Lead Qualification Criteria

Lead Qualification Criteria:

Sales Development Reps (SDR's) don’t use scripts. However, most good SDR's definitely have some notes or a qualification form that they fill in to determine of the lead meets the qualification criteria.

To learn which question you should ask to find out these answers then read my blog post called “Qualification Questions” coming in a few weeks.

Most companies still use the traditional BANT criteria for qualification. (BANT = Budget, Authority, Need, Timing).

(In the future I will be comparing this to the more recently adopted ANUM criteria method so keep an eye out for that future blog as well)

·         Budget

You will need to know whether or not this prospect has the money / budget to purchase your solution / service. Unfortunately I still hear many stories about sales reps that have spent too long working on a specific prospect only to find out near the end of the process that he has no money right now; or that the budgets are closed for another year; or even worse that he will never have that kind of sum to spend on this type of product.

Of course the solution is twofold: Qualify early to make sure no time is wasted (applies to all sections) but also this is a clear opportunity for you to convince the prospect of your full added value and why he should bump it up his priority list.

·         Authority

Traditionally people have always said that this section is there to show us that we should only spend our time with the decision maker. We apparently don’t want to be pitching to a junior intern who has no authority or spending power. However, I slightly disagree with this as I have seen countless examples where the original contact was not made with the final decision maker but with an ‘influencer’ with direct access to the decision maker or with a ‘researcher’ with a specific mandate from someone higher up in the chain to find a solution. In all these cases it is still crucial to know who you are talking with and therefore alter your questions and sales pitch accordingly. The real aim here is not to only find out who is the decision maker but to understand in detail what their decision making process is.

·         Need

Some people assume it means that the prospect knows what he needs and that his ‘need’ or ‘business pain’ matches what you are offering as a solution. Also, our aim here is to dig a bit deeper to find out about their processes, current systems etc.. in more detail in order to find out exactly what their business pains are. Even if they don’t fully know they have a ‘need’. Later in the cycle we then show them how our solution is solving this specific ‘need’ for many other similar companies. This allows us to be very focused for the individual and will also definitely help prove the true value to the prospect.

By knowing this information we can better understand the drivers behind their interest and their reasons for evaluating and (hopefully) ultimately purchasing your product or solution.

·         Timing

I like this category because it helps sales reps prioritize their work. By knowing the prospects preferred timeline the sales rep can vary his pitch accordingly and more crucially learn to allocate the right amount of time to each prospect. If someone is looking to buy in a year from now then you will not follow up again the day after you spoke to them. On the other hand clearly you will prioritize a prospect who is ready to buy now and put more of your attention on him.

Here are a few other factors that are commonly included within the qualification criteria list:

• ·         Other vendors evaluated
• ·         Lead source (where did they come from)
• ·         Pass down process (how did you find them)
• ·         Specific criteria specific to individual solutions:

Of course if you are selling a solution that is only suitable for companies with 20 employees and over then you will have to ask this compatibility / size suitability qualification question early on and as part of your profiling assessment. The same applies for you if you are selling a technical solution that only integrates with certain systems, then you will have to determine of the prospect uses this specific system or not very early on in the discussions.

Focus on your company's definition of a Qualified Lead . This is the crucial hand-off point between marketing / lead qualification team and the sales team, so it’s essential that the teams agree on the terminology and definitions. Every company’s definition of a qualified lead will vary, but it should reflect a combination of traits and actions that indicate a lead is both a good fit for your company and ready to talk to a salesperson. Here’s one way to examine your funnel to assess lead quality and determine whether a lead is ready for sales follow-up:

1.       Good fit    (good fit & interested vs good fit not interested vs bad fit interested vs bad fit & not interested)

2.       Interested

I hope this helps you qualify your leads better and I would love to know what other qualification criteria is important to you and your business.