I’m pleased to share this week’s newsletter contribution from Jeret Unger, Associate at Kison Inc. & Growth Through Learning. Jeret’s experience in strategic business development and connective branding brings a grounded perspective to what it means to sell with client curiosity, clarity, and collaboration.
I must admit that I’ve wasted many hours and thousands of dollars by assuming the prospect sitting across from me to be a likely client. I remember one prospective company where I told myself we were “culturally aligned” and moving toward a long-term partnership. I spent hours consulting with their team and delivering a trial workshop. In the end, the time I provided in “proving to be a great partner” far exceeded what I invoiced.
This situation could have been avoided with some upfront qualifying questions. Admittedly, these may have felt somewhat awkward or uncomfortable to ask, but they would have been respectful and best served both the prospect and me. In this post, we examine the important, but all-too-often missed selling step of “Qualify.”
If Engage (covered here in our last post) is the speed date to check for client chemistry, Qualify is the first official date where you gather strong indicators on whether to consider “going steady.” It’s equally beneficial to you and your prospect. As in a romantic relationship, why would you keep “dating” (or in this case prospecting) if you know you aren’t a great match? It’s best to save each other the time and heartache by determining whether there is a strong potential fit at the front end of your exploration together.
The Three Indicators to Uncover
In the qualifying conversation, we want to uncover three key indicators with our prospect:
- Their buying motivators & detractors
- Their likely budget
- Their decision-makers and decision-making process.
Let’s take a quick dive into each of these components.
Understand Their Buying Motivators and Detractors
When it comes to buying motivators and detractors, you want to gain clear answers from the prospect on what they’re looking to gain and avoid around what you can offer. This is where you explore their:
- Needs: The clear tangible or intangible benefits they’re looking to receive, such as time and cost savings, improved quality, or faster service
- Wants: The emotional rewards they’re looking to experience (such as peace of mind) or the emotional discomfort they’re looking to avoid (like stress or frustration)
- Desires: Their deeper ego-centric desirables, such as increased reputation, personal achievement, or improved status.
These are typically uncovered by asking open-ended queries that start with what, who, why, and how. I suggest caution around the “why” questions, as that word can come across as judgmental. I often replace “why?” with “what makes that important?” to remove any potential intrusiveness without compromising the goal of the question itself.
Determine Budget Early
Asking about the budget is the most common area where we (and our clients) tend to be too passive. It feels uncomfortable. But it is both inevitable and critical to determining whether you move ahead together. So why wait? If you’re not comfortable with asking about the budget number directly, you can inquire about their range or what they’re estimating the investment in the product or service will be. Either way, you’re receiving a number to inform you whether your offering is within the ballpark.
Identify the Decision-Makers and Process
Uncovering who the real decision-makers are alongside the decision-making process is critical for you to confirm that you’re speaking to the right people, avoid decision-factor surprises later in the selling process, and set accurate expectations around the timing of the final decision.
Many of our clients are concerned about insulting their primary contact by asking where the real decision authority sits, and this is valid. One strategic way of handling this is to start by asking about the prospect’s organizational decision-making process first. Once this process has been laid out by your contact, it can feel softer (and more natural) to inquire about all the players involved in that process.
Ultimately, qualifying your prospect should be viewed as being in service to them, rather than an uncomfortable practice solely to determine whether they’re a fit for you. You can even state the purpose of the questions you’re about to ask around qualification as being designed to save them time, money, and hassle.
Better Qualification Leads to Better Relationships
The sooner you both know whether there’s a strong business match, the less risk, pain, and expenditure on both your parts. Exercising good qualification steps is also a point of differentiation, as most business professionals fail to qualify consistently well. If your qualifying questions prove that a strong match doesn’t exist right now, that doesn’t mean a match won’t exist in the future. Saving your prospect upfront time and hassle can open the door to future business for when you, your company, and your offering are the perfect fit.
So go on, qualify your prospects unapologetically as a beneficial service to them. By making both of your lives easier, you will set yourself apart as a strong prospective partner now or into the future.
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