How to Better Qualify Sales Prospects to Increase Win Rates

Qualify Sales Prospects Better
Experienced sales managers know that reps who ruthlessly qualify sales prospects consistently outperform their peers in terms of revenue, profits, and repeat business.  Why?  Because they focus on prospecting and selling their best solutions to their best clients.

Your Best Clients are Your Target Clients
Let’s start with a definition of target clients.  Your target clients don’t just buy from you.  Target clients passionately buy and use what you have to offer.  They do not just need what you offer; they must have what you offer.  They are not merely satisfied with what you offer; they are thrilled with what you offer.

These attributes create repeat business, sales referrals, and testimonials to help build your business. And, in turn, sales reps have shorter sales cycles, less headaches, and better results with target clients.

• Target Client Profiles for B2B
  Target client profiles for B2B companies should include your ideal target industry, geography, size in terms of revenue and number of employees, title(s), role(s), and function(s), and buying triggers – i.e. the biggest challenges they face that you solve.
• Target Client Profiles for B2C
  For B2C organizations, also consider attributes such as their profession, where they live, income level, marital status, number of children, age, gender, employment status, ethnicity, education level, religious beliefs, health, decision-making style, sense of humor, etc.

Your Best Solutions are Differentiated Solutions That Set You Apart
In addition to knowing who their best target clients are, the best sales reps help their clients to succeed by focusing on what their company does best.  Some call this a unique value proposition (UVP).  Regardless of what you call it, it is worth the time and effort to determine what specifically sets you apart from your competition in the eyes of your target buyers.

You will know you have a unique value proposition that matters when your target clients find what you have to offer is relevant to what matters most to them, different than what others can offer, and is supported by believable client experiences or research.  The clearer you can be about what specifically sets you apart while backing up your ability to follow through on your promise, the better.

Qualifying Prospects
Once you know the definition of your ideal target client and what sets you apart from the competition, you have what you need to effectively and consistently qualify sales prospects.  If you find yourself frequently reaching out to prospects without making much progress or if your sales cycle too long, then you need to reevaluate your target client and value prop.

Consultative selling training best practices are clear.  To succeed, you need to be more exacting in choosing target prospects.  In addition to having a strong sales qualification process, one smart approach is to use your web site to help you qualify prospects by being clear about who you want to work with, what you stand for, and what makes you different.

1. Be Clear
   Do not shy away from what makes you unique.  Everything you do should highlight your unique value proposition for your ideal target client.  Remember, you are not trying to be all things to all people.  You are trying to be the best option for those who should care the most about what you provide. Offer compelling articles, client case studies, and customer testimonials.
2. Let Prospects Identify Where They Stand
   Set up online health checks for target prospects to learn about their most pressing problems and benchmark where they stand to help determine if your solutions are a good fit.  This provides a great way for clients to experience how you think, behave, and work.
3. Share Insights
   Design a “keep-in-touch” system that shares frequent and value-added insights so you maintain contact with interested prospects who may come back to you later when their need fits with your solution, products, and services.

The Bottom Line
Your goal is to maximize your time and to qualify sales prospects by weeding out those who do not fit as well with what you have to offer compared to the competition.  High performing sales people focus on the prospects with the highest fit and potential.  Low performing sales people chase every lead — regardless of fit.

To learn more about how to better quality sales prospects, please download The 4 Steps to Identify Your Target Clients