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Win More Sales By Better Qualifying Your Potential Customers Also Known As Prospects

Written by: Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Article Overview: Even in the best of times, sales professionals need to qualify their potential customers (a.k.a. prospects). When times are less than positive, this sales skill set is even more necessary. However, due to some in sales feeling desperate, they are investing their one resource that cannot be replenished, that being time.

Win More Sales By Better Qualifying Your Potential Customers Also Known As Prospects

Even in the best of times, sales professionals need to qualify their potential customers (a.k.a. prospects). When times are less than positive, this sales skill set is even more necessary. However, due to some in sales feeling desperate, they are investing their one resource that cannot be replenished, that being time.

Being able to qualify customers is really duo skill set of marketing and selling or sales skills. The marketing message must Attract potential customers while building Interest and Desire. In all effective marketing messages, there should be a call to action as well and that begins the sales skills.

When sales professionals are marketing, they are seeking to separate the potential customers from everyone else. This first step is part of the qualifying process.

One of the unintended outcomes of better qualifying customers is that earning the sale becomes somewhat easier. I use the word earn because I truly dislike the word close. Please let me explain. During the last several years through my sales coaching practice, how to close the sale ranks in the top 5 sales challenges. When I hear this word, I literally freeze inside. Do you think that possibly your customers are feeling the same way?

Earning the sales is the natural conclusion of the sales process. It should not be forced. If there are stalls or objections at this point in the sales process, this suggests that somewhere a fumble was made within the sales process.

Sales is a game that requires flawless execution each and every time. When you play the game well without any fumbles, sacks, errors or simply speaking mistakes, you will earn the sale every time.

Yes it does take time to qualify potential customers (a.k.a. prospects). However does it not make sense to front load the effort at the beginning of the process before you get to the end and find that:

This was not the real decision maker
There were no budgeted and available dollars
The need was not well defined or miss defined
There was not urgency at this time to take action

To better qualify your potential customers begins with closing your teeth. "When you are telling, you ain't selling" as one of my colleagues has so often shared. Of course, this also means that you must have a clearly defined target market and stop playing Captain Wing It by spraying and praying your marketing and sales skills all over the place.

Consider, just focusing your time on 5 key potential customers. Do you homework. Let everyone know that you wish to meet these folks. Use social networks to education based marketing to spread the word. The end result will win more sales and truly enjoy what you are doing.

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Article Tags: challenges, decision maker, desire, effective marketing, feeling the same way, flawless execution, fumble, game, last several years, natural conclusion, objections, prospects, sacks, sales coaching, sales professionals, sales skill, skill set, unintended outcomes



Related Forum Posts
Simple way to avoid Cold Calling - Gary, A chiropractor I work with hates cold calling (me too!) and he uses a technique to warm people up to using his services - it's so simple! In Sales your dealing with 3 pools of people: 1. Strangers 2. Prospects 3. Returning Customers You need to move people from one pool to the next. We'll concentrate on #1 and #2 as it's most relevant to your question. My Clients does the following (you just have to tailor it to your situation - be creative). My Client (we'll call him Bob) Bob leverages his time and resources to only get people that need his offer (pain relief) to put their hand up. Dealing with Strangers can get expensive and they don't like to be told what to do as they have no trust or relationship built with him. So to get Strangers to put their hands up he writes up an offer with a free report on a particular pain relief - let's say lower back pain (note: he can simply just change lower back pain to neck pain and have a new report). and uses multiple marketing vehicles to promote the Free report - magazines, newspaper, forums, postcards, private clinics etc. The only people picking up this information are the very people Bob would like as customers as they have Lower back pain. Bob's Free report ends with him stating his services and includes a Free in-house Consultation with no obligation. You'd be surprised at how easily Bob converts Strangers into Prospects. Note: They become prospects when they ask for the Free Guide and in exchange provide their contact details. This gives Bob unlimited opportunity to contact them for the Free in-house consultation with no obligation to continue using him. At this stage Bob's ability to close the sale lies in his office providing good customer service, Bob's ability to help the prospect and provide value at the free in-house consultation. Notice, he hasn't had to pick up the phone to COLD-CALL his Stranger pool or his Prospect pool. Hope that example helps to increase your prospecting!
Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing
Re: Two Useful Books To Help You Focus On The CLIENT - Hi David, To add to your thread, I'd like to recommend Jonathan Tisch's "Chocolates On The Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience". Tisch's book includes content on "Welcoming Customers", "The New Art of Customization", "The Challenges of Customer Diversity" and "Offering Something Extra to Your Customers" to name a few.
Re: Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - [quote="ltrahan":31w9r2iz]Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing[/quote:31w9r2iz] I second the request...
Re: Email Etiquette - [quote="jvprosperity":24jznj58] The P.S. suggestion is good but it depends on the type of communication (e.g. Autoresponder series verses one off emails to Clients or Prospects)[/quote:24jznj58] Andy, You are right. I was mainly referring to Auto Responder emails. To end a normal email, I attach signatures. Takuya


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