How to Close Larger Deals by Effectively Qualifying Your Sales Prospects

Qualifying your prospects is a critical step in the overall sales cycle. Creating situational awareness for your potential client will increase your probability of closing the sale. Having a better understanding of your prospects needs will also allow you to maximize your deal size.

In qualifying your prospect, you are determining three basics things:

1. What is your customer’s situation now?
2. What would they like it to be?
3. How can you help them get from where they are to where they want to be?

Before initiating a buying process, customers have to:

1. Recognize and understand that they have a need
2. Conclude that the need is significant enough to take action upon

When qualifying opportunities, probe to see how you can make truly valuable contributions to their organization. Help your customers to:

1. Discover opportunities they weren’t aware of or thought insignificant
2. Expand awareness to those opportunities to generate excitement
3. Intensify customer’s dissatisfaction with unsatisfactory situations

You should implement a qualifying process to allow you to gather customer information quickly and efficiently.

Begin your qualifying with broad, general questions about the prospect’s situation and narrow the conversation down to specifics when appropriate. Formulate questions in a way that promotes continuing dialogue, using descriptive words such as explain, describe, explore, tell me about, share with me, etc.

“Would you mind explaining more about your current situation and your strategy for the next 6 months?”

To encourage an open and productive dialogue, transition into qualifying by letting the prospect know why you are asking for the information.

“To be sure we’re recommending the right solution for your needs would you mind if I get your answers to a few questions”

Find the “pain” – explore problems and the impact those problems have on their business.

“What do you feel are some limitations of your current situation?"

Below are some qualifying questions you can customize to your specific product or service.You’ll be amazed of how much information prospects will give up when asked the right question!

* Mr/Mrs Prospect, to be sure we explore areas of mutual interest, what can you share with me about your current environment?
* Could You Describe What Your Current Environment Looks Like?
* What Does Your Ideal Solution Look Like?
* Any Thought on Budget Range?
* Would You Mind Explaining Your Current Situation and Your Strategy For The Next 6-12 Months?
* What are your objectives for the next 3-6 months?
* If money was not an issue what would your ideal situation look like?
* How much growth do you foresee in the next year or two?
* How much do you want to increase your profit this year?