10 Keys to Properly Qualify Prospects

Transcript:

By Alex Cole-Murphy, Recruitment Specialist & Sales Development Expert

Qualifying prospects is like trying to find a decent plumber or even a babysitter for your kids – it isn’t easy…and it shouldn’t be!

When it comes to trying to find someone to watch your kids, there are a lot of different components that go into your decision. First, it may start out with a general “interview”- you get the chance to ask them questions about their babysitting history – how many kids they’ve watched, what their pay rate is, whether they’ve ever had to deal with an emergency situation while babysitting. All of these questions you want answered before even considering letting them watch your children. After that, you may do references and check in with other families they have worked for.

The same is true when trying to find a good plumber to fix your clogged toilet. You check on Angie’s list, read reviews, call the company for a quote and have them come out to look at the problem. Once again, these are all things you do before hiring or saying “yes” to their business. You are qualifying their service before allowing them to work with you.

The same needs to be true with all prospecting you do in sales! The majority of the time, salespeople consider “qualifying” to be answering any question their prospect has for them. If they are able to answer all those questions well, then they have properly done their job. Wrong! Salespeople need to make sure that, not only are they the right fit for the company they are calling on, but also that the company is the right fit for them!

Qualifying has a tremendous impact on the accuracy of one’s pipeline and sales forecast. If the prospects in a salesperson’s pipeline aren’t properly qualified, the likelihood of the business falling through substantially increases.

According to Dave Kurlan’s OMG Sales Candidate Assessment, there are 10 key components to properly qualifying prospects.  A salesperson must…

• Uncover the company’s actual budget
• Meet with the decision maker
• Know why the prospect would buy
• Know the decision-making process
• Ask about everything
• Discuss finances
• Handle high-ticket pricing
• Not let being liked get in the way
• Be able to stay in the moment
• Not let self-limiting beliefs be an obstacle

A salesperson must be able to do all of the things mentioned before being able to make any quotes, demos, presentations or proposals. If they don’t, they run the risk of trying to sell to unqualified prospects and that’s not good for them, the company or the bottom line. So, make sure to do your research and ask about everything. You, your prospect, your children and your toilet will be happy you did.