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How to Better Qualify Prospects to Increase Sales

Guest post by: Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Article Overview: Are you wasting a lot of time with tire kickers? Or have you thought that you truly did do your due diligence only to discover you missed something? Learn what actions you need to take to increase sales because you now know how to better qualify your prospects.

How to Better Qualify Prospects to Increase Sales

Are you wasting a lot of time with tire kickers? Or have you thought that you truly did do your due diligence only to discover you missed something? Learn what actions (sales behaviors) you, as a sales professional, need to take to increase sales because you now know how to better qualify your prospects.

The word qualify from its Latin’s origins means to make of what kind. In sales, the word qualify is to separate your contacts or to make your contact into these 4 kinds:

First Kind – Most Prevalent Contact - Someone who will never ever buy from you. This person can waste a lot of your time. Your sales behavior is to be polite, but to focus your energies (sales skills) where you can really increase sales.

Second Kind – Prevalent Contact - Someone who may buy from you at some time in the future. This person may have only 2 to 3 of the necessary criteria. Sales Coaching Tip: Four Criteria are: 1. Have a need; 2. Have an allocated budget; 3. Decision maker; 4. Urgency

Third Kind – The Rarest Contact - Someone who may buy from you right now on the spot. According to sales research only 2% of sales are made on the first contact hence the rarity of this qualified prospect. Your sales behaviors here are to begin to develop the relationship as 80% of all sales are made between the 5th and 12th contacts. Sales Coaching Tip: Even though I have used the word prospect, consider using the phrase qualified potential customer. This phrase provides you with a picture of working with him or her instead of just being an object as a means to an end.

Fourth Kind – The Best and Most Cost Effective - Someone who may refer you to others who may be interested in buying from you. Using existing loyal customers to Centers of influence is the best way to have qualified potential customers beating a path to your door.

Qualifying is a sales skill and begins prior to meeting the actual person. First, you probably should return to your marketing action plan and review your target audience. Your sales behaviors (actions) include research as to both demographics and pyschographics of your potential customers. Additionally, you need to be aware of how did your potential customer hear about you whether it was a referral or someone who had conducted business with you years ago.

Many in sales truly do not understand this term of pyschographics. In today’s far more complex market place, potential customers have specific attitudes, interests and opinions that affect their buying decisions beyond the traditional demographics of age, location, sex, income, etc. By having a better understanding of these “psychology” benchmarks helps you as a sales professional to form a more cohesive marketing message and further hone your sales skills as well as sales behaviors.

Finally, you may wish to better understand your own decision making style. When in Socrates words, “You know yourself,” you can choose yourself and then create yourself specific to your goal to increase sales

TAKE ACTION SALES COACHING TIP: Invest some time in better qualifying your potential customers. Remember, by taking this action you have greater control of the overall sales process.

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  Lead Generation Best Practices: Dedicate Qualifying Resources
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  Win More Sales By Better Qualifying Your Potential Customers Also Known As Prospects
  Discover The Five Most Dangerous Reasons Stopping Salespeople Selling

Article Tags: budget, centers of influence, decision maker, due diligence, first contact, latin, loyal customers, means to an end, necessary criteria, origins, phrase, professional need, prospects, rarity, relationship, sales coaching, sales skill, target audience, tire kickers, urgency



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