Category: Prospecting & Qualifying

People ask me all the time what separates the Top 20% producers from the other 80%, and I tell them it starts in the qualification stage.

The bottom line is that 80% of your competition is trying to create a qualified lead from prospects who will never buy, while the Top 20% producers are more interested in finding the real buyers — not in generating useless leads.

And the way they do that this is by disqualifying prospects rather than qualifying them.

The attitude shift here is what’s so important. 80% of sales reps are desperate to “fill their pipelines,” and will send out anybody with the pulse just so they have someone to pitch later on. Companies and sales managers train them in this way (a big waste of time and money), and then the sales reps spend their time chasing unqualified leads, getting rejected, practicing poor sales skills, and barely getting by.

It’s sad, but that’s how 80% of your competition spend their sales careers. This leads to poor morale, upset managers, and a lot of turn over.

The Top 20%, however, would never think of sending out unqualified leads and instead eliminate prospects who don’t fit their strict criteria of a buyer. The Top 20% are of the mindset to disqualify rather than qualify and usually send out the fewest leads in the office, but they have the highest closing rates and they make the most amount of money.

For the Top 20%, part of disqualification means stopping and questioning the “red flags” they get, and asking the tough questions about budget, real interest, timelines, and decision processes. When they are done with the qualification call they can tell you why the prospect will buy, what it will take, and in many cases they’ve asked trial closes and can tell you when the prospect will buy.

If you’re sitting at your desk right now, I know you know the difference between these two ways. And now you have a choice to make: either keep chasing unqualified leads, or step up to the plate and learn how to be a Top 20% producer.

So many companies these days get their leads from website inquiries, trade shows, Internet advertising, media advertising, etc, and they ask me over and over again: “What’s the best way to deal with these kinds of leads?”

Good question.  You would think that getting back to a “warm lead” would be easy, but you’d be surprised how many sales reps (80% of them) mishandle these opportunities.

Here are the do’s and don’ts of qualifying warm leads.

#1: DO begin your opening in a welcoming, and assumptive way.  Try:

“Hi ______ this is ______ with  ________ company.  I wanted to thank you for (visiting our web site, stopping by our booth, your interest in) and I wanted to answer any questions you had.  What specifically were you interested in?

DON’T be vague:

“Ah, this is ________ getting back with you, I see you went to our web site and I was wondering how I can help you?”

#2:  DO be prepared to ask qualifying questions and LISTEN to uncover their specific buying motives.  Try:

“What motivated you to take the time to fill out our request form?”

“What specifically were you interested in?”

“What part of our (product/service) appealed to you most?”

“Many of our clients like that we provide X.  Is that what you were looking for, too?

DON’T start pitching!  80% of your competition make the critical error of assuming a warm lead is interested in your product or service so they start pitching.  Don’t go into pitch mode!

#3:  DO use a script.  The Top 20% understand how important it is to make a connection, stay in control, uncover buying motives, and disqualify the prospects who are just looking.  Only a carefully crafted script allows you to do that.

DON’T ad-lib your way through your presentation.  80% of your competition still make the mistake of assuming that a warm lead is a good lead and so they often quickly make appointments, send demos, etc., without properly qualifying. Big mistake!  Treat a warm lead like any other and qualify it using a script.

Applying these three rules will vastly improve your success with call-in or warm leads.  Incorporate them today and see for yourself – you’ll glad you did!

Please leave your comments in the comments box below.

In response to last week’s article on ?Just send some information,? someone wrote and asked this: ?Sometimes it takes five to seven ?touches? before someone will buy, and sending information begins that process. How do I strike a balance or know when to just cut bait and not send anything?"

I understand it’s important to build relationships and that sending information is part of a process, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t disqualify those who are just looking for an easy way to get you off the phone, or who are trying to blow you off.

What you must do is ask questions, like:

?I’d be happy to, what other kind of information, companies, or solutions are you looking at now?"

This tells you how many other people they have given this line to (and how many brochures they?ve collected and who your competition is), and then:

?And what do you like so far?"

This tells you about their decision process and chances are any objections or stalls they mention will be the same you’ll get when you call back as well!

?What has kept you from moving ahead with that?"

Again, this will reveal their objections (as well as some of their buying motives perhaps). They may also come right out and say why they aren’t buying anything right now (and this would obviously apply to your information or product as well!)

I’m sure you can think of some of your own questions, but the point is that before you just send your information, you’ve got to do your job and qualify!