Sales in Business: Qualifying skills
Posted by Rebecca Blackwell on Oct 10, 2008
I know this is a blog about marketing, but the point of marketing is to generate more sales, and it’s difficult to have enough sales without good marketing. Further, marketing all about communicating a message, which happens throughout the sales cycle (or should). So, when you are marketing, you are selling and when you are selling you are marketing.
That said, I want to share Q and A with you. The question is from a Your Marketing Lab member, and the answer is from Joyce Lillis, a Your Marketing Lab ProStaffer. Good stuff.
Question: “From the time a lead appears on the ‘radar’ screen, how many times should I contact them, and how long should I pursue the lead before letting them go? For example, sometimes leads appear to be interested even though they’re not always timely with their responses. Other times they really aren’t interested, but it’s hard to tell the difference. How do you know when you are doing a great job following up and when you are wasting your time?”
Joyce’s Response: First, when a lead appears it is important to qualify the prospective client by asking specific questions to determine if they are interested in your product/service. If you can provide one of the six “Reasons to Buy” below you will have an understanding of how you can provide a solution (VALUE) to their problem.
1. Reduce costs
2. Increase revenues
3. Leverage cost of capital
4. Increase productivity
5. Provide quality and customer satisfaction
6. Augment a new strategy or initiative
If you do not meet any of the above criteria then I would not put this prospective client on the pipeline. If you do meet one or more of the criteria above and you continue to make contact with this potential client it is important to trial close at the end of every conversation. A trial close means that there is a reason for you to follow up on a specific issue that has been determined during the conversation and allows you to move the opportunity to a closed deal.
Secondly, it is important to determine the following three reasons the potential client will buy from you.
1. A compelling reason to buy your product/service
2. Developing a business relationship with the decision maker
3. Determined there is a budget to support making a purchase
If any of the three are not determined in the beginning of the relationship, then I don’t believe there is a reason to continue to waste time with this potential client because there is a 90% chance that this is not going to become a closed deal.
Remember, to ask the hard questions. Sometimes sales people are not comfortable asking the question that allows them to make a decision to drop the lead because as sales people we are optimistic and we want to believe we can turn a lead into a closed deal. (For more about asking questions, take a look at this article: Yellow Lights)
It is important to recognize that there is always another lead that will turn into a closed deal so if any of the above cannot be determined move on to your next lead. Time is Money when you are selling.
Read more about Joyce’s upcoming course:
Qualifying and Closing Skills: Red Light/ Green Light
