Lead scoring is where most contractor prospecting systems fall apart. Everyone agrees you should prioritize — but the actual scoring method is usually "gut feeling" or "whoever looks busiest on Yelp." An 11-signal scoring model doesn't eliminate judgment, but it makes the prioritization consistent and auditable.
Here's what each signal measures, how it feeds into a tier assignment, and how to apply it in a real campaign without overcomplicating the setup.
What "11 Signals" Actually Covers
The signals in a contractor lead scoring model fall into four categories:
Signal Category 1: Presence and Completeness (3 signals)
- Profile completeness: Does the business have a full description, service list, and business hours listed? Incomplete profiles signal either new businesses (opportunity) or businesses that don't invest in their online presence (lower engagement probability).
- Photo count: Businesses with 10+ photos on Google or Yelp get significantly more profile views than those with none. Photo count is a proxy for operational investment and professionalism.
- Website presence: A business with a website in their directory listing converts differently than one without — it signals they're investing in their business infrastructure.
Signal Category 2: Social Proof and Reputation (4 signals)
- Review count: Raw volume of reviews is a proxy for customer volume and longevity. A contractor with 80 reviews has been operating long enough to build a customer base.
- Average rating: 4.5+ stars with substantial volume signals consistent quality. 5.0 stars with 3 reviews is noise.
- Review recency: Reviews in the last 90 days indicate active operations. Reviews from 3+ years ago with no recent activity suggests the business may have slowed or closed.
- Response rate: Businesses that respond to reviews (positive and negative) are engaged with their online presence — more likely to respond to outbound outreach too.
Signal Category 3: Engagement and Contactability (3 signals)
- Phone number present: Business listed with a direct phone number is contactable. Businesses hiding behind a "request a quote" form are harder to reach.
- Email address present: Email enables cold outreach sequences. If email is missing, the lead requires phone-first approach.
- Multi-platform presence: A contractor appearing on both Yelp AND Google (and possibly Houzz, Thumbtack, etc.) has wider market presence — higher potential volume and more touchpoints for social proof.
Signal Category 4: Business Health Signals (1 signal)
- Years in business: Businesses 5+ years old have established operations, not just a marketing experiment. New businesses (< 2 years) have higher failure rates and less predictable demand patterns.
How the Signals Combine into Tiers
Each signal contributes a score (typically 0–10). The aggregate score determines the tier:
- Hot (80–100): Strong across all four categories. These are your priority targets — high volume, high social proof, easy to contact, established business. They have the signals of a contractor who is actively building their business and is likely receptive to services that help them grow.
- Warm (55–79): Strong in 2–3 categories, weak in 1–2. These are good targets for longer-tail outreach or nurture sequences. They may have good reviews but no website (phone contactable), or be well-established but with low social proof.
- Nurture (30–54): Mixed signals across the board. These are worth building a relationship with over time but not priority first-touch targets.
- Skip (< 30): The combination of missing signals suggests a low-probability contact. New, incomplete profiles with no reviews and no website. Not worth outbound spend until the profile improves.
What This Looks Like in Practice
A Hot lead for a roofer targeting Denver:
- 40+ reviews on Google (4.6+ stars), reviews in last 60 days
- Phone and email in listing
- Active on both Google and Yelp
- 10+ photos, full business description, services listed
- 7+ years in business
A Skip lead:
- 2 reviews, 3.5 stars, last review 18 months ago
- No website listed, no email in Google listing
- Only appears on Google, not on Yelp
- 1 year in business, no photo uploads
The Hot lead scores ~85–95. The Skip lead scores ~15–25. The difference in outreach ROI is significant: a Hot lead that converts at 8% with a $400 average job value yields $32 expected value per contact. A Skip lead might convert at 1–2% for $30–40 expected value.
Automating the Scoring
Manual scoring across 400–1,200 records is impractical. The scoring needs to happen at data pull time. LeadTrawl's scoring engine evaluates all 11 signals at pull time and assigns tiers automatically, so when data lands in your dashboard or CRM, Hot leads are already separated from Skip leads.
When you're reviewing your campaign results:
- Focus outreach on Hot and Warm leads — your outreach budget is better spent on contacts with higher conversion probability
- Monitor the tier distribution — if 90% of your results are Skip leads, your target market or geography may need adjustment
- Re-score periodically — review counts and recency change over time; running the campaign again captures new signals
The scoring model compounds as you run campaigns repeatedly: each new data pull updates the signals, so Hot leads from 3 months ago who haven't updated their profile drift toward Warm or Skip, and new businesses that have built reviews move into Hot territory. The pipeline gets better as the market moves.
Start scoring your leads automatically on LeadTrawl's free Explorer plan — every campaign run includes the full 11-signal evaluation on every record pulled.