One of the most important keys to success in personal selling is the ability to qualify prospects. Qualifying is the process of identifying prospects who appear to have a need for your product and should be contacted. Top salespeople use good research and analysis skills to qualify leads effectively.28

The qualifying process is also the first opportunity to consider what the needs of the buyer might be, and how those needs match with the product characteristics being sold.29 Some sales organizations link the qualifying process with the need discovery step in the consultative sales process. In most cases, this linkage will depend on the nature and complexity of the prospect’s buying process. The more complex the buying process, the more likely these two sales functions will be separate steps in the sales process. We will explore fully the need discovery step in Chapter 11.

Every salesperson needs to establish qualifying criteria. The process involves finding answers to several basic questions.

1. Does the prospect or account have a need for my product? If you sell imaging or copy products, it might appear that every business firm is a prospect. However, a firm that is outsourcing its copy work to FedEx Kinko’s may not be a legitimate prospect.

   Qualifying involves probing for real needs. Let’s assume you sell real estate for a large agency. You receive a call from someone who believes that owning a home is a good tax benefit. At this point, it’s important to find out what else makes owning a home important for that person. Get permission to ask questions and then determine the person’s real needs. In the final analysis, you may decide it would be a waste of your time and the prospect’s time to visit several homes that are on the market.30

2. Does the prospect or account have the authority to buy my product? Ideally, you should talk to an individual who has the authority to buy or can influence the buying decision. Talking to the right person within a large organization may involve collecting information from several sources. Some buying decisions are made by individuals and others are made by a committee. In B2B selling, high-cost products often require the approval of a decision maker higher up in the organization.

3. Does the account or prospect have the financial resources to buy my product? It is usually not difficult to obtain credit information for consumer and business buyers. If you are selling products to a business, the Dun & Bradstreet Reference Book is an excellent source of credit information. A local credit bureau can provide credit information for a consumer buyer.

   Although the collection of credit information is not difficult, detecting financial instability can be much more complicated. In recent years, we have seen a steady stream of corporate scandals involving accounting irregularities, inflated balance sheets, and outright fraud.31 Salespeople must be aware of the possibility that a customer may provide incorrect or misleading information.

4. Does the prospect or account have the willingness to buy my product? Rick Page, author of Hope Is Not a Strategy, reminds us that many prospects evaluate products but do not buy. When an evaluation stalls, the prospect may have determined that the problem is not of great enough magnitude or urgency to make the purchase. Also, in some cases there is not enough support within the company to reach closure. Rather than walk away from this situation, some salespeople move higher in the organization to determine the level of support for the purchase.32

A large number of senior executives say they get involved in the sale early in the decision process, yet salespeople have difficulty meeting with high-level decision makers. Most senior executives will not meet with salespeople who are making cold calls. When appointments are granted, the time allocated may be very short; 5 to 10 minutes is not uncommon. How do you establish credibility for yourself and your company in a short time period? Be sure you know a great deal about the company before the appointment and be prepared to demonstrate your knowledge of the company and the industry it serves. Do not propose solutions until you fully understand the buyer’s problems. Be sure to communicate value.33

This list of questions can be revised to meet the needs of many different types of salespeople. A sales representative for an industrial equipment dealer may see the qualifying process differently from the person who sells commercial real estate. The main consideration is providing accurate answers to each question.