What a fit score is
A fit score is the number that shows how closely a company matches your organization's ideal customer profile. It tells you where to start when the portfolio has more companies than the team can work.
Fit measures the match, meaning whether the company has the size, segment, operation and timing your offer serves. It is different from marketing lead scoring, which usually scores a person's behavior, such as opening an email or downloading content.
Target list sorted by score
Each company scored against the ICP your organization defines
A fit score example in the portfolio
Vértebra Logística, a fictional company that sells fleet management, has 240 companies in its portfolio and three salespeople. Before, each one started with the names they knew. With a fit score, the portfolio gained an order: a regional carrier with its own fleet and an announced expansion sits at the top, and a large retailer that outsources all delivery sits at the bottom, even though it is bigger.
Company size no longer decides on its own, and what counts is how much the company looks like the customers who bought and stayed. When selling to large companies, each deal takes months of work from several people, so getting the order wrong is expensive.
How to use the score to prioritize
- Start at the top. The best-fit companies get research and outreach first.
- Use bands, not the exact number. The gap between 81 and 83 does not change the decision; the gap between 80 and 40 does.
- Combine it with timing. A high-fit company with no buying signal can wait; a good-fit company with a strong trigger goes on this week's list.
- Discuss the score with your manager. A low score on a company the team likes usually points to a badly written ICP criterion.
- Review it when the ICP changes, because an outdated ICP produces an outdated score.
Common mistakes
The first mistake is treating the score as a forecast of closing. It measures fit, not willingness to buy. The second is ignoring the score because a big company draws more attention. The third is never reviewing the ICP, so the score keeps rewarding a profile that no longer buys.
Related terms
The ICP is the yardstick the score applies. Buying signals and the sales trigger tell you when to act. The champion is the person who moves the deal forward once the company has been chosen. See more terms in the glossary.
How the score shows up in GoSeek
In GoSeek, every company gets a fit score from 0 to 100 against the ICP your organization defines, so the team knows where to start. The management dashboards show what goes into the week and the priority of the companies in the portfolio. Each company's dossier brings the rest of the preparation for the conversation.
What comes out about the company
The 0 to 100 score sits in the dossier, next to what explains it
What people ask about fit scores
What is the difference between a fit score and lead scoring?
A fit score measures how well a company matches the ICP. Lead scoring usually scores a person's behavior, such as clicks and downloads. One looks at the company, the other at interest.
Is a fit score the same as an ICP score?
Yes, both names describe the same number: how well a company fits your ideal customer profile.
Does a high fit score mean the company will buy?
No. It means the company looks like those who buy. The timing to reach out comes from buying signals, and the decision is confirmed in the conversation.
What should you do with low-score companies?
Leave them for later or remove them from the portfolio. If the team insists one of them is good, review the ICP criterion that pulled it down.
Founder of GoSeek. Specialist in market intelligence and consultative B2B sales for the enterprise market.
Keep reading
ICP
An ICP is the ideal customer profile: the type of company most likely to buy and stay. See an example, how to write verifiable criteria and use them in sales.
Buying signals
Buying signals are public facts suggesting a company may be close to a decision. See examples, how to use them in your outreach and the mistakes to avoid.
Everything the team needs to know before the meeting
What comes in the GoSeek dossier: diagnosis, dated triggers, stakeholders, battlecard and score for each company.