I’ll never forget the time I sat down to lunch at an expensive restaurant with a “potential BIG customer.” He ordered an expensive entrée and we got to chatting. The lunch and the location, by the way, were his idea.
So we got to chatting, and it turned out he was an IT guy. Meaning this guy will NEVER buy print from me. Now, maybe he can recommend some colleagues or be a part of a solutions discussion, but the truth of the matter is, I got burned by not qualifying him prior to setting up the meeting. Shame on me.
Still, you can also give some share of the blame to a person who would schedule a lunch with a vendor that he knows he has no intentions of buying from—and, in fact, no ability do so. In reality, though, the fault was mine.
It was early in my career, so I chalked it up to a rookie mistake, and took the reaming out from my boss about the expense with no ROI. But in retrospect, I realize now that I needed to qualify WAY earlier.
In today’s selling environment, with as difficult as it is to get a prospective customer on the phone—much less setup a face-to-face meeting—I am going to advocate something a little controversial:
I think you should LEAD with the qualifying.
A wise man once told me that he starts each initial conversation with the phrase, “I’m not sure if you and I should be talking.” He claimed it worked for him often, and succeeded in getting the prospect off balance a bit. It was enough to get the prospect thinking that maybe s/he needed to sell him/herself as a worthy prospect as much as the print rep needed to sell himself as a worthy vendor.
I wasn’t so sure about this strategy five years ago, but today I am firmly convinced it’s the right approach. In a world in which everyone claims to be so busy they can’t do lunch or spare you a 10-minute meeting, it is VITAL that you make sure your prospect is worth your time.
So here are a couple of examples of ways to do this, and I’d LOVE to hear your feedback as well.
- “If we can agree that my ideas and services would add value for you and your company, is there anything else standing in the way of us doing business together?
- “Before we go ahead and set a time to meet, I want to make sure this is worth your time as well as mine. If my solutions, pricing and schedule are right in line for your next project, are you in a position to award work to me?
So what do you think? When do YOU qualify a prospect? And How? Share with us via Comment below.
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- Business Management - Marketing/Sales
Blogger, author, consultant, coach and all around evangelist for the graphic arts industry, Kelly sold digital printing for 15 years so she understands the challenges, frustrations and pitfalls of building a successful sales practice. Her mission is to help printers of all sizes sell more stuff. Kelly's areas of focus include sales and marketing coaching, enabling clients to find engagement strategies that work for them and mentoring the next generation of sales superstars.
Kelly graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Political Science and, among other notable accomplishments, co-founded the Windy City Rollers, a professional women's roller derby league. She is also the mother of two sets of twins under the age of ten, so she fears nothing.