This post is the second in a series of three posts around Activity. The first in the series focuses on Activity and CRM Systems
This, the second post in the series focuses on Activity – Qualify.
Most people qualify by the fact that the client has taken the vague bit of interest. The worst is when they called/emailed you surly I should be jumping through hoops to get the business? Well, actually no.
Your qualifying has to be preciser than that of a surgeon. Ah, you thought sales was all chit chat and lunches – think again.
Do you want to miss that huge opportunity because you were so busy responding and reacting to 15 inbound enquiries?
Your skill at deciphering where that person is in the buying circle is crucial, how aligned is your solution to them, how likely they are to convert, how big that piece of business is worth to you, and so on.
Qualifying has to be thorough; because, 30 minutes effort spent on 15 incoming calls is 7.5 hours.  Some people I know spend over an hour on each incoming enquiry. That’s 15 hours. If you recognised that two of them had a high propensity to book then you put the effort and time in accordingly.
You need time to hunt down the huge pieces of business – the ideals that may not come to you at all…. You need time for focus on that.  You need to know who your perfect customer is. The business that affects your bottom-line the most. You know the smaller pieces of business are sometimes the easiest to get and how much time and effort do they take? Usually they take the most effort.
