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Jared Goff Throws 2 TD Passes, Lions Advance To NFC Title Game With 31-23 Win Over Buccaneers

DETROIT (AP) Jared Goff is good enough for Detroit, as his coach recently reminded him.

Cast away by the Los Angeles Rams three years ago in a trade for Matthew Stafford, the quarterback was welcomed by the Lions and has since become a fan favorite at Ford Field, where the crowd chanted his name during a second straight home playoff triumph for the long-downtrodden franchise.

Goff threw his second touchdown pass with 6:22 left and the Lions beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-23 in the divisional round on Sunday, lifting Detroit into the NFC championship for the first time in 32 years and just the second time in franchise history.

He took a knee on three straight snaps to run out the clock, giving him a chance to enjoy the sights and sounds as fans stood, screamed and twirled white towels.

"I knew it would be the last one in front of our home fans this year, and I took it all in," Goff said.

The Lions (14-5) won two playoff games in a season for the first time since 1957, the last year they won the NFL title, and had two postseason games at home for the first time.

Now they have to travel to face San Francisco, the NFC's top seed, next Sunday for a spot in the Super Bowl - a game they have never played in.

"I envisioned that we would have a chance to compete with the big boys, and that's where we're at," said coach Dan Campbell, who was hired shortly before Goff was acquired.

Jahmyr Gibbs ran through a huge hole for a tiebreaking, 31-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter, and Goff made it a two-TD lead when he connected with Amon-Ra St. Brown for a 9-yard score.

Goff finished 30 of 43 for 287 yards and directed an efficient second-half offense for the Lions, who had long touchdown drives on three consecutive possessions. St. Brown had eight catches for 77 yards, and his TD catch capped a masterful 10-play, 89-yard drive.

"Goff in that fourth quarter, he really showed up and made some big throws," said Campbell, who told Goff he was good enough for Detroit last week when he gave him a game ball after beating his former team in a wild-card game.

Gibbs, an electric rookie Tampa Bay didn't have to face when it lost to Detroit in the regular season, had 74 yards rushing on nine carries and four receptions for 40 yards.

The Lions, and their desperate-for-a-winner fans, hope their second appearance in the NFC title game works out better than the first when Washington routed them 41-10 on Jan. 12, 1992.

Baker Mayfield threw three TD passes for Tampa Bay (10-9), including a 16-yard toss to Mike Evans that got the Bucs within one score with 4:37 left.

Detroit couldn't run out the clock on offense, giving Tampa Bay one last chance, but Mayfield's pass over the middle was intercepted by linebacker Derrick Barnes, the quarterback's second pick of the day.

Mayfield was 26 of 41 for 349 yards. His early pick went off Mike Evans' hands, and his late one was an ill-advised throw.

"It comes down to minimizing mistakes and I didn't do that," Mayfield said.

Evans had eight receptions for 147 yards and a touchdown.

Rachaad White had 55 yards rushing on nine carries, a total coach Todd Bowles may lament wasn't higher, and four catches for 36 yards.

"Anything short of the Super Bowl is a disappointment," Bowles said.

Detroit and Tampa Bay traded field goals and touchdowns to enter the fourth quarter in a 17-all tie.

The Lions went ahead for a third time with 3:48 left in the third quarter, when Campbell went for it on fourth-and-goal from the 1 and Craig Reynolds ran up the middle for a score that ended a 10-play, 64-yard drive.

Mayfield and the Bucs bounced back again with the crafty veteran, who resurrected his career this season, avoiding sacks before connecting with White on a 12-yard pass to make it 17-all late in the third.

Gibbs started left and cut back to the right on his tiebreaking touchdown run.

The NFC North champion Lions were fortunate to score first.

C.J. Gardner-Johnson picked off Mayfield's pass that went through Evans' hands to end Tampa Bay's first drive. Goff almost gave it back, underthrowing a pass into the end zone that defensive back Jamel Dean dropped, and two snaps later, Michael Badgley made a 23-yard field goal.

Mayfield answered, converting a third down with an 18-yard pass to Evans and throwing a 23-yard pass to Trey Palmer on consecutive plays to set up Chase McLaughlin's 43-yard kick.

Goff converted a third down with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Josh Reynolds early in the second quarter.

Mayfield used his feet and arm to pull the Bucs into a tie just before halftime. He ran for 14 yards - the longest run by a Tampa Bay quarterback in a playoff game - on a third down and then connected with Evans for 27- and 29-yard passes to set up a 2-yard TD pass to Cade Cotton.

In the end, the NFC South champions came up short, ending a season in which they surpassed modest expectations.

That wasn't of much consolation.

"It feel like my heart just got ripped out," Mayfield said.

INJURIES

Bucs: S Kaevon Merriweather (ankle) was injured in the third quarter and was carted off the field. Dean limped off the field in the fourth.

Lions: G Jonah Jackson (knee) was injured in the first half and didn't return. TE Brock Wright (forearm) was knocked out of the game in the second half.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.Com/hub/nfl

Copyright 2024 STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited.

Tampa Bay Bucs Vs. Detroit Lions Score Updates From NFL Playoff Game

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What Is Lead Scoring?

While your company's marketing team focuses on generating more sales leads, it's up to the sales team to close the deal. It sounds like a straightforward process where both departments play to their strengths but conflict between sales and marketing teams is all too common. The sales team can become frustrated with the marketing team for providing irrelevant leads and the marketing department may blame sales for its lack of progress.

Lead scoring is a vital tool that can benefit marketing and sales collaboration. Ranking leads via lead scoring improves communication, lead quality and conversions while ensuring marketing and sales teams are on the same page. 

Editor's note: Looking for the right CRM software for your business? Fill out the below questionnaire to have our vendor partners contact you about your needs.

What is lead scoring?

Lead scoring is a process that ranks potential customers using various criteria to determine which leads are ready to purchase and which are unqualified. 

Sales and marketing teams use lead scoring the most but this tool can help all departments in your organization by increasing sales efficiency and improving revenue. 

How does lead scoring work?

Lead scoring requires determining specific criteria relevant to your business's industry or customer base and assigning a number value (usually 1-100) for those data points. If you're new to lead scoring and unsure what criteria to include, start with BANT (budget, authority, need and timeline). These data points are an excellent starting point for prioritizing leads.

Here's how lead scoring works: 

Determine a conversion point threshold: Consider key factors from conversion sources and critical areas that keep leads from completing a purchase. The total points a lead receives will help you determine a conversion point threshold across all leads. The higher a lead's points, the more likely they will buy.

Consider lead-scoring patterns: You should also factor in lead-scoring patterns. For example, if a customer converts 100 percent of the time after watching a webinar, that lead should be given priority even if it doesn't meet the conversion point threshold.

Use your customer relationship management (CRM) software to automate lead scoring: Once you set thresholds, connect this data to your CRM software. The CRM system can send you real-time notifications when leads meet the point threshold, allowing you to follow up with them before a competitor does. Consider creating visual charts for your lead-scoring system to improve lead-scoring accuracy across multiple departments.

Implementing lead scoring helps you rely on data instead of your thoughts about the potential lead conversion success of every lead in your sales pipeline.

Benefits of lead scoring

Accurately and efficiently scoring leads can save time and money. Consider the following benefits of lead scoring:

Lead scoring increases sales efficiency: With a follow-up list of qualified leads that meet the lead-scoring threshold, your sales team can spend more time closing sales-qualified leads and less time with contacts who aren't ready to buy.

Lead scoring lowers customer acquisition costs: Marketers can quickly remove marketing dollars from channels below the lead-scoring threshold.

Lead scoring improves conversion rates: Using a lead-scoring threshold, your sales personnel can speak directly to decision-makers poised to buy. Automated drip emails keep leads with a lower score engaged until they're ready to purchase.

Lead scoring increases revenue: As you refine the lead scoring process, revenue will increase. Since you focus on more qualified leads, you will have higher conversion rates and spend less time and resources on unqualified leads.

Lead scoring improves collaboration between departments: Since lead scoring provides a factual score for each lead, marketers can rest assured they provide practical sales leads, while salespeople can confidently close sales.

Lead scoring allows advanced targeting: Use lead-scoring data to increase landing page conversions and locate online forums and social media pages your customers use the most.

Lead scoring helps build stronger relationships: Lead scoring improves market segmentation among your leads. Engaging with lead data can help you better understand lead connections and correlations. Personalizing content, sales calls and customer service requests can create repeat customers and glowing referrals.

How do you build a lead-scoring model?

Every company has a unique lead-scoring system based on its goals. However, the basic principles of lead scoring are similar. Consider the following steps when building a lead-scoring model.

1. Create lead profiles based on customer data.

Before you can understand lead quality, you must first understand your customer. Create segments within your leads by separating potential buyers into customer personas. Segment customers using existing customer data and overall observations of your sales.

Separate your leads into two groups: converted leads and dead leads. Use your lead-scoring criteria to rank all converted leads. If you already have lead data, compiling lead scoring and determining the leads with the highest conversion rate will be easier.

2. Determine general lead-scoring categories.

Consider the following primary data categories to inform your lead-scoring system:

Demographic and firmographic: Demographic and firmographic data is information about location, industry, company size and job title. This detailed data can be researched online or via social media or volunteered through an online form. This data provides little help in scoring compared to other categories. Keeping demographic data to four or five categories is considered sufficient.

Behavioral: Behavioral data refers to how a lead interacts with your company. Measure implicit data by how a lead visits your website, starts a free trial, engages with your social media or signs up for additional services. Your CRM system can track the customer journey step by step, giving you the data you need to score your leads accurately.

Email engagement: Lead scoring assigns points to leads based on email open rates and click-through rates. With lead-scoring automation software, you can keep your sales team updated by setting an expiration date on email engagement. Ultimately, your sales cycle should determine your expiration dates. 

Social engagement: This data shows how active leads are on your social media networks. Do they comment, share posts or click on links? This information also helps you pinpoint your most active social channels and divert your advertising dollars. 

Use these data categories to score your leads. For example, if a lead stops opening or clicking on links from your marketing emails, adjust their lead score by issuing negative points. Lowering their lead score can help accurately measure their current conversion probability. Other actions worthy of negative points include personal email addresses ― if you are mainly business-to-business ― and leads that lack information or look like spam.

However, if a lead increases their opens and clicks, it might indicate they're ready to buy. This would cause their score to rise. A sharp rise in lead scoring should trigger a sales follow-up.

Remember that these examples are merely starting points. Have your team brainstorm ways to collect data that fits your specific business and target audience.

3. Pinpoint additional lead-scoring criteria.

After setting your general lead-scoring data categories, perform testing to determine other factors that may lead to a successful sale. Use all your marketing data and strive to create more detailed marketing attribution and contacts reports to pinpoint lead-scoring opportunities.

For example, you might find that leads who sign up for your webinar have a high conversion rate, but those who join your email marketing list are slow to convert. You might also discover that company size or a specific job title has a higher conversion rate.

It's essential to gather insight from your sales team and interact with your customers as much as possible. As you grow customer relationships, it will be easier to sell products and services.

4. Perform lead-quality tests to determine your lead-scoring threshold. 

After scoring your leads, rank them to determine which are worthwhile to pursue, considering your business's staffing and marketing budget. However, ranking leads on a spreadsheet shouldn't be your endpoint. Have your sales team follow up with all leads, regardless of their value on paper. 

After a few weeks, reexamine these leads and see which ones became customers and which didn't convert. You'll learn about your customers and the strengths of your sales and marketing teams.

Using the leads that became customers, take note of the lowest score. This total point value is your lead score threshold: It determines the leads most likely to convert with the least effort. Focus your marketing efforts on this segment and improve processes to convert leads below the threshold.

Sales and marketing must determine the lead-scoring threshold as a team. They must communicate changes to prevent sales funnel leaks and share red flags to stop leads from receiving a deceptive high score.

5. Use your CRM to automate lead scoring. 

If you think lead scoring sounds ideal but aren't sure how to find the time to accomplish it, you're not alone. Fortunately, automated CRM features can do the work for you. 

After entering lead-scoring criteria into the CRM software, the tool will score leads automatically and track scores as they change. Predictive scoring utilizes an algorithm with thousands of criteria to identify the best leads automatically.

Your CRM can help you quickly prioritize leads based on your qualified leads and what your dead leads have in common. Plus, the longer you use predictive scoring, the smarter it gets ― optimizing your lead scoring along the way.

Lead-scoring best practices

When implementing lead scoring, keep the following best practices in mind: 

Don't get caught up in the details: Keep the lead-scoring criteria simple. If you score too many data points, leads may be too similar in score ― this defeats the purpose. Frequently adjust your criteria and rules to keep your lead scoring accurate as your business evolves.

Decide on processes: Before implementing lead scoring, decide what actions you'll take if the lead meets the threshold and what you'll do with leads with low scores. Depending on your team's size and automation budget, following up with marketing qualified leads (MQL) and using drip email to nurture leads is standard.

Define a follow-up schedule: Separating leads into two categories allows you to determine a consistent follow-up schedule. For example, high-quality leads could receive a phone call within 24 hours, while low-scoring leads would receive an automated email within one week.

Connect your CRM: Ensure your CRM has lead-scoring integration so it can notify sales and marketing teams to contact leads who meet the threshold. It can also identify prospects who need more time to move from interest to intent.

Frequently run lead-scoring reports: Lead scoring isn't foolproof. Run CRM reports frequently to see if your lead scores match your conversions. If you notice any shifts in your target customer, see if your MQL-to-conversion rate is on the decline. Conversion decreases will require you to update criteria and analyze current lead-scoring models.

Clean up data: Some leads will never convert to customers. By removing their data from the system, you can free up space for prospects and home in on accurate lead-scoring criteria. Automated lead-scoring software can disqualify leads, so you won't have to waste time marketing to irrelevant contacts.

The best CRM software for scoring and managing leads.

The best CRM software can facilitate lead scoring and lead handling to improve sales and boost profits. Consider the following top CRM platforms that can help you qualify, track and score leads:

Salesforce CRM: Salesforce CRM is a powerhouse with features and offerings for small businesses and enterprises alike. It offers rules-based lead scoring, automatic lead assignment and additional sales tools like forecasting and automatic lead-capture functionality. Our detailed review of Salesforce CRM explains more about the platform's integrations, AI features and more. 

monday.Com Sales CRM: monday.Com's Sales CRM provides excellent features and support for sales and marketing managers. Its exceptional customizable lead-scoring function helps sales teams identify prospects who are likely to become customers. It also boasts helpful lead capture and deal management features. Read our in-depth monday.Com Sales CRM review to learn more about this highly user-friendly platform.

Freshworks CRM: Freshworks CRM boasts exceptional sales management features, including custom predictive lead scoring. It can also flag stalled deals to ensure better time management and create team-specific sales workflows. Check out our Freshworks CRM review to learn more about this comprehensive software suite that also includes information technology management, human resources, customer service and marketing support.

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