How do you determine if a prospect is a good fit for what you are offering? By navigating through the sales qualification process. This article will look at how your business can use the sales qualification process to determine what prospects are a good fit for your product or service to increase your sales and grow your business.
Sales qualification is the part of the sales process where your sales team will determine whether the prospect is a good fit for the product or service that you are offering. Your sales representatives should determine how the customer compares to your business’s buyer persona. The sale will be discontinued if it is deemed that the prospect is not a good fit for your business. The sales qualification process is when your team member will interact with the lead, asking a wide range of questions to better understand if they suit your business.
Before the sales qualification process begins your business must identify leads. A lead is a person or business who has interacted with your company that may be a potential customer. Leads can be generated by:
Social media – Interacting with potential customer on social media is a great way to generate leads. Social media platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook are among the most popular to connect with customers.
Referrals – Referrals from existing customers are a great way for your business to generate more leads. A referral is four times more likely to make a purchase from your business, shared by the Sales Readiness Group.
Cold calls – Cold calling is a very popular method used by sales teams to discover new leads and make more sales.
Networking – If your team networks effectively, you will meet new potential customers and increase the awareness of your brand.
Once a lead has been identified, the sales qualification process begins. During the sales qualification process, a sales representative must ask a number of questions to the lead to understand their needs, requirements and if they are a good fit for the business. Here are examples of crucial questions to ask during the sales qualification process:
What problem are you trying to solve? – Get a good understanding of the customer’s context to identify if your product or service can help them.
What is your budget when trying to solve this problem? – Find out if the budget they are operating in will allow them to purchase your product or service.
How long have you been trying to solve this problem? – Learn if it is an ongoing problem that they are urgently trying to fix.
What timeframe do you want to solve this problem in? – Understand when they would like to solve this problem and if it matches with what your product or service will provide.
Are you looking at alternative solutions to solve this? – Find out if they have contacted your competitors and are interested in them.
How many stakeholders are involved with this problem? – Get a good understanding of whom this problem is affecting and who will contribute to the purchase
How many decision-makers are involved in the process? – Identify how many people will need to be briefed on your product or service to complete the purchase.
How do you feel about our solution? – Find out how the customer feels about your solution to understand if they will want to move forward with your business to solve their problem.
These questions will allow your sales representatives to identify if the potential customer is a good fit for your product or service and if they are likely to make a purchase from your business. If you determine that they are a good fit, you can now qualify the lead, turning the customer into an “opportunity”.
During this sales qualification process, it is important to disqualify the leads that do not match your buyer persona as continuing with them will result in unnecessary resources being used. The two massive advantages of disqualifying leads that do not suit your business are:
Save your time and resources – Let your sales representatives focus their time and resources on leads that are a better fit for your business, increasing the number of sales your business will make.
Build credibility – If you tell a lead that you do not think your business is the right fit to help with their problem, your business will gain credibility and trust.
Common challenges that businesses find with sales qualification is:
Not identifying their buyer persona – If you have not identified your buyer persona, you will not know the characteristics, needs and requirements your lead should have to fit your product or service. Develop a buyer persona with the marketing team to know the customers you should be looking for.
Asking the wrong questions – If your sales representatives ask the wrong questions to customers, for example, invasive questions, your lead may become disinterested in your business.
Not asking enough questions – If your business does not know the customer’s problem, budget, and the decision-makers in the buying process, you will not know enough information to be prepared.
Qualify more sales, generate more revenue, and grow your business with TEB Apps, a powerful sales automation CRM software. TEB Apps will streamline your sales qualification process by increasing your data visibility and helping your team organize their leads. Critical features for these benefits are:
Book a demo to see how TEB Apps will transform your sales qualification process, increasing your revenue and growing your business.
