What's the best way to sell a product? Filling your pipeline with leads and then pitching your products at the back end? That sounds like a reasonable strategy, but it is missing an important step - qualifying your sales prospect.
Qualifying your prospects before selling helps you determine who is a good fit for your product or service and who is not so you don’t have to waste your resources on ‘dead leads’.
Even though 22% of salespeople believe that qualifying sales prospects is the most challenging part of the sales process, it’s extremely valuable as it helps you close the sale, and also helps you stop pouring resources into leads which aren’t likely to close. Not only that, qualifying your prospects will help you determine the set of customers that are likely to stick around long-term.
But what does sales qualification entail? Is there a framework for qualifying the leads you generate during prospecting?
That's what we'll be covering in the remaining part of this article, so hang in there and get ready to take some notes.
Lead Qualification Framework
A lead qualification framework is a standardised process that allows any sales development representative, account executive, or sales manager to qualify or disqualify leads quickly.
The leads qualification process works in such a way that the generated leads pass through a qualification framework. The framework then allows you to ask a series of questions to qualify or disqualify your leads.
Note that there are a variety of different frameworks, but we shall focus on the B.A.N.T (Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline) framework in this article.
Here's a brief overview of the framework:
Budget: Can your prospect afford your product or services? How much are they able to spend?
Authority: Is your lead capable of influencing the purchase?
Need: Can your product/service solve your prospect's problem?
Timeline: How fast does the lead need your solution?
Questions you should always ask when Qualifying your Prospects
The sales qualifying process is incomplete without a list of validating questions. These questions help you steer the conversation in the direction you want it to go and also help you get valuable information.
Be careful not to ask close-ended questions that lead to dead-ends or engage in a one-way conversation that denies your prospect the chance to respond to your questions appropriately. Remember, listening is as critical as speaking during a discussion.
So with that settled, let's take a look at some of the fundamental questions to ask using the B.A.N.T framework:
1. On Budget
- What is your current budget for this?
- Is this a high-priority solution for which you plan to set aside funds?
- Are you currently working on any other projects?
- Is financing influenced by the seasons or time of year?
2. On Authority
- Which department is in charge of paying for this purchase?
- Who is involved in the purchasing decision?
- What are the most common objections you'll encounter when it's time to buy?
- How do you intend to deal with them?
3. On Needs
- What problems are you currently facing?
- What is the source of the issues, and why do you believe they are essential to address?
- Why are you just getting around dealing with the problem?
- What is the most likely solution to this problem, and why?
4. On Timeline
- How quickly do you want your problem to be resolved?
- What are some competing priorities?
- Are there any other similar items or services that you're considering?
- Do you have the resources (both time and money) to implement this solution right now?
Mistakes to avoid when Qualifying your Prospects
Prospect qualification is a straightforward process, but people often fall into avoidable pitfalls. Below, we take a look at a few mistakes people make and how you can avoid them.
1. Not having a clearly defined strategy
Jumping into qualifying sales leads without a strategy is like shooting without aiming. Once you have an effective strategy in place, you'll be in a position to close more sales with a clear blueprint guiding you through every step of the way.
2. Marketing to the wrong audience
Marketing to the right set of people is the first step when advertising your product or service. You don't want to fill your sales funnel with unqualified leads who have little or no chance of becoming a customer in the short or long run.
3. Not nurturing the relationship
Sales is often a long term game. Only a tiny fraction of your prospects will buy what you sell instantly. The others will need a little bit of nurturing to make a buying decision. Keeping in touch with those people puts you in a better position to win them over. Failure to do this will not only make you lose the sale, but they may also end up in your competitors' nests.
Conclusion
You just learnt a fundamental strategy for generating sales. This handy guide will assist in improving your sales prospect qualification process right away. However, it doesn’t stop here. You have to keep refining the process until you arrive at the best strategy for your sales teams. Want to see the prospect qualification process in action? Get in touch with our team today!