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Improve Sales with MAD Prospects

Written by: John Brennan

Article Overview: Qualifying your prospects is probably the single most effective way to improve your sales productivity. There's a simple way to do it: just ask if your customers are MAD? Do they have the Money? Do they have the Authority? And do they have the Desire? They need all three to qualify.

Improve Sales with MAD Prospects

Try some of these questions to find out if your prospects are truly MAD.
Money
• Whose budget is this coming out of?
• How much have you set-aside for this project?
• How are you proposing to fund the project?
• What is your company’s process for funding these types of investments?
• When does the budget process begin?
• What are the steps in your budgeting process?
Authority
• What is the decision-making process for this project?
• Who else do you need to consult before making a decision?
• Is there any one else you think I should talk to about this project?
• Whose head will roll if this project is not a success?
Desire
• What are your top three sales/marketing goals for this year?
• How important are these goals to your company’s growth plans?
• How does this project fit into your sales/marketing plans?
• How do they support the company’s growth strategy?
• What typically happens to managers at your company who achieve or exceed their goals?
• What happens if you do not achieve these goals?
• What are some of the solutions you have tried in the past (or currently using)?
• What results did you get?
• Were those results acceptable?
• What other methods did you consider to achieve your goals?
• What kinds of solutions are you considering this time?
• What results do you expect?
• What thoughts do you have about measuring results?
• Are you open to considering some creative ideas?
• What other firms are you talking to?
• Do you have a specific proposal from them?
• What is in it?
• What criteria are you going to use to select a partner?
• Which criterion is the most important to you?
• Do we have a shot at this?

Related Articles
  You Cant Serve Everybody so Disqualify Most
  How to Shorten your Sales Cycle
  Sales Productivity is All About Outcomes (so why focus on inputs?)
  How To Close More Sales
  Stressed out about sales forecasting?

Article Tags: desire, money, prospects, sales productivity



Related Forum Posts
Top sales skills - Qualifying Fast to Avoid Wasting Sales Time Do you chase after your prospects until they tell you yes or no? Do you ever tell your prospects "No", as in "No, I am not going to sell to you"? There are many things in selling that you do not and will not be able to control. The one thing that you do have control over is your time and how you choose to use it. Motivating Prospects Qualifying goes beyond budget, authority, and need. You want to sell to prospects who *want* to buy from you. Finding prospects that need our products usually is not difficult. Finding those who really want our products though can be very hard if we wait for them to come to us. Selling to People Outside Your Comfort Zone Most salespeople who are "people persons", already think that they are good at this. Let me ask you a question. When you last lost a sale, how was your rapport with the key person who decided against you?
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
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!
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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