Qualifying Technology Sales Leads
December 16th, 2009 Posted in B2B sales lead generation, by an authorBy Rich Bendall
In IT and technology sales not all leads generated have the potential to become completed sales. A lead is not a guarantee it is simply an indication that a sale may happen. The process of determining if a lead is likely to become a sale is known as qualifying the lead. Taking the time to qualify sales leads is an important first step in any technology sales process.
There are many reasons why a sales lead may not have the potential to become an actual prospect. For example the company in question may have already bought a similar product from a competitor and so will have no need to make a new purchase. Other reasons may include a lack of financial capacity to buy, the contact not having the necessary authority to approve the purchase or it may just be that the prospect cannot be contacted.
Sales lead qualification is the process of filtering through the leads to find the ones that have a genuine possibility of becoming a sale. To be successful in qualifying sales leads the salesperson needs to be asking the right questions to their prospects. Of course the right questions will vary according to the type of product or service being sold but in general the salesperson may find it useful to think in terms of who, where, when and why? For example questions to ask may include – Who has the most obvious need for the product? Where can new prospects be found? When is the best time to contact the prospect? Why would the prospect be interested in buying the product?
If the prospect has been found to have the need, authority and finances to make the purchase then they can be considered to be a qualified lead. By focusing more on the quality of leads rather than quantity sales teams are able to work more effectively with much less time being wasted on leads with little or no value.
