At a lot of companies, sales leads don\u2019t get enough respect. Sales people tend to complain about getting too many \u201cbad sales leads.\u201d Sales managers always tend to want \u201cmore sales leads.\u201d But one question that most people don\u2019t ask is, \u201cAre we doing enough to get the most out of the sales leads that we already have?\u201d<\/p>\n
One reason why many companies don\u2019t get great results from their sales leads is that they\u2019re not doing enough inbound lead qualification. Many companies tend to overlook the importance of doing inbound lead qualification; a lot of B2B companies just pass all of their sales leads on to their sales team, without doing any qualifying at all. Other companies limit their lead qualification process to the simple act of a secretary or administrative assistant answering the phone and jotting down a name and number \u2014 without asking any sales-related follow-up questions.<\/p>\n
Instead of being an afterthought, lead qualification should be at the center of your company\u2019s sales process. Doing a better job of initial inbound lead qualification will pay dividends and help you get better results at every stage of the sales journey.<\/p>\n
Here are a few reasons why inbound lead qualification is an underrated skill that your company should value more highly:<\/p>\n
1. It\u2019s Your Customer\u2019s First Point Of Contact<\/strong><\/p>\n Often, if a new business prospect calls your company, the person who answers the phone is the first point of contact that the customer has with your company. This means that this person on the phone is your customer\u2019s first impression of your company, and gets the first opportunity to start building a sales relationship. This is important. You shouldn\u2019t just hand off this responsibility to a low-ranking, untrained person who doesn\u2019t know about sales.<\/p>\n 2. It Helps You Build Customer Relationships<\/strong><\/p>\n By asking good lead qualification questions, you get to take the first step toward building a customer relationship. Don\u2019t just mindlessly take down the customer\u2019s name and contact information and leave it at that; look for ways to start asking questions and start learning more about what the customer needs.<\/p>\n 3. It Makes Your Sales Process Easier<\/strong><\/p>\n If you are merely passing on all of your sales leads to your sales team, without even asking any questions of your prospective customers, you\u2019re missing out on a precious chance to get more information about your customers. Lead qualification questions help figure out which sales leads are most ready to buy, which ones are the best fit for what you sell, and which ones are long-range leads that are going to require longer term nurturing and follow-up.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t overwhelm your sales team with too many unqualified sales leads. Instead, help them focus on the right sales leads \u2014 and save time \u2014 by asking questions upfront and ranking your sales leads accordingly.<\/p>\n Investing some time and effort upfront \u2014 by asking sales lead qualifying questions, ranking your sales leads, and sorting out the most promising leads from the rest \u2014 allows you to save time and money (and make more money) in the future.<\/p>\n Inbound lead qualification is an underrated skill, and one that should be part of your company\u2019s sales strategy from the first moment a new prospective customer calls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At a lot of companies, sales leads don\u2019t get enough respect. Sales people tend to complain about getting too many \u201cbad sales leads.\u201d Sales managers always tend to want \u201cmore sales leads.\u201d But one question that most people don\u2019t ask is, \u201cAre we doing enough to get the most out of the sales leads that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1120,"featured_media":11628,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43902],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-professional-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n