Lead qualification is essential to allocate time and focus on the right prospects. In a constantly accelerating world, it is extremely important to decide which leads to pursue and which ones to drop in order to gain efficiency and profitability.
What is a lead?
In business jargon, a lead or prospect is someone who could potentially become a customer (an individual in B2C or a company in B2B).
What defines them as a lead is the fact that this person/company has shown interest in what you sell. Leads can be acquired through various channels – customer referral, online contact form, downloading a white paper, etc.
The origin of this lead, along with a series of information about them, helps in determining their qualification, which means analyzing where this person/company is in their buying journey.
What is lead qualification?
Now that you understand what a lead is, let’s talk about the qualification funnel.
Lead qualification is the process of organizing your potential customers in order of their likelihood to buy. This way, you can prioritize customers who are more likely to complete a purchase, such as those who have already engaged with your sales team and given a positive response.
The process of determining whether a prospect is qualified (and to what extent) involves more than just one rule. The concept of lead qualification varies from one company to another, from one industry to another, based on what they define as a “qualified lead”.
The first step in lead qualification is collecting them through your inbound strategy. Every day, you receive potential customer information through email subscriptions, engagement on social media, etc. Then, you can decide if each customer matches your ideal persona.
If they match the profile in question, the next step is to interact with the prospect via email or phone. This conversion helps determine the lead’s needs and budget.
Finally, once the prospect is fully qualified for your product or service, you can decide whether to tailor a proposal for them or pursue another lead.
Depending on your needs, your process of acquiring and qualifying prospects may change to better fit your business. The better your lead providers are, the faster lead qualification will be.
What is the lead qualification process?
While visitors and generic leads are at the top of your sales funnel, a qualified lead is a bit further along the path to becoming a customer. Here’s how the lead qualification process works.
First step: Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)
A Marketing Qualified Lead is a prospect who has shown interest in purchasing. These leads have taken the first step in the purchasing process but are not yet buyers. These customers are not guaranteed. They simply took the first step toward you. So you have to research them and find out if they are worth pursuing.
Second step: Sales Accepted Lead (SAL)
Once the marketing team has determined that a lead is qualified, their job ends. It will then be passed on to the sales team for a more thorough evaluation, entering the sales pipeline process.
The goal of the sales team at this stage is to look for any information that the marketing team may have missed to determine whether the lead should be sent back to the marketing team for nurturing and qualification, developed by the sales team, or rejected. It becomes a Sales Accepted Lead.
When identifying a good lead, this step is crucial because it prevents you from moving forward with a prospect who is not perfectly qualified to pursue. Ideally, the part of the lead qualification process responsible for confirming the accuracy of the lead should only take a few minutes.
Third step: Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)
Once the sales team has approved the previous leads, they become qualified. These potential customers have shown an intention to purchase and you have proven that they fit your perfect customer criteria. Therefore, they are worth pursuing in the conversion process to complete their purchase.
But how can you know what prompts them to move on to the next stage?
Some questions to ask for qualifying each lead
Your list of questions for lead qualification should help you determine if a potential prospect fits your criteria for an ideal customer. Following these questions, you can decide to disqualify the lead or move forward.
Is the prospect really interested in the purchase in question?
Although this question is very basic, it is not always easy to answer. Sometimes, even the most qualified leads are not interested in completing a purchase. Perhaps they only wanted a free eBook, or they would like to stay informed about industry news and trends via email subscription. Or they need your solution but are simply not yet ready to make a purchase.
Do they need my solution?
When trying to sell something, you may think you should absolutely qualify leads who are looking to buy. But some people who want to buy your solution don’t really need it. And sooner or later, they will realize that they don’t need what you’re selling. If that’s the case, you’ll end up with a rejection, a return, or bad reviews.
Can they afford what I’m selling?
The answer to this question is not always easy to find because money can be a very sensitive topic. Some leads may even consider it rude to discuss their finances. So knowing how and when to ask is a key way to determine if your solution fits their budget.
Is this the best timing for them to buy what I’m selling?
Even when a lead needs your solution, they may not be ready to buy it today. But they may be ready to complete that purchase another day. That’s why it’s essential to segment your prospects and know where they are in the sales funnel to ensure that you pursue them at the right time. This will allow you to send your leads to the right sales or marketing team so they can nurture them based on their needs.
Is this THE person who decides?
As mentioned earlier, spending time courting the wrong person is a waste of time. Those expressing the need are not necessarily those with purchasing power. So, it’s wise to go all the way to look for the decision-maker who will decide on the purchase.
Conclusion
Lead qualification is a very important milestone in your sales process. When lead qualification is done well, it can save you a lot of time and money by ensuring that you focus on the leads most likely to convert.
To succeed, brands must implement an effective process that meets the unique needs of their organization. If you are a small business with only a handful of prospects to manage, you may be able to qualify leads manually. However, to effectively lead qualification on a large scale, marketing automation is inevitable.