Abe Lincoln said if he had five hours to fell a tree hed invest four of them in sharpening his axe. Had he been a salesperson, given those same five hours, hed develop and refine his prospecting list for four hours and do one hour of contact work. Qualifying our potential customers is one of the main activities in which sellers engage, and for good reason. If we invest time with the wrong prospects: (1) That time is utterly wasted. It cant even be chalked up to practice, because practicing before fools is, well, foolish. (2) It degrades our attitudes. When I pitch the wrong people, and by that I mean people who cannot buy or that definitely do not want or need to buy, I kick myself, knowing that Ive needlessly exerted myself. Moreover, Ive prostrated myself before losers, and that doesnt feel good. (3) Pitching the wrong people keeps us from finding and pitching the right ones. Who then is a qualified buyer? A qualified buyer is someone who is capable of saying: (1) I have a need, and its important that I address it; (2) I have the authority, the freedom, and the money to buy right now; and (3) Im willing to give you a fair chance to earn my business. People without needs, or at least wants, are not qualified. They have no motivation to buy. People who are not in positions of responsibility, and especially who arent in pain, that are quite happy with the current state of things, are not qualified. For example, I sell customer service training and improvement programs. Most front-line service reps and their managers are not qualified to buy because theyre happy repeating and defending the status quo. They dont want to change, and they resist change, so theyre precisely the wrong people to pitch, though, technically, they are close to the work Ill be impacting. Likewise, is a sales manager going to invite me to redesign his job, or to critique how hes doing it? Do your prospects have money, can they get it fast if they dont, and can they freely spend or invest it? If not, theyre not qualified. You see where Im going with this. FEW people ARE qualified! Some are influencers, but theyre not deciders. In my experience, most influencers feel safer saying no to the new, than they do by embracing it. Dont bark up the wrong trees. Be like Lincoln, and sharpen your tools and your focus, and after doing so, go forth and sell! |
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