A Checklist for Qualifying Prospects

The ultimate goal of your sales efforts should be to turn leads into prospects into loyal customers who will refer you. You already recognize that trying to convert every prospect is a waste of your time and theirs because some people just aren't a fit. But do you have a system for picking your best-suited leads? In this post, we will present a quick and easy checklist for qualifying prospects no matter what your industry.

✔ Do they fit in one of your target customer profiles?

You want more customers like your best customers, so pick a few of them and develop target customer profiles or personas based on these loyal customers. Personas help you make sure you’re targeting and attracting the right leads, and you know their pain points and key considerations for the product or service you offer. When qualifying new prospects, give priority to those who are similar to your target customers. If they don’t fit your personas, continue with the checklist to see if they may still be a match. Maybe you just discovered a new profile. For more help with defining your audience and creating a persona, download our eBook “Cadence + Content: 3 Steps to Closing More Deals”.

✔ Can you solve their business problems? 

Prospective customers are considering products and services to make their lives easier. No prospect wants to waste time with a sales rep if they can’t easily address their problems with a solution. If you’ve crafted well-thought-out personas, you should already have a good understanding of your typical prospects' pain points (and be prepared to address them with strong benefit statements). If not, go online and check out reviews from your customers and your competitors' customers. These provide insight into the problems that prospects may be having. If you can’t solve their problems, bow out. This is not a lead that you should pursue, and they will appreciate your honesty. You should make note of the problems that they are facing, however, as these can seed ideas for product or service enhancements down the road.

✔ Do your (and the target's) needs align?

Look at execution timelines, availability, and budgets. If the client wants more but is unable or unwilling to pay the price you ask, it may not be a deal worth getting into. Similarly, they may need you to complete the task sooner than you can, which may also create hurdles or you may be tempted to make a commitment you can’t possibly live up to. Keep these leads in your database, but don’t waste a lot of time trying to force a fit. If situations change, they may become qualified at a later date.

✔ Are the prospect's objections rational?

If they fit in your target profiles, you can solve their business problems, and everything else aligns, but they are not committing, your prospect's objections may not be based on rational thought. Instead of having FOMO (fear of missing out), they may have a fear of making the wrong decision. You may just need to nurture this lead a little more. Give them confidence by sharing case studies or anecdotes of successful customers who had similar hesitation. As you interact with leads, ask yourself these four questions and use them as a simple checklist for qualifying prospects. Keep track of your interactions and note after each conversation whether the prospect is likely to move forward or which factors may have forced your prospect to take a step back.

About Salesvue

Tracking and recording conversations and interactions with your prospects gets easier when you use a sales engagement platform like Salesvue. Our task resolution screens make it easy for a sales representative to log calls with one click, plus they can add details about the outcome of the call without having to navigate away from the page. With Salesvue's customizable email templates and cadences, you can keep the conversation going even as you are dealing with several prospects at once. To learn more about how Salesvue can help you grow your sales, schedule a demo with us today.