How to increase sales through better qualification
Most businesses are constantly looking at how to increase sales. Yet, more often than not the focus is on quantity over quality, particularly when you are dealing with inbound sales leads.
You assume that because somebody has approached you that they can buy from you, but this may not be the case. Simple questions, asked early, will really help you to focus on winning sales opportunities and qualifying out quickly those people who can't buy from you.
As typical outbound lead generation strategies are not achieving the same levels of success and every inbound sales lead is even more precious you need to be qualifying inbound leads. There are so many questions you can and should ask, but I have covered some really key ones below.
Qualification is a critical component of the sales process and will help you to increase sales. The first question you should ask is how a prospect found you. Something you have done has clearly worked and so to increase sales you need to do more of the same. Let marketing know what has worked.
You then need identify if they could buy from you. If you have carried out market segmentation then these are the first type of questions you need to ask, but so often sales people ignore this completely.
It's all too easy for you to get blindsided by ‘buying questions' from the prospect about your company, products or services. You make the assumption that they have called you and therefore have qualified themselves – of course they can buy. It is a lot easier to answer questions than ask. Yet, just asking some basic questions like this up front can save you a lot of sales time and money.
If you know that a company needs to be turning over more than £5M to be able to afford what you offer there is no point taking time to speak to somebody whose company is turning over less. This might seem a bit ‘Peter and Jane', but do you do it?
Even simple qualification at this level can save you precious time that can then be put to better use in increasing your sales. You can focus your attention on fewer, but better quality prospects.
Once you have carried out the first and very basic level of qualification you can then move on. At this stage, open questions work best, ones that they can't simply answer yes or no to. Open questions also help you to build a better rapport, as you are listening rather than talking! Another mistake often made by sales people at this stage is to jump in too early and focus on the product rather than the issue.
A good question to ask first off is what the person's position is in their business. Again this can give an indication as to the seriousness of the enquiry. Is this the type of person that regularly buys your services? It also enables you to talk at the right level and refine what you say to generate the right level of interest from the prospect.
You need to get to the bottom of why they called you? What is their need, pain, challenge? How can you really help them? Again a couple of simple questions will help you to find out more.
This is another great question for identifying issues and challenges from a prospect with an inbound sales lead enquiry. It might also reveal an interest in some of your USPs, which can only strengthen your sales approach from here on in. No doubt you can think of lots more questions to ask.
If they have called about a particular product that you offer, again this simple question can reveal so much more. Of course, our natural instinct is to tell them all about the product. Yet, in finding out more you may decide that actually they need one of your other solutions. Alternatively, you may find that your solution won't resolve their issue. Â Either way, you are saving time and leading the prospect towards the best solution for them.
Again this question can help to identify a competitor's product or a glaring gap. If they are using a competitive product you can ask what they like about it and what they don't like. This is all great information to support your sale. Ultimately, you will identify if they are ready to buy, in a position to buy or could buy more products from you. Think about other questions you could ask?
Moving to this level of questions is likely to mean that you are talking to a qualified prospect with a serious sales enquiry. What will happen if you don't solve this issue? What impact is this issue having on your business? You will need to think about what questions you can ask.
However, identifying pains and issues at this stage will give you an advantage as you move forward in the sales process. It will enable you to keep focused on what their issue is, how you will solve it, and what will be different and better in their business because of your solution. This will lead to more refined presentations, focused sales support material and a knock out proposal.
Asking the right questions early will get rid of people that simply couldn't buy from you and an increase your overall sales ROI. Asking deeper and more probing questions will help you to increase sales, because you will have a much better grasp of the prospects issues and challenges.
Think about the times when you have spent speaking with and meeting a potential prospect and sometimes even put a proposal in; only to find out that they couldn't or wouldn't buy from you? Not only is this very demotivating, but it also leads to so much wasted sales time and potentially lost opportunities with those who could become customers.
Add up the time that you spend speaking with, meeting, and proposal writing for one prospect. That is likely to be a fairly significant amount of time. If you are looking at how to increase sales then better inbound qualification is a simple change that can make a massive difference.
You assume that because somebody has approached you that they can buy from you, but this may not be the case. Simple questions, asked early, will really help you to focus on winning sales opportunities and qualifying out quickly those people who can't buy from you.As typical outbound lead generation strategies are not achieving the same levels of success and every inbound sales lead is even more precious you need to be qualifying inbound leads. There are so many questions you can and should ask, but I have covered some really key ones below.
How to increase sales –asking simple segmentation questions?
Qualification is a critical component of the sales process and will help you to increase sales. The first question you should ask is how a prospect found you. Something you have done has clearly worked and so to increase sales you need to do more of the same. Let marketing know what has worked.
You then need identify if they could buy from you. If you have carried out market segmentation then these are the first type of questions you need to ask, but so often sales people ignore this completely.
- What does your business do?
- How many people do you employ?
- What is your turnover?
It's all too easy for you to get blindsided by ‘buying questions' from the prospect about your company, products or services. You make the assumption that they have called you and therefore have qualified themselves – of course they can buy. It is a lot easier to answer questions than ask. Yet, just asking some basic questions like this up front can save you a lot of sales time and money.
If you know that a company needs to be turning over more than £5M to be able to afford what you offer there is no point taking time to speak to somebody whose company is turning over less. This might seem a bit ‘Peter and Jane', but do you do it?
Even simple qualification at this level can save you precious time that can then be put to better use in increasing your sales. You can focus your attention on fewer, but better quality prospects.
How to increase sales - asking open questions
Once you have carried out the first and very basic level of qualification you can then move on. At this stage, open questions work best, ones that they can't simply answer yes or no to. Open questions also help you to build a better rapport, as you are listening rather than talking! Another mistake often made by sales people at this stage is to jump in too early and focus on the product rather than the issue.
A good question to ask first off is what the person's position is in their business. Again this can give an indication as to the seriousness of the enquiry. Is this the type of person that regularly buys your services? It also enables you to talk at the right level and refine what you say to generate the right level of interest from the prospect.
You need to get to the bottom of why they called you? What is their need, pain, challenge? How can you really help them? Again a couple of simple questions will help you to find out more.
- What made you call us today?
- This question should help you to identify some of the issues that they have, for example ‘ …we want to find out how to increase sales?'
- How do you think we can help you?
This is another great question for identifying issues and challenges from a prospect with an inbound sales lead enquiry. It might also reveal an interest in some of your USPs, which can only strengthen your sales approach from here on in. No doubt you can think of lots more questions to ask.
How to increase sales - with product focused questions
- Why is this product or service of particular interest?
If they have called about a particular product that you offer, again this simple question can reveal so much more. Of course, our natural instinct is to tell them all about the product. Yet, in finding out more you may decide that actually they need one of your other solutions. Alternatively, you may find that your solution won't resolve their issue. Â Either way, you are saving time and leading the prospect towards the best solution for them.
- What are you currently using to help you?
Again this question can help to identify a competitor's product or a glaring gap. If they are using a competitive product you can ask what they like about it and what they don't like. This is all great information to support your sale. Ultimately, you will identify if they are ready to buy, in a position to buy or could buy more products from you. Think about other questions you could ask?
How to increase sales – with pain questions
Moving to this level of questions is likely to mean that you are talking to a qualified prospect with a serious sales enquiry. What will happen if you don't solve this issue? What impact is this issue having on your business? You will need to think about what questions you can ask.
However, identifying pains and issues at this stage will give you an advantage as you move forward in the sales process. It will enable you to keep focused on what their issue is, how you will solve it, and what will be different and better in their business because of your solution. This will lead to more refined presentations, focused sales support material and a knock out proposal.
Better qualification, leads to better quality leads
Asking the right questions early will get rid of people that simply couldn't buy from you and an increase your overall sales ROI. Asking deeper and more probing questions will help you to increase sales, because you will have a much better grasp of the prospects issues and challenges.
Think about the times when you have spent speaking with and meeting a potential prospect and sometimes even put a proposal in; only to find out that they couldn't or wouldn't buy from you? Not only is this very demotivating, but it also leads to so much wasted sales time and potentially lost opportunities with those who could become customers.
Add up the time that you spend speaking with, meeting, and proposal writing for one prospect. That is likely to be a fairly significant amount of time. If you are looking at how to increase sales then better inbound qualification is a simple change that can make a massive difference.
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