Ask anyone who runs their own business (particularly if it’s new) what the hardest part is – and they’ll probably say, finding leads.
The good news is, there’s a way that you can streamline this process, so you spend less time on leads that you need to thoroughly defrost before they get close to being ready to buy (cold leads) and more time on leads that are ready to make a decision (warm leads).
In this blog, I’ll explain how to qualify leads for your business, so you only deal with those that are ready to take action.
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What Is “Qualifying Leads”?
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way that you could be sure that every enquiry about your business was from a genuinely interested potential buyer- who was already convinced of your product or service, and how it could solve their problems?
Qualifying leads is your solution.
Qualifying leads for your business is a great way to “vet” your potential clients, making sure you only spend time engaging with genuinely interested prospects- and give them a subtle sales pitch.
Simply put, qualifying leads is where you assess a potential client, and determine the likelihood of them becoming a paying customer- without having to waste a tonne of time on the phone, conducting site meetings or going to endless networking events.
A straightforward way to do this is by offering a questionnaire about a prospects’ problems, which you can help with, (not their deep seated psychological issues). This gives you an opportunity to determine whether their needs will be met by your service, and find out vital information about them such as their budget and expectations – crucial details in determining whether they’re a good fit for your service.
Benefits of Qualifying Leads
Qualifying leads for your business brings benefits for both you and your potential client or customer.
Resource Optimisation
If you run a business, you’ve probably experienced the initial enquiries from interested prospects, which unfortunately end up going nowhere. Either your offer isn’t exactly what they’re looking for, or, more often, they can’t afford to work with you.
Qualifying leads allows you to focus your time and resources on the leads which are most likely to become a paying customer. The questions you would normally ask while on the phone for an hour with an interested prospect are carried out automatically, leaving you to pick up where the vetting process left off: with the qualified lead.
Conversion Rate Improvement
The lead qualification process (vetting) allows you to learn key information about the prospect- such as their level of genuine interest, (are they just “browsing?”), industry, spending power, age, location, desires, problems, and ideal solutions.
You can use this information to tailor your approach to follow up- resulting in a greater likelihood of conversion.
Increased Retention
Working with customers who are genuinely interested in your product or service will result in greater satisfaction. This leads to greater customer retention if you offer a recurring solution such as annual services, repeat business, and referrals.
Improved ROI
Your marketing return on investment (ROI) will see a big boost as a result of qualifying leads for your business, as you’ll be able to target exactly the right audience, increasing the efficiency of your marketing campaigns.
Streamline Your Pipeline
Qualifying leads for your business will provide you with valuable insights about the potential customer. You can use these insights to amend and adjust your marketing strategy, making it more effective, and shortening the sale process.
You’ll also save the time of your potential clients- as they’ll quickly be able to see for themselves whether you’re a good fit for each other.
Increase the Hype
The final benefit to qualifying leads is simply the opportunity to offer a subtle sales pitch, and increase interest and intrigue in your product, through clever copy, framing and positioning of questions. More on that, later…
How To Qualify Leads For Your Business
How you qualify leads for your business will vary, usually depending on the size of your company (which will affect your marketing budget).
Simple Survey
A straightforward way to get started with qualifying leads for your business is through an online form or survey.
You could host this on your website, or even send it in an email for the client to return in their own time.
We use a site called ScoreApp to survey potential leads and host the form on our website.
You can use our link here to get 50% off of your first month.
“Discovery” Calls
A popular way to qualify business leads is to offer a “discovery” call. This is incentivised by offering some immediate value such as easy wins or tips to solving a customers’ problem off the back of the call.
These only really make sense however if you outsource the calling or can hire someone to handle these calls- otherwise you’ll be doing them yourself.
The calls only need to last ten or fifteen minutes however give you a chance to ask vetting questions:
Ask The Right Questions
The questions you ask will directly affect the efficacy of your lead qualification process. There’s no point in asking their favourite colour or shoe size if your selling EV chargers or a renewable energy solution (unless you’re offering running shoes in personalised colour schemes).
Here’s examples of some questions you could ask:
- Inquire about their budget- can they afford your product or service?
- If dealing with a business ask the prospect what their role is within their organisation- do they have the authority to make decisions? If not, can they point you to the right person?
- Find out what their timeline for purchase is. Are they a long way off, or keen to buy imminently?
- What are their needs and challenges? Assess whether you can meet these.
- Determine what their building or property type is and whether it is suitable for your solar, heat pump, etc service or product.
Clever Copy
Use the power of copy (the written word) to subtly sell your product or service- without the prospect even realising.
You could ask questions like “how would you feel if your energy bills reduced by 40% per year?” or “how would you handle the (benefit from your product)”
You can also ask questions in a way that boosts your credentials through clever framing. Things like “Due to the award-winning service at Super Solar Company, we experience high demand, so our diary is booked 3 months in advance. Can you wait that long?”
Find The Gaps
After reading this blog, it should come as no surprise that we use lead qualification strategies ourselves. But you can only find out what we do by getting in touch with us here…
