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Qualifying prospects?

by netmondon
21 replies
Hi. I have been having a hard time qualifying people for website development and mobile websites. I had a meeting today with a Potential client but after we discussed prIcing she said to call her in 2 weeks and I was not able to close the deal then and there. I think my problem is not being able to qualify prospects correctly. Does anyone else have any experience on qualifying and getting through to those businesses that are ready to spend money?
#prospects #qualifying
  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    OK first thank you for asking for help on this. Lots of people have trouble with qualifying and it's the most important part of sales.

    How many real discussions with prospects have you had?

    Selling is a skill and like any other skill you are not going to learn it overnight. So don't be surprised that you aren't an expert.

    What kind of process do you use? Did you tell her about the features of the sites, and then give your price?

    Here are a few helpful posts:

    http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...ml#post5727652

    http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...ml#post6298956

    http://thetelemarketingforum.com/ind...17414#msg17414
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  • Profile picture of the author netmondon
    I did an entire presentation for her with pictures and explain why she needed a mobile website and all the benefits that her customers would have. She totally understood the importance of why she needed one and then she asked me the price... I told her and she said that she had to look at her funds and that they have a lot going on in the office, then I asked her when she wanted me to follow up with her and she said to call her in a few weeks... She is very interested and gets why she needs one but I left with no check .... And idk I have talked to a handful of people but never qualified them because I just don't know how to do that part...
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    • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
      Originally Posted by netmondon View Post

      I did an entire presentation for her with pictures and explain why she needed a mobile website and all the benefits that her customers would have. She totally understood the importance of why she needed one and then she asked me the price... I told her and she said that she had to look at her funds and that they have a lot going on in the office, then I asked her when she wanted me to follow up with her and she said to call her in a few weeks... She is very interested and gets why she needs one but I left with no check .... And idk I have talked to a handful of people but never qualified them because I just don't know how to do that part...
      You didn't build a price expectation in your qualifying phase. They need to tell you that your service would bring in far more than it costs, and that they would gladly pay more than you are asking. Part of it is getting them to tell you how much each new customer would be worth. A new concept for most prospects (and many salespeople).

      Jason Kanigan's links in the post above will show you how to do that.
      You want them giving a sigh of relief when they hear your price.

      And she didn't want your mobile site badly enough. It doesn't matter how polite the prospect is...if they want what you have, and feel it's worth far more than you are asking, they buy.

      And I better get a Thank You from Kanigan...or it's war. :rolleyes:
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      • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
        LOL I didn't want to be the Big Meanie and point out what you took the time to say...so I'm glad you did.

        Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

        You didn't build a price expectation in your qualifying phase. They need to tell you that your service would bring in far more than it costs, and that they would gladly pay more than you are asking. Part of it is getting them to tell you how much each new customer would be worth. A new concept for most prospects (and many salespeople).

        Jason Kanigan's links in the post above will show you how to do that.
        You want them giving a sigh of relief when they hear your price.

        And she didn't want your mobile site badly enough. It doesn't matter how polite the prospect is...if they want what you have, and feel it's worth far more than you are asking, they buy.

        And I better get a Thank You from Kanigan...or it's war. :rolleyes:
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    • Profile picture of the author misterme
      Originally Posted by netmondon View Post

      I did an entire presentation for her with pictures and explain why she needed a mobile website and all the benefits that her customers would have.
      What about the benefits to *her*? Sounds as if you didn't hit specifically on the points which were most important to her. Did you investigate at all to find out what those were and then tailor your presentation to only that? Did you get minor commitments from her throughout? Did you help her take mental ownership of your service (my guess is you didn't)? You also didn't qualify her budget up front and you didn't set the frame for when this purchase would be made.

      When she asked about price you jumped right into discussing price. That suggests to me you didn't have control of the sales process. There's no point in discussing specific pricing if the prospect doesn't want to buy. So you don't know how to bypass price until the right time.

      You're not going to sell everyone you see but the fact that she had you come in suggests she was open to it. But did you pre-qualify to see if she had you come in out of curiosity or come in because she wanted to buy?

      So maybe where you need to improve is not only in pre-qualifying but also in your sales presentation.
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      • Profile picture of the author warrenrobertslr3
        I've found a huge difference when qualifying prospects. When the offer is different and unique I don't seem to need to qualify clients as much. But when I offer a generic service which is exactly the same as what everyone else offers (i.e SEO) then you start to start struggle.

        May be marketing 101 to differentiate but not many people seem to do it
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    • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
      Originally Posted by netmondon View Post

      She totally understood the importance of why she needed one and then she asked me the price... I told her and she said that she had to look at her funds and that they have a lot going on in the office, .
      Dear netmondon (May I call you netmondon?) :rolleyes:

      You say she understood, but she didn't believe it. You need to have them tell you the value of what you do. For a pittance, Jason Kanigan has a whole information package that explains how to get clients to tell you how much they would be willing to pay for the benefits you bring.

      It's one of the most powerful things you can learn when selling online services to clients. Maybe the most powerful.

      For a later post of yours;

      You are right about one thing. Your marketing is an investment, not an expense. But you absolutely need the client to be the one telling you this. You don't tell them.

      If you're a War Room member, download my book from my signature titled Selling Local Advertising. There is a section on answering objections and building value, that you should read.
      But, you really need Kanigan's program.

      Getting them to agree on money is not part of closing, it's part of qualifying.

      I hope this doesn't get deleted. I'm not selling anything. My book is free, not even an opt in. And sometimes training really is the best answer.
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  • Profile picture of the author Adwizard
    If you are continuously running into this problem then your not asking enough of the right questions to uncover the pains... most business owners have money... they just don't want to be sold and relinquish their money.

    The questions you ask is your qualifying phase unless your doing that before even getting to the appointment some other way and if so well you still need to be asking questions when your there too. It is your job to discover what problems or pains they have. During your questioning you have got to be bold and just ask, Mrs. Prospect, if I can show you a way to solve that pain, are you prepared to move forward today? Be bold! They have money... ask them if I could turn $100 bills into $200 for you how many $100 bills would you be giving me? You will see that they have money.

    You know what really helped me become a much better salesman a long time ago... I realized that I needed to be able to solve a problem for a potential client otherwise they were not really a potential client. They didn't need a mobile website just because I said they did. I was a presenter for a very long time before I actually became a salesman, a problem solver. Presenting is great but until you make them realize their need for your solution sales will always be an uphill battle.

    BE BOLD!!!

    Sorry for the rambling there... Hope it makes sense but it's getting late and thought are not real clear right now.
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  • Profile picture of the author netmondon
    Thanks everyone for your advice and tips... And yes I didn't qualify her and I know my sales presentation needs a lot of work... This was actually the first time that i did a sales presentation with an actual presentation with pictures and it went okay but still needs work... Before i would just have my phone and talk (i know epic fail!)... I have another meeting this evening with the owner or a plumbling company today and I don't want it to go like it did yesterday... I am very new to sales so I am trying to figure out what works and what doesnt... So I need to ask more about there current marketing, tailor he presentation to their problems, and ask more "yes" questions throughout the presentation? And one thing I failed to hit hard about was that this is an investment and not an extra cost.. I kinda mentioned it but didn't explain it enough for her to get it... I didn't properly qualify this plumber dude either but now I know that I need to qualify the others that I go to visit when setting appointments on the phone...
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  • Profile picture of the author msteffens1979
    What works for me is to have an "exclusivity clause" in all of my proposals letting the potential client know that you only work with one niche, per city. My clause gives them 3 business days after the presentation/proposal to move forward with me. I explain in the clause that I'm actively marketing to other business in their niche, in their city BUT will NOT enter into an agreement with any of their competitors until AFTER the "exclusivity clause" has expired.

    Let them know that once you've come to an agreement with them you will not work with any of their competitors in their city as long as you are working for them. Likewise if/when the exclusivity clause does expire, then when you come to an agreement with one of their competitors than you will NOT be able to help them.

    Although this may sound a little harsh at first, what it usually does is bring the potential client's TRUE objections to the surface. It's assumed that if you got the meeting then there was some level of interest from the biz owner and now it's your job close them i.e. emphasizing benefits to them (increased bottom line) and addressing things that are important to the biz owner that you may have not known.

    Hope this helps.
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    • Profile picture of the author Eddie Spangler
      Originally Posted by msteffens1979 View Post

      What works for me is to have an "exclusivity clause" in all of my proposals letting the potential client know that you only work with one niche, per city. My clause gives them 3 business days after the presentation/proposal to move forward with me. I explain in the clause that I'm actively marketing to other business in their niche, in their city BUT will NOT enter into an agreement with any of their competitors until AFTER the "exclusivity clause" has expired.

      Let them know that once you've come to an agreement with them you will not work with any of their competitors in their city as long as you are working for them. Likewise if/when the exclusivity clause does expire, then when you come to an agreement with one of their competitors than you will NOT be able to help them.

      Although this may sound a little harsh at first, what it usually does is bring the potential client's TRUE objections to the surface. It's assumed that if you got the meeting then there was some level of interest from the biz owner and now it's your job close them i.e. emphasizing benefits to them (increased bottom line) and addressing things that are important to the biz owner that you may have not known.

      Hope this helps.

      Not that its a bad idea overall just not very practical to people selling lower price point items like mobile websites.
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      • Profile picture of the author msteffens1979
        Originally Posted by Eddie Spangler View Post

        Not that its a bad idea overall just not very practical to people selling lower price point items like mobile websites.
        True, True...I'm assuming that she's selling the sites as a "foot in the door" to offer more profitable, long-term services later on. (G+ Local Optimization, Website SEO, Video Optimization, etc)
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  • Profile picture of the author Mwind076
    You've got great input here, so I won't repeat it. I do think that you should shorten (like someone else mentioned) your pricing time.

    You said:

    She totally understood the importance of why she needed one and then she asked me the price... I told her and she said that she had to look at her funds and that they have a lot going on in the office, then I asked her when she wanted me to follow up with her and she said to call her in a few weeks.
    NEVER (and this goes for making an appt, a sale, or any follow up that needs to be done) leave it up to them or put it in their court to choose WHEN. You should say "I'm happy you see the value and importance of this service for your business, and I understand you can't commit today. I'll check back with you on ______ (2-4 days usually) and we'll discuss how to move forward." Or something of that nature. Just don't let her push you off and never ask her when is a good time to check back, they'll just drag that out. Whether or not she wants it and will buy isn't going to change in 2 days or 2 weeks. You are better of getting a NO in 2 days than chasing her for weeks.
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  • Profile picture of the author RedShifted
    I'm going to venture a guess and say your sales abilities could use work.

    Since I don't know what your execution looks like its hard to give you advice. But it sounds like you are doing a big, fancy presentation... all awhile ignoring the most important things.

    Do you know what a business owner cares about more than anything? Money.
    I'm not talking about the cost of your service/product. I'm talking about their INVESTMENT in YOU.

    What are THEY getting out of that investment? Are they just getting some generic website? How do they KNOW that YOU are the person they need to choose? This needs to be communicated immediately.

    You need to sell yourself AND the product/service. When you have a solid product/service, people WILL have the $ for it. I honestly don't think qualifying is your problem here. It sounds more like a pitch problem to me.

    When I use to qualify prospects for web design I had a simple list I went through. After that is was all about the pitch. If you want to see an expert pitch, go watch Shark Tank. There is an episode on there with a 29 year old kid selling "element bars".

    WATCH how he pitches himself. He doesn't focus so much on his service/product, he focused on HIM. What HE has to bring to the table. People love to see that type of stuff. Thats why when I'm on the phone with businesses, I'm selling myself and my own abilities.

    So when it comes down to it, I KNOW how to design websites, but more importantly, I KNOW how to design websites that CONVERT. You need to sell the results more than the service a lot of the time. Thats what really seperates yourself from everyone else. There are TONS of people selling webdesign... so WHY should they choose you? What is so special about your websites?

    How will a mobile website BENIFIT me? I'm curious how you are pitching these services. The benefits need to be clear and strong. If you are not getting that across to your prospects, they WILL find objections.

    What I fear you are doing is representing yourself like every other web design company out there. You need to keep in mind these people get 100's of calls everyday from web designers. The one they will choose is the one who can sell them RESULTS the best.

    That is just my opinion. Imagine your pitching your service to a bunch of people who hate you. How can you win those people over? What can you say that will change their minds?

    When you go in with that mindset, it prepares you for war. And in a way, (not to sound sadistic) thats what selling is. Focus on the things business owners care about the most. RESULTS.

    -Red


    ps. You asked 2 questions in this thread and I only focused on the first one. Which were your issues closing. If you're having issues setting up appointments on the phone, again, I think thats a pitch problem. Not a qualifying problem. Thats my own personal belief.

    Why? Because qualifying is not hard to do. Especially if you're qualifying people in your marketing. By the time people get on phone with me they are qualified. So I run through a quick list to qualify them a bit further. Then it moves straight to the pitch. Which is why I think your issue is how your pitching the service.
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    • Profile picture of the author Tessa Holmes
      Hi, Red. Thank you for a tip about the Element bar guy. That was cool. I got to start watching this show, that looks pretty good.
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  • Profile picture of the author dave147
    Hey Red,
    Is this the one?

    Shark Tank - Pitch 26: "Element Bars" - Part 1/2 - YouTube
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  • Profile picture of the author Jerry Chavez
    Originally Posted by netmondon View Post

    Hi. I have been having a hard time qualifying people for website development and mobile websites. I had a meeting today with a Potential client but after we discussed prIcing she said to call her in 2 weeks and I was not able to close the deal then and there. I think my problem is not being able to qualify prospects correctly. Does anyone else have any experience on qualifying and getting through to those businesses that are ready to spend money?
    I think you need to study and do a little research on pricing but based on experience I suggest that you be flexible and have a optional pricing so that prospective clients can have options on prices for your services...
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  • Profile picture of the author hayfj2
    With more and more people doing their research online.

    Pre-qualify your prospects by PUBLISHING INTO THE DEMAND.

    Create digital assets that both demonstrate your knowledge, wisdom and experience, and syndicate them online via document sharing sites for example.

    A digital asset could be a video, a pdf, ppt, word doc, presentation or whatever, but use it to better target your potential customers.

    The secret is to get the prospect to ask themselves questions, before they engage with you, give them a REASON to engage with you.

    More often than not, its not what we say, its what we ask thats important

    If you can determine a need without having to phone, email or travel to anyone because they've read or dowloaded one of your useful "digital assets" then it might, just might encourage them to find out more about you.

    For example - http://www.theresultsacademy.com/pdf/2012_SMA.pdf

    another quick example with the use of video -


    Use online tactics to prequalify your offline prospects.

    For they go online to RESEARCH, COMPARE and then BUY

    Hope that helps, (will save you time and money) and gets you thinking...
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  • Profile picture of the author jamtrading
    this is the tough part, some initial screening is good like trying to find out how much they know about your area of expertise that should determine how you approach them, you really need to figure out how to make them think and feel they are loosing out big time by not employing your services...
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