Experienced salespeople have an almost clairvoyant ability to home in on the best leads. Years of following through on hundreds or thousands of sales prospects gives these sales superstars an intuitive understanding of what to look for in a prospective deal. For salespeople who are still acquiring their share of experience, a more analytical approach can help identify truly worthwhile opportunities.
The first step to assessing a prospective deal is to determine whether or not the target is a qualified prospect for your product. If the individual or company you're examining doesn't have both a genuine need for your product and the ability to buy it, there's no point in pursuing them further. You may need to gather more information before you can determine if they are a true prospect; such details are often posted on the Internet, particularly for B2B prospects.
Once you've qualified the lead as a true prospect, the next step is to find out just how good of a prospect they may be. A new prospect who will purchase one unit of your company's cheapest product and won't need to buy again for ten years will not be a particularly valuable customer. On the other hand, a prospect who will buy ten of your company's more advanced model and will be back in six months for more will yield a nice commission for you.
Next, consider the amount of time you'll have to invest in securing your potential prospects. A company with a long and torturous approval process and a large buying committee might take months or even years to close, and will require hours of work and many meetings. A smaller company with a simple approval process, or an individual purchaser, will be much faster and easier to close. So if two prospects seem to have roughly the same purchasing potential, it makes sense to pursue the easier one first and put the second on the back burner.
Finally, assess your chances of converting a specific prospect into a customer. If you sell for a tiny company, you probably shouldn't pursue a Fortune 500 prospect because you won't be able to provide the kind of volume they need and probably wouldn't pass their approval process anyway. Small to mid-sized companies would be a better choice, even if they have less to spend. Similarly, if your prospect is already being courted by several of your competitors, your odds of winning the deal are smaller – especially if you're up against a competitor with substantially more resources or a product that's a much better fit for the prospect.
If you can't find all the information you need to complete the assessment process, a quick call to the prospect can provide the missing details. Write up a few basic questions that will help you uncover what you need and you'll save time on calls to future leads. Another option is to check on their contact history with your company. If someone else on your sales team has pursued the prospect in the past, he may be willing to fill you in on his experiences with that prospect.
Once you've determined which leads are the most likely to yield substantial returns, you can focus on that group and pursue the others at a lower intensity. By rating your leads before you invest a lot of time, you can get more sales done in less time – and, incidentally, end up with a higher commission check at the end of the day.
By Wendy Connick
http://sales.about.com/
The first step to assessing a prospective deal is to determine whether or not the target is a qualified prospect for your product. If the individual or company you're examining doesn't have both a genuine need for your product and the ability to buy it, there's no point in pursuing them further. You may need to gather more information before you can determine if they are a true prospect; such details are often posted on the Internet, particularly for B2B prospects.
Once you've qualified the lead as a true prospect, the next step is to find out just how good of a prospect they may be. A new prospect who will purchase one unit of your company's cheapest product and won't need to buy again for ten years will not be a particularly valuable customer. On the other hand, a prospect who will buy ten of your company's more advanced model and will be back in six months for more will yield a nice commission for you.
Next, consider the amount of time you'll have to invest in securing your potential prospects. A company with a long and torturous approval process and a large buying committee might take months or even years to close, and will require hours of work and many meetings. A smaller company with a simple approval process, or an individual purchaser, will be much faster and easier to close. So if two prospects seem to have roughly the same purchasing potential, it makes sense to pursue the easier one first and put the second on the back burner.
Finally, assess your chances of converting a specific prospect into a customer. If you sell for a tiny company, you probably shouldn't pursue a Fortune 500 prospect because you won't be able to provide the kind of volume they need and probably wouldn't pass their approval process anyway. Small to mid-sized companies would be a better choice, even if they have less to spend. Similarly, if your prospect is already being courted by several of your competitors, your odds of winning the deal are smaller – especially if you're up against a competitor with substantially more resources or a product that's a much better fit for the prospect.
If you can't find all the information you need to complete the assessment process, a quick call to the prospect can provide the missing details. Write up a few basic questions that will help you uncover what you need and you'll save time on calls to future leads. Another option is to check on their contact history with your company. If someone else on your sales team has pursued the prospect in the past, he may be willing to fill you in on his experiences with that prospect.
Once you've determined which leads are the most likely to yield substantial returns, you can focus on that group and pursue the others at a lower intensity. By rating your leads before you invest a lot of time, you can get more sales done in less time – and, incidentally, end up with a higher commission check at the end of the day.
By Wendy Connick
http://sales.about.com/
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