on people who aren't ready to buy.
What Actually Got Built.
Internal pressure pushed for a validation-based model instead. The system got flipped. Every form submission went directly to sales for manual validation—no differentiation between a whitepaper download and a demo request.
| Stage | Score Range | What's Happening | ABM Tier 1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| TOFU | 0-69 points | Awareness. Marketing educates through content. | 50 pts |
| MOFU | 70-94 points | Consideration. Nurture with case studies, webinars. | 75 pts |
| BOFU | 95+ points | Decision. Demonstrated sustained buying intent. | 80 pts |
| Express Lane | +110 instant | High-intent bypass. Skip the highway. | Immediate |
New Capabilities in 6.0
- Buying Group Intelligence: Detects when 2+ people from same company are researching together. +15 convergence bonus.
- Intent Data Integration: Account-level buying signals enriched into scoring. High intent (≥70) = +20 points.
- ABM Tier Treatment: Strategic accounts get lower thresholds (not score inflation). Tier 1 advances at 50/75/80 instead of 70/95/95.
- Role Mapping: Automatically categorizes contacts (C-Suite, Decision Maker, Technical Buyer, Influencer).
- Sales Handoff Intelligence: Full committee context—who’s involved, what they’ve looked at, who the decision maker likely is.
The Metrics Shift.
Why Highway 6.0 Exists.
The validation-based model failed. Sales is wasting 70% of their lead time on unqualified contacts because the system sends everyone to sales regardless of demonstrated intent.
Highway 6.0 fixes this by:
- Restoring scoring as the gatekeeper—leads must accumulate behavioral evidence before reaching sales
- Differentiating form intent—Express Lane for buyers, Highway for researchers
- Adding buying group intelligence—detecting committees and providing multi-stakeholder context
- Integrating intent data—enriching scoring with account-level buying signals
- Protecting sales time—targeting 85%+ acceptance vs. current 30%