What is Sales qualification? The common sales qualification process
A salesman can interact with more than 100 hundred leads per day. In order to know how many leads of 100 can be converted into sales, the salesman needs a sales qualification process. In this article, we will find out what Sales Qualification is and how to use it in selling products/services.
Selling is a difficult task. It's not just about being able to talk to people, but also being able to hear what they are saying and respond in the right way. A salesman can interact with more than 100 hundred leads per day. In order to know how many leads of 100 can be converted into sales, the salesman needs a sales qualification process. In this article, we will find out what Sales Qualification is and how to use it in selling products/services.
What is Sales qualification?
Sales qualification is the process of determining whether or not a lead (or prospect) is good enough to be turned into an actual sales and deserves further attention.
For example, a company can receive more than 100 requests for a demo per day. But only 20% of them are seriously interested in buying your product. To use the selling time wisely, the company need a sales qualification process so that the company salesforce can focus on the potential request to make sales more faster.
Short history of Sales qualification
At the end of 20th century, salespeople use their intuition to qualify whether a prospect is qualified or not.
However, in 2000s, due to the rapid development of information technology, companies can see huge data both external and internal on internet. With this big amount of data and by applying analytics, some software tool can help companies do this qualification faster and more accurate.
In 2020s, there are many agencies which provide sale automation tools as services. Some large company developed their own system to maximize the effectiveness of selling.
Why is Sales qualification important?
Sale qualification is important to a business because of following reasons:
Sales qualification helps save time spent on nonpotential leads.
By defining whether the sales lead can be turned into an actual sale or not, sales qualification can help save time by quickly skipping on nonpotential leads.
Sales qualification helps focus on potential leads.
By knowing the potential lead, you can focus on them and increase your chance to make sales.
Sales qualification helps prioritize leads in order of sales value.
By using sales qualification, a company can prioritize customers by their sales value and put more effort on the most valuable customer first.
The process of Sales qualification allows companies to know customers better.
With the process of sales qualification, a company can get a complete customer profile including their basic information, qualification status and their buying interest. The company will keep improving their knowledge about customers and serve them more efficiently later on.
The common sales qualification process
Companies may have different sales qualification process. However, there are often common steps involved in their process:
Step 1. Collecting and organizing customer information.
In order to assess the potential of a lead, we have to collect and organizing customer information in a proper way. More information you know about a lead, the better your sales qualification is. Some important information of the customer can be age, gender, occupation, nationality. In addition, customer behavior (tone of voice, attitude, speed of answer...) should be recorded for later assessment.
Step 2. Assess the sales lead using a system of qualification criteria.
In this step, the salesperson rates each lead according to many qualification criteria. Most companies often build a system of qualification criteria for better assessment. For example, we can use a scale from 1-10; 1 is highly unlikely to buy our product and 10 is very likely to buy. A qualified lead have a score of 7 or above.
Step 3. Make decision whether follow up with customers or not.
As a result of the assessment. If the lead has a low score, then it will be saved in the non-qualified list for future reference. On the contrary, if the lead has a high score, then you should prioritize to follow up with them.
Conclusion
Sales qualification can help your company save time and focus on potential leads to increase the chance of making sales. It is a vital part of the sales process and can be applied in any industry. Although each company may have different qualification criteria, they are often built on four common steps: collecting and organizing customer information, assessing each lead using a system of qualification criteria, making a decision whether follow up with customers or not and following up later on to confirm the qualification.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Sales qualification is the process of determining if a potential customer is a good fit for your product or service, and if they have the budget, authority, need, and timeline to make a purchase.
The common steps in the sales qualification process are: identifying potential customers, researching their needs and pain points, reaching out to them, asking qualifying questions, assessing their budget, authority, need, and timeline, and determining if they are a good fit for your product or service.
Sales qualification is important because it helps you focus your sales efforts on potential customers who are most likely to make a purchase, and avoid wasting time on those who are not a good fit. It also helps you tailor your sales pitch to their specific needs and pain points.
Some common qualifying questions are: What is your budget for this product/service? Who will be the decision maker? What is your timeline for making a purchase? What are your biggest pain points or challenges? How would you measure success with this product/service?
Some tools or techniques for sales qualification include: customer relationship management (CRM) software, lead scoring, buyer personas, sales scripts, objection handling techniques, and qualification criteria.
