{"id":4454,"date":"2017-02-28T10:15:36","date_gmt":"2017-02-28T15:15:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.moneyjournal.com\/?p=4454"},"modified":"2017-02-28T08:59:11","modified_gmt":"2017-02-28T13:59:11","slug":"lead-qualification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moneyjournal.com\/lead-qualification\/","title":{"rendered":"Lead Qualification: The Simple Step by Step Process to Qualify a Lead from Start to Finish"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s easy to get caught up in tactic hunting. You look for new flashy trends and marketing tactics that promise riches.<\/p>\n

The truth is that real success with your business comes from\u00a0focusing on the rather boring basics.<\/p>\n

And few topics are less \u201chip\u201d and \u201ccool\u201d than lead qualification. <\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, this topic is about as sexy as a beige-colored sedan.<\/span><\/p>\n

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But nothing will have a greater effect on your team\u2019s ability to effectively market and sell your products than your process for qualifying potential and existing leads<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

In this article, I am going to detail the exact processes and qualification formulas that you need to follow in order to quickly and effectively find leads who are willing and <\/span>eager <\/span><\/i>to invest in your services.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you follow the steps I am going to lay out in this article, you will be able to save yourself <\/span>thousands <\/span><\/i>of dollars, streamline your marketing and sales processes, and avoid countless hours of headaches. <\/span><\/p>\n

So let\u2019s get down to it. <\/span><\/p>\n

What is Lead Qualification and Why is it Important<\/span><\/h2>\n

Lead qualification is a systematic process to evaluate whether prospects are able, ready, and willing to buy your products and services.<\/p>\n

It involves determining whether a prospect has a need for your product, the authority to make the purchase, and the money to execute a transaction.<\/p>\n

So why do you need to qualify a lead in the first place?<\/span><\/p>\n

Why not just throw every email address you have in an autoresponder?<\/p>\n

A lead is a lead\u00a0right?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Wrong. <\/span><\/p>\n

Nothing will cause more internal conflict between your sales and marketing team than the quality of the leads produced by your company.<\/span><\/p>\n

Especially in a B2B company<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Heck, even if you’re a solopreneur, failing to qualify leads will be the fastest way to burn your email list.<\/p>\n

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Picture this for a second.<\/span><\/p>\n

Imagine that your marketing team is operating under a set of ambiguous and vague lead qualification SOPs. <\/span><\/p>\n

And while they are able to generate vast quantities of leads, the quality<\/em> of the leads are a mystery. <\/span><\/p>\n

Each and every day you have dozens if not hundreds of new leads<\/a> being sent to your sales team for follow up and\u00a0conversion.<\/span><\/p>\n

But only a small percentage of these leads can actually be sold to.<\/span><\/p>\n

No matter how impeccable your sales team\u2019s tactics are or how smooth their pitch is, they simply cannot sell anything to the majority of these leads. <\/span><\/p>\n

So your sales team works diligently, calling and corresponding with hundreds of unqualified leads, wasting their precious time and your precious money. <\/span><\/p>\n

As this process continues to repeat itself, the sales team\u2019s motivation wanes and it takes all of their willpower to show up to work.<\/span><\/p>\n

And let’s be honest.<\/p>\n

The reason why we hate cheesy stock photos of happy teams that look like this…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

is because the reality of a team without a solid lead qualification process will look like this:<\/p>\n

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Alright. Enough with the stock photos.<\/p>\n

The sales team will blame the marketing team\u2019s efforts and conflict will become inevitable. <\/span><\/p>\n

You are now faced with:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n