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How To Qualify Warm Leads

Written by: Mike Brooks

Article Overview: The internet has changed the way leads come into a sales organization. The problem is that 80% of companies and sales reps still handle them the same old way. Here is the Right Way to qualify incoming leads.

How To Qualify Warm Leads

So many companies these days get their leads from website inquiries, trade shows, Internet advertising, media advertising, etc, and they ask me over and over again: “What's the best way to deal with these kinds of leads?"

Good question. You would think that getting back to a “warm lead" would be easy, but you'd be surprised how many sales reps (80% of them) mishandle these opportunities.

Here are the do’s and don’ts of qualifying warm leads.

#1: DO begin your opening in a welcoming, and assumptive way. Try:

“Hi ______ this is ______ with ________ company. I wanted to thank you for (visiting our web site, stopping by our booth, your interest in) and I wanted to answer any questions you had. What specifically were you interested in?

DON’T be vague:

"Ah, this is ________ getting back with you, I see you went to our web site and I was wondering how I can help you?"

#2: DO be prepared to ask qualifying questions and LISTEN to uncover their specific buying motives. Try:

“What motivated you to take the time to fill out our request form?"

“What specifically were you interested in?"

“What part of our (product/service) appealed to you most?"

“Many of our clients like that we provide X. Is that what you were looking for, too?

DON’T start pitching! 80% of your competition make the critical error of assuming a warm lead is interested in your product or service so they start pitching. Don't go into pitch mode!

#3: DO use a script. The Top 20% understand how important it is to make a connection, stay in control, uncover buying motives, and disqualify the prospects who are just looking. Only a carefully crafted script allows you to do that.

DON’T ad-lib your way through your presentation. 80% of your competition still make the mistake of assuming that a warm lead is a good lead and so they often quickly make appointments, send demos, etc., without properly qualifying. Big mistake! Treat a warm lead like any other and qualify it using a script.

Applying these three rules will vastly improve your success with call-in or warm leads. Incorporate them today and see for yourself – you’ll glad you did!

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Article Tags: closing sales, closing scripts, closing techniques, cold calling, inside sales, overcoming objections, phone sales, phone sales scripts, phone script, phone scripts, phone scripts examples, prospecting, telephone scripts, telesales



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