The key aspect of selling is pre-qualifying potential customers. These individuals should be your main source of qualified leads. This article will provide more information.

Qualifying potential customers is an important part of the sales process. It may seem tempting to chase every customer that expresses interest in your product. However, not all customers will be suitable matches.

It is in your best interests to find potential customers early on. These people should be your focus for qualifying prospects.

Prospects should be objectively evaluated to qualify

These are just a few of the nine things you should be aware of:

1. Are they a good match with your ideal customer?

To determine if the prospect is a good fit, you should reevaluate your client profiles. When you are looking for a job, it is important to consider the industry, size, goals, and current issues of your company. It doesn’t matter if the client profile isn’t exactly what you are looking for. Real-world companies and their ideal clients don’t always align perfectly.

Nevertheless, prospect profiles and prospects should contain at least some of the following characteristics. It might be helpful to compare the potential consumer with satisfied customers. If the potential customer is similar to your current customers, it’s a good indicator. This may be more challenging if you are joining a new industry. However, you should still look for commonalities.

2. Are there obvious needs for your product/service in the market?

Prospects won’t buy from you unless there is a compelling reason to. Therefore, it is important to determine if the prospect has a genuine need.

Learn about the prospect’s current problems and potential solutions as a first step. What is the extent of the problem? Is this something you’ve tried before? What are the possible outcomes if a prospect can’t handle the issue appropriately?

Prospects most likely to purchase your product now are the ones who need it in six months, a year, or even a year. It is important to act quickly to avoid serious consequences. Top prospects should have your product as a must-have and not a nice-to-have!

3. What amount of money will they spend to implement your solution?

They’re realistic options as long as your budget is within the range of what you need. Ask about the finances of the company. Be honest. If a potential client is unclear about their expectations or underestimates them, it’s unlikely they will be a good candidate.

This is a good indicator that the potential client has already invested in this area or set aside money to partner with another person. While it is not necessarily a deal killer for prospective clients who indicate that they have the plan to distribute future money, it could be a sign of prudence for qualified prospects.

4. Are they considering or have they already thought of other options?

Ask customers if they have had any previous experience with similar products. If they have not used a comparable product, you need to find out if they need your solution. You can learn more about their past and current use of a competitor solution. What level of satisfaction do they have with their current situation? What do they dislike about the current situation?

Pay attention to what they say. This will help you to identify the gaps between what people receive and what they need. You can then determine if your solution addresses the concerns that they have. That’s great! They may not be the right match. It is possible that people who don’t give reasons why they want to leave may not be interested. There is also the possibility that they are struggling with their feelings, so make sure you ask them.

5. It is important to understand the events or challenges that led to the development of your solution.

Customers who are going through life transitions that require your product or service will be most likely to buy your products. If you examine the profiles of your clients and look at their customers, trends will begin to emerge. Find out what inspired the customer’s curiosity. If they have not already tried to solve the problem, why not? Are you convinced that the problem is more urgent than it already is?

6. It is important to explain to them why your solution is better suited for their needs than other solutions.

Your solution may be the best, but it might not always work in every case. Based on the information you have about the prospects, assess objectively whether your solution can solve their primary pain points.

This can be done by explaining the product’s capabilities and asking lots of questions. The author states that “our solution is capable to do x,y, and z.” You may find this helpful, but it may not be.

Do not attempt to get more specific if you are unsure.

7. How do you define success for your prospect?

To be successful, the prospect’s definition must match yours. Ask the prospect about their definition of success. To get the best response, get to the bottom of the matter. Your sales presentation should not include generalizations such as “we aim at minimizing expenses”.

To determine if you can satisfy the requirements of qualified prospects, it is important to evaluate your product’s capabilities as well as previous successes.

8. It is important to understand how the prospect makes a decision.

At this stage, only one or two people will be able to learn about your plans. Find out who will be part of the buying process and how they will participate. Find out if these decision-makers are interested in finding a solution.

In enterprise sales, it is a given that there will be multiple parties involved. It is important to ensure that the person you are speaking with understands the process and can connect you with the right people.

9. Also, is the prospect really interested in the process?

You can rely on your intuition to determine if the prospect is interested. If they are willing to continue, go ahead.

Prospects Qualitative Measures (And Common Mistakes To Avoid)

Prospecting can make or break your sales funnel.

It is therefore crucial that you know how to correctly qualify potential clients.

A few salesmen use a spray-and-pray technique to try to sell to everyone with a pulse, given today’s abundance of options and resources.

With over 15 years of experience in sales, I have completed deals with major brands such as McDonald’s, Dell, and Manchester City Football Club. However, these deals were only possible because the prospects were qualified.

The process of certifying potential customers is constantly changing, but it’s important to keep up with these changes. You can close more deals and stay one step ahead by correctly classifying prospects.

How can you determine if someone is a good fit?

The Traditional Way

It is possible to qualify B2B prospects using a simple but effective process.

These are the three most important things to remember when evaluating potential customers:

• Not required
• Budget
• Authority

You must be mindful of the needs of your customers as a vendor. Are they a good fit for your product? What are their needs for the item?

This can be done by contacting them directly or reading about their company and the particular conditions.

Budget

Is the price reasonable? Is the budget sufficient to pay for your plan? When determining a budget, consider the value of your solution.

This is best illustrated by the Gucci Mane Moscow store. It was soon opened after the fall of communism, and the subsequent increase in wealth. Gucci’s sales stagnated for several months.

Gucci’s management could not figure out the reason, so they hired a consulting firm to help. They found that luxury products were perceived to be worth 35 percent less than their prices.

As soon as the price was raised, sales began to pick up.

You can also ask your prospect directly, or conduct your research to determine their budget. Do they prefer high-end, middle-market, or low-budget products?

Authority

Are we able to communicate with the right people in the company who can make decisions?

It is a waste to try to sell a CRM system to a novice analyst. It is a waste of time and money. It is important to speak with people who could influence the decision-making process of the target company as part of your research.

These are the three basic requirements for a qualified candidate. If you will excuse me, there’s another.

Deadline to Complete the Task

Although the demand is not imminent for your solution, I have encountered companies who feel they do. These companies may have budgets.

Even if you are ready to close the deal, it is just the beginning of a ten-year project for them. Discuss the situation with a decision-maker within the organization.

Even if the prospect doesn’t have an immediate need, you may still work with them. You have established a relationship with the prospect and planted the seed of potential vendor interest for their eventual need.

Even if you are not able to acquire your prospect immediately, it is possible to still nurture them (but more later).

Additional Qualities

After considering the four main criteria to determine a prospect’s suitability, generic qualifiers and general indicators can be used. These help to determine if a prospect is ready to purchase.

Generic qualifiers provide extra information about a potential customer. The majority of organizations look at the following:

• The size of a company
• Turnover
• The total number
• Verticals in the industry
• Geography

As a result, you can quickly create your custom indicators.

These custom indicators may seem complicated to other companies, but they are specific to your company.

One example of the unique indicators we use when searching for companies that are ready to do business is whether the company is in transition.

This could indicate that the company’s growth is rapid and that they are adding many new employees. Or it could mean that they are cutting back on staff. They may also be moving their operations.

Any of these situations can be helped by us. We offer a support service for lead generation that includes focused research, marketing, appointment scheduling, and marketing.

The length of time that a decision-maker has held their position is a bespoke indicator. In my experience, this is usually the Head of Sales.

Although the firm has been around for over 20 years, they joined it just six months ago. He is probably working within a tight budget. He’s likely trying to increase sales for the company. He should be a much easier target.

On the other hand, someone who has managed a sales team for many years at the same company is more likely to be set in his ways. While we don’t think they will not use our services, they’ll probably need additional education to convince themselves of the advantages of outsourcing this particular function.

You can’t just duplicate the custom indicators of someone else. Consider what makes someone a better candidate for your product based on their unique qualities.

Modifications in the Method

Even if you have been in sales for many years, it is important to stay current. It is evident that the selection process has changed and will continue to change.

There is a significant shift in the way that purchase decisions are made.

Organizations used an outdated decision-making model in the past only one person could make major decisions. Now, we are in the phase where consensus is used for decision-making.

Consensus-based decision-making aims to make sure that all parties are on the same page before making a decision.

The organization will need to involve as many people as possible to be able to make informed decisions.

They will consider the impact of the decision on all departments within the company, not just the one using the solution. Legal ramifications as well as financial repercussions will also be taken into consideration. This means that a large group of people will make the final decision.

We are now seeing a rising trend in small and medium-sized companies adopting the consensus-based strategy that was previously reserved for larger enterprises.

Another way to put it, your ability to evaluate potential customers will be affected.

Your efforts must target stakeholders (people who could have an impact on the organization’s decision-making process). This role could be filled by anyone, from the budget holder to business analysts to those who advise final decision-makers or end-users.

To contact them effectively, you need to first locate them within the company hierarchy.

Your chances of getting in the door are greatly increased if you send a message specifically tailored to the job you are applying for.

To do this, we use account-based marketing which focuses on large enterprises. After identifying the decision-makers at an organization, it is important to reach out to them to personalize your message for that account.

This is how it would look if you were selling Coca-Cola products. You can create a site that is similar to your leading site but with some minor modifications to suit their needs.

What changes are possible? This could be as simple as changing the language to emphasize their unique requirements from a vendor, or adding industry certifications.

You might build a completely new website from scratch or replace the homepage with a single landing page.

Conclusion

Coca-Cola will make many modifications to the product to increase its chances of purchasing it.

Account-based marketing allows you to tailor your message and offer to each customer.