Qualifying a prospect involves determining whether a person who has shown interest in your product or service would make a good fit as a customer. If the individual qualifies, then it is worth spending your time, effort, and resources to turn them into a customer. Qualified prospects have a higher return on investment and higher close rate, which is important because startups have limited resources and a significant need to generate revenue quickly.
Let’s dive into learning how to qualify a prospect for your startup.
Quick takeaways:
Qualify prospects at three general levels:
Before reaching out, do as much research about the prospect as possible. Use what you learn from your research to qualify the prospect before making contact. Use the information you’ve accumulated to formulate questions for the qualification conversation.
Social media is an excellent resource for researching a prospect. For example, you can use LinkedIn to:
If your research indicates that the prospect is not a good fit as a customer, then you can move on to the next prospect. You’ve just saved yourself time and money by not spending unnecessary effort on trying to qualify the wrong person.
After doing your research, prepare questions for the qualifying conversation. Target the following key areas.
As the vendor, it’s important to target the prospect’s needs. Focus your questions on the following topics:
It will be difficult to make a sale if the prospect does not have the money to purchase your product or service. Focus your questions on the following topics:
When qualifying a prospect, determine whether they have the authority to make purchasing decisions. Focus your questions on the following topics:
All other factors might be in your favor, but the timing could be off, which could sink the deal before it moves another step forward.
Of course, you want the prospect to fit the characteristics of your ideal customer, as well as have the need, budget, authority, and timing to purchase your product or service. However, it’s important to focus on how you can help the prospect to solve their problem.
Target the conversation toward the prospect’s situation. Your goal is to qualify the prospect, not to make an immediate sale or boast about your product’s features and benefits. Your conversation and questions should focus on where they are now and where they want to go.
Qualifying a prospect for your startup begins with doing the research to understand everything you can about the prospect and their company. If the prospect is still a potential fit as a customer, move forward with determining if they meet your specific criteria and allow the prospect’s situation to guide your conversation.
Ready to build a powerful lead qualification process to help your startup grow? Let’s talk!