Recently someone told me the method that an acquaintance uses to qualify buyers. This sales professional asks three questions to decide whether it makes sense to try and do business with a potential buyer:
- Are they willing to buy?
- Are they willing to buy from me?
- Are they willing to buy from me now?
These are good questions to ask, because as this sales person also pointed out, the resource he cannot waste is time.
An incomplete list
But if the answer is “no” to any of these questions, there is still potential for this buyer to become a customer. It may just mean that the buyer isn’t ready, that the relationship needs to be nurtured.
And even if the answer is “yes” to all of these questions, it still may not be a qualified opportunity.
What if the customer is willing to buy, but hasn’t fully validated the value of the purchase? They could realize late in the cycle that they can’t get the benefits and decide not to purchase. Wasted time on everyone’s part.
What if the customer is willing to buy, but it’s not good business for your company? You might get the revenue, but at too great a cost.
It turns out that these three questions are insufficient for a company to qualify a sales opportunity. Michael Webb’s suggestion in his book is to assess the quality of a sales lead along three dimensions:
1. Value to the customer. What benefits will the customer realize? Cost savings? Increased revenue? Faster cycle time? Improved control?
2. Value to your company. What benefits will you realize? Money earned? Improved competitive position? Future revenue growth?
3. Selling challenge. What are the barriers to the sale? Do we have coaches in the right departments? Are gatekeepers blocking us? Do we know which issues decision makers will raise in internal discussions?
The role of marketing
The sales person I mentioned earlier is right. The one resource he cannot waste is time.
But it’s not up to the sales person to figure this out alone. It’s the job of marketing to generate leads for Sales. It’s also their job to assess the quality of these leads.
By assessing the quality of an opportunity more thoroughly, Marketing will enable Sales to bring more value to the customer and to the company. And the sales team will encounter fewer obstacles along the way.
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