It’s good that Joel already posted his comment, because I was going to say something like “Joel would say…”. I’d say you’ve qualified your prospects with your marketing. You’ve explained to people through ads, social media and other resources what it is that you sell. If your marketing strategy is smart, the right people will come asking for more information, when they’re thinking of buying. This is very different from attacking someone who walks through a department store just to get to the food court on the other side of the shopping mall.

The greatest thing I’ve learned about sales and marketing from Chris and Joel is that qualifying a prospect is just establishing the beginning of a relationship with them in which you get to serve them.

Good luck in Indy!!!

Perfect title because selling is an art but that leverages science and psychology. I could go on forever on this topic so I’ll just say your marketing needs to feed selling in that it helps find, identify, and to varying degrees, educate people and then it needs to transition to sales. I know this is vague but the point is marketing and selling is a process rooted in some principles, not an event.

I think qualifying starts with observation then grows with listening. If the salesman can connect with the customer that makes them feel listened to and valued in first few moments, they may discover a greater potential even if down the road than first anticipated. You can’t sell what you want to sell, you have to make them have to need it or want it in their mind and no one values anyone’s opinion if they don’t feel listened to. For instance my son wanted new cologne and as I sent my husband to price it out the sales rep excitedly gave him the “lowdown”(that’s the SALESMAN”S terms). HE explained the cologne my husband inquired about was worn by his Grandfather, and we couldn’t possibly want that one. At that point he lost me and my money since he insulted my son’s choice. He lost the chance to educate and possibly win a new customer for life. Ralph Lauren stores have several fragrance variations, and I walked off with none of their offerings since we were greeted with a sell that insulted our desires. Qualifying isn’t capturing, its embracing.

Your story about the car salesman is hilarious. I have a particular car lot in mind in Franklin when I pictured that. Lot’s of guys named Bubba and Ron doing the selling. I think they are all related.

Also, bummer that you and the crew are less than two hours from me and I can’t make it. I know quite a few people attending and have instructed them to yell “burnt rice” loudly in unison periodically while you are speaking. Let me know how that goes.

I have always been involved in such niche industries that, thankfully, I have never had to deal with a many unqualified prospects. I did learn early on selling insurance leads that I needed to ask three questions though to weed out the 10-20% that weren’t going to work in our program before launching into our half hour-plus sales call:

1. Have you purchased internet leads before? A yes means they are almost assuredly qualified. A no does not disqualify, but makes the next two questions important.

2. Do you work alone or do you have a team? Alone means at most they can handle 1-2 leads per day and are usually high maintenance.

3. Do they currently have a system for working new leads and/or the right CRM software in place to handle them?

No-alone-no = not qualified.
no-alone-yes = probably not, but we would ask a few other questions…if they have a system and are eager, we left it to the salesperson’s discretion
yes-alone-no = not qualified. All this means is they have tried them before, failed, and will fail again.
no-team-no = not qualified. The only exception to this is if they were a referral from a customer. We would give them a chance then.

Most other combinations would at least be qualified enough to continue.

I learned this lesson the hard way, OF COURSE, by wasting many hours early on with “prospects” who I had less than a 10% chance of closing or who quit after spending less than $100.