WHAT COMES TO MIND when you hear the term account qualification? You may think of qualified leads, or some way of weeding through potential customers so you don't spend time where you're not likely to get sales.
Most salespeople feel the point of qualification is to use time wisely. Here's what one sales coach suggests:
It's really easy to waste our time in front of customers who aren't going to buy…remember, if it's not real, or we can't win it, or it's not worth it — you're wasting your time — find something else that is!
The message this coach delivers is that time is money. Your efficiency matters, and customers are infinite and undifferentiated, so if one doesn't fit, drop him or her quickly and find another more likely candidate. The implied message to customers is: My time is important, and you are not. You are important to me only in terms of how fast I can sell you and how many dollars I can get in the sale. I want to figure that out as quickly as possible to minimize my potentially unproductive time.
Consider applying this approach to some other aspect of human relationships. Suppose teachers looked at students this way? What's the reputation of those who consider dating solely a screening mechanism, rather than an exploration and learning opportunity? What would you think of parents who screened their interactions with their kids to determine what was in it for them?
The approach is built around a transactional, seller-centric model. You judge that you won't run into this person or this company again, so the only thing that needs to be done is to evaluate, as quickly as possible, whether or not you're going to profit from the contact.
It's the equivalent of a military "scorched-earth" policy. If there's nothing good for me, leave them behind. Pay them no mind, they're irrelevant. I'm busy and the monthly quota still needs filling.
Trust-based selling is different. Of course, if you're selling widgets, you don't want to be talking to potential buyers of window shades. But usually buyers and sellers get put together for some sensible reason. There may or may not be a sale coming out of it but some common interest brought them together.
These situations are not potential wastes of time — they're the best marketing opportunities you have. A lead you disqualified isn't just an empty hole where you invested some time. A disqualified lead is a human being you talked to or met or who sought you out — someone who has now formed an impression of you.
A lead you disqualified is a person who knows something about your business, who has enough of a relevant issue to believe you might be of help, who operates close enough to your customer base to warrant conversation. Such an individual is very likely to walk with or near the clientele that interests you. A positive impression can result in second- or third-level referrals. People put far more weight on personal testimonials than they do on unsupported images.
Never get rid of someone the minute you find out he or she's not qualified. Never leave unsolicited e-mail inquiries unanswered. Instead, invest some small amount of time to give those people the benefit of your knowledge and wisdom. Help point them toward solving their problem or issue. If your product or service isn't right for them, they don't expect you to continue to give charity. But they will be mightily impressed if you care enough to give a bit of your expertise to help them knowing it isn't going to result in a sale.
Isn't such an encounter a free opportunity for personalized publicity? Isn't it a chance to send someone into the market who understands your business and the clientele you seek, together with a testimonial that you behaved well toward the person — when you didn't have to?
Investing over time in those kinds of leads generates a reasonable rate of return. You can't tell which unqualified lead will result in a legitimate prospect, nor when; but if you live your selling life according to the principle of doing good when the opportunity presents itself, those leads will pay back several times the minor investment you made.
All that's required is to stop seeing leads as opportunities to be disqualified, and to consider them chances to help clients, with a payback stream less distinctly linked to clients than in qualified lead cases. The only difference lies in how fast you get paid and from whom.
This kind of thinking allows you to operate less from tactics and more from values. If you conduct business like this, you'll become known for it — in a positive way.
This is an excerpt from “Trust-Based Selling: Using Customer Focus and Collaboration to Build Long-Term Relationships” by consultant Charles H. Green. It will be published this month by McGraw-Hill. Available on Amazon.
Most salespeople feel the point of qualification is to use time wisely. Here's what one sales coach suggests:
The message this coach delivers is that time is money. Your efficiency matters, and customers are infinite and undifferentiated, so if one doesn't fit, drop him or her quickly and find another more likely candidate. The implied message to customers is: My time is important, and you are not. You are important to me only in terms of how fast I can sell you and how many dollars I can get in the sale. I want to figure that out as quickly as possible to minimize my potentially unproductive time.
Consider applying this approach to some other aspect of human relationships. Suppose teachers looked at students this way? What's the reputation of those who consider dating solely a screening mechanism, rather than an exploration and learning opportunity? What would you think of parents who screened their interactions with their kids to determine what was in it for them?
The approach is built around a transactional, seller-centric model. You judge that you won't run into this person or this company again, so the only thing that needs to be done is to evaluate, as quickly as possible, whether or not you're going to profit from the contact.
It's the equivalent of a military "scorched-earth" policy. If there's nothing good for me, leave them behind. Pay them no mind, they're irrelevant. I'm busy and the monthly quota still needs filling.
Trust-based selling is different. Of course, if you're selling widgets, you don't want to be talking to potential buyers of window shades. But usually buyers and sellers get put together for some sensible reason. There may or may not be a sale coming out of it but some common interest brought them together.
These situations are not potential wastes of time — they're the best marketing opportunities you have. A lead you disqualified isn't just an empty hole where you invested some time. A disqualified lead is a human being you talked to or met or who sought you out — someone who has now formed an impression of you.
A lead you disqualified is a person who knows something about your business, who has enough of a relevant issue to believe you might be of help, who operates close enough to your customer base to warrant conversation. Such an individual is very likely to walk with or near the clientele that interests you. A positive impression can result in second- or third-level referrals. People put far more weight on personal testimonials than they do on unsupported images.
Never get rid of someone the minute you find out he or she's not qualified. Never leave unsolicited e-mail inquiries unanswered. Instead, invest some small amount of time to give those people the benefit of your knowledge and wisdom. Help point them toward solving their problem or issue. If your product or service isn't right for them, they don't expect you to continue to give charity. But they will be mightily impressed if you care enough to give a bit of your expertise to help them knowing it isn't going to result in a sale.
Isn't such an encounter a free opportunity for personalized publicity? Isn't it a chance to send someone into the market who understands your business and the clientele you seek, together with a testimonial that you behaved well toward the person — when you didn't have to?
Investing over time in those kinds of leads generates a reasonable rate of return. You can't tell which unqualified lead will result in a legitimate prospect, nor when; but if you live your selling life according to the principle of doing good when the opportunity presents itself, those leads will pay back several times the minor investment you made.
All that's required is to stop seeing leads as opportunities to be disqualified, and to consider them chances to help clients, with a payback stream less distinctly linked to clients than in qualified lead cases. The only difference lies in how fast you get paid and from whom.
This kind of thinking allows you to operate less from tactics and more from values. If you conduct business like this, you'll become known for it — in a positive way.
This is an excerpt from “Trust-Based Selling: Using Customer Focus and Collaboration to Build Long-Term Relationships” by consultant Charles H. Green. It will be published this month by McGraw-Hill. Available on Amazon.
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