When it comes to lead qualification, it’s safe to say that I’ve seen it all.
Qualification practices used by SDR teams range from BANT strategies to fuzzy questions that don’t help SDR teams make solid decisions about when to pass a lead to sales. Some SDRs hold onto leads too long, while others turn them over too quickly.
Truth is, there is no such thing as universal qualification.
Over the past 15 years working with internal lead generation teams and also serving as outsourced SDR teams for more than 300 companies, it’s clear that qualification strategies should be custom to the needs of nearly every business. They should evolve as programs mature and the sales process becomes more refined.
This week’s episode of 52 Weeks of Prospecting Success will tackle some high-level best practices for implementing qualification.
1.) Qualification questions should have black and white answers that make it easy for SDR teams to take correct action. They should be deal breakers or deal makers that leave little doubt about when an SDR should consider a lead “sales ready.”
2.) Information gathering questions should be a second priority. These questions can help a sales rep prepare for a discovery call and should only be asked after qualification is complete and it makes sense to pass the lead to sales.
3.) The best question for determining order of priority for qualification questions is to ask the sales team, “When do you NOT want to receive a lead assuming we have the right title at a company that fits our ideal profile?”
4.) Enterprise sales reps who do their own prospecting should continue to use this process. It’s important to get the prospect into a scheduled discovery call because their mindset will be different in that call than the cold call.
Happy calling. Smart prospecting!
Originally posted by Jenny Vance