What Makes a Qualified Prospect Qualified? - Part 2

By Ron LaVine, MBA
President of Accelerated Sales Training, Inc.
www.ast-incorp.com

6. Good Fit

Does your solution make good business sense?

Can we establish an ongoing relationship?

Have you calculated the ROI (Return on Investment)?

What is the Net Payback Period or how fast will the solution pay for itself?

Have you created a cost justification (Cost over time versus Savings over Time)?

What would make them smile?

Is the Prospect's business growing or is in or headed for trouble?

Has the account bought into the vision or proposed solution?

Can our solution help the Prospect produce tangible or measurable results to calculate a ROI?

Is there a fit with the current products and services in use or will additional products and services be required?

Is the Prospect willing take specific action(s) towards a solution?


7. Evaluation Criteria

What is the evaluation criterion, if any? Will they fax it to you?

Do you have a criterion you can provide them with?

The final decision is based on what factors?

Is there an agreement on what is important or what is of value?

Have evaluation criteria been defined?


8. Business Impact

What is the cost of inaction or taking the wrong action?

What are the consequences or penalties if the account does not take action by a certain date?

What is the cost of losing a customer?

What is the cost of acquiring a customer?

How much would an addition to the head count cost?

What is the cost of shopping cart abandonment in their web store?

What is the cost of additional training and the time spent away from the job while learning?

Have you calculated the cost of the business impact?

What does the Prospect personally stand to gain or lose if a solution is or is not implemented?


9. Processes

What are the exact evaluation, budgeting and decision-making processes?

Who does the negotiating?

What is negotiable and what is non-negotiable?

Who signs the final Agreement?

What are the payment terms (Net 15, Net 30, etc.)?

Is a purchase order required?


10. People

Who will be involved or influence the final decision?

This can be one or different individual

Is there an individual (or individuals) that understands the value of your product or service, but has not found a good fit yet?

Have all the key stakeholders been identified and contacted?

Are you speaking with the correct contact, which, assuming you have the right solution, has the authority to buy?

Do you know how much authority the Prospect has before further approvals are required?

Who are the decision-makers, evaluators, influencers, and end users of your potential solution?

Final Decision Maker(s) signs the check.
Motivation: What is the effect on our bottom line?

Evaluator(s) screens out and says no.
Motivation: What is the best solution that meets our needs?

Guide(s) want to help guide you through the process.
Motivation: I like your solution. How can I help you get your solution as the one chosen?

End User(s) are concerned about the effect on them and their job.
Motivation: Will it make my job easier or harder?

Initiator(s) want to look good.
Motivation: How can I show that I did a good job of gathering information?

Purchasing/Legal/Contracts are responsible for negotiating the terms and condition
Motivation: How can we get the most favorable terms and conditions for our company (i.e. additional discounts, extra technical support or consulting services, lower pricing, more training or extra sets of documentation, better payment terms, guarantees, etc.)?


11. Organizational Chart

What is the formal and informal organizational structure?

Who reports to whom?

Who influences whom?

Who are the counterparts, back-ups, peers and subordinates?

Who are the assistants?

Do you have all names and titles spelled correctly?

Do you have the correct street address (room, floor, suite, mail code, etc.),
E-mail addresses, fax numbers and extensions?

What are the responsibilities of each of your contacts?


12. Solutions

What types of solutions are currently in use?

Does the prospect have the necessary people, time, money and equipment in place or available to implement your solution?

Could the correct environment to support your solution be put in place?

What Makes a Qualified Prospect, Qualified? Part 1 of 4

By Ron LaVine, MBA
President of Accelerated Sales Training, Inc.

Have you ever asked yourself, what are the specific characteristics of a qualified prospect? What are the minimum pieces of information you need to know to determine if the potential for a sale exists? What pieces of information are required before you consider a prospect qualified? Am I using a consistent cold calling system to successfully obtain the information needed?

Here are the first of a four part blog on 17 areas with questions you may want to ask yourself so you can create a qualified prospect profile also known as an Account Sales Profile™.

1. Basic Demographics

Ask yourself "Which type of organization do I make the most money when I make a sale?" For example: Is it a company with 10 employees or 100 employees? Does the company have over $10 million in gross sales or over $100 million in gross sales? Are most of my customers in the Retail Industry or the Financial Industry? What types of organizations will provide the highest payoff in return for my limited amount of selling time?

In summary, what are the demographics of your most profitable accounts in terms of...

> Industry Verticals (such as Software, Printing, Frozen Foods, etc.)
> Total Gross Sales
> Total Number of Employees


2. Business Practices

How does the account currently conduct business?

Where is the Prospect now?

How did the Prospect conduct business in the past?

What is the Prospect's future strategic direction?

Where does the Prospect want to be?

How does the Prospect plan to get there?


3. Needs, Problems, Challenges, Critical Business Issues, Pains or Drivers

Is there a perceived or unperceived need for your solution?

What are the needs, challenges or problems the Prospect facing?

What is keeping them up at night?

What is required to solve the problem and does your solution fit the bill?

Is the Prospect actively searching for a solution, which you can provide?

Does the Prospect have any current or future business initiatives?

Has the Prospect expressed an interest in what you have to offer?

Does the Prospect have a compelling business issue that needs to be solved?

Is the Prospect using outdated products and services, which may need to be replaced?

Is there a need for a specific product or service but the Prospect can't afford the time or money or man hours to build their own solution?

Is the Prospect using some type of solution and not yet seeing business results?

Is the Prospect starting to look at competitors?

Has a specific person been assigned to find a solution to a specific need?

Does the Prospect have a serious intention to buy or are they just being time wasters or tire kickers or a just send me something?


4. Time-frames

What are the time-frames for...

The RFI or RFP or RFQ (Request for Information, Proposal or Quote)

Evaluation period

Decision date

Roll-out of a pilot solution

Implementation of an enterprise wide solution


5. Budget

Does the Prospect have a budget already set aside?

Can the Prospect get it from someone else's budget or next year's budget?

At what level are further sign-offs required? ($10,000, $50,000? 100,000?)

What amount is budgeted for a solution?

Is there a deadline where the Prospect will lose the budget or funding (usually in schools or government organizations)?

More on What Makes a Qualified Prospect, Qualified? next week.