Easily Qualify Every Prospect in Sales

So many sales people are running around wasting their time following up on prospects that are never going to do business with them. The tragedy of it all is that they could have easily known that information in the first 30 minutes of their first interaction with the unqualified prospect. Knowing whether a prospect is in fact qualified can save you infinite time and pain in sales. Here are three tips to easily qualify every prospect in sales:
1.       Disqualify: I hear lots of sales trainers telling their clients that they need to qualify—I tell them the exact opposite. Great sales people want to think in terms of a disqualification mindset. When you meet with a prospect, don’t assume that he is qualified and try to prove yourself right. This will come off as salesy and will lead to wasted hours. Instead, start with the mindset that you don’t know whether the prospect is qualified and be comfortable if you have to disqualify him in the end.
2.       Have a Doctor’s Mindset: When you walk into a doctor’s office with a problem, what happens after you briefly explain your problem? Does the doctor jump into her pitch about the top five reasons that you need a certain solution? “I have the perfect solution for you!!!!”
Of course not, the doctor asks you lots of questions to understand where you are hurting and what might be causing it way before ever suggesting a solution. We sales people must have that same mindset in selling situations.
3.       Have Your Script of Questions: Just like a good journalist has the same questions that she asks everyone she interviews, so should great sales people. The best sales people are not creative about the questions that they ask. They ask the same questions of every prospect time after time after time. By doing this, you no longer have to wing it in a selling situation, and can start to focus exclusively on whether the prospect is qualified or not.
Remember, your goal in a selling situation should be to determine as quickly as possible whether the prospect is qualified. Use these simple tips to qualify and disqualify prospects as quickly as possible.
How do you determine whether a prospect is qualified? Please share below.
Written by Marc Wayshak, author of the book Game Plan Selling and a sales keynote speaker.