3 Steps to Create (TONS OF) Value During Sales Qualification

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Create Value During Sales Qualification Step #1: Don’t qualify; disqualify.

Here’s the thing: Most salespeople have been taught that they need to qualify prospects—hence the popular term sales qualification.

As a result, salespeople end up asking leading questions to influence prospects to conclude that they’re a good fit for whatever solution is being sold.

This is the absolute wrong mindset for creating value during sales qualification.

Instead of trying to get the prospect to buy into the idea that your solution will help them, you should be focused on determining for yourself whether the prospect is a fit for what you sell in the first place.

So don’t qualify; disqualify.

Step #2: Know the cost.

You must understand the real cost of those challenges to the prospect. Why? Because that’s going to be the value of your solution.

Remember, the value of your solution is not determined by you—and it's certainly not determined by all the awesome features and bonuses that you have to offer. The value of your solution is determined solely by the prospect, and more specifically by the size and cost of the challenges that they believe you can help them solve.

The more you know about the cost, the more likely the prospect is to trust you, and to believe that you are the solution.

The goal is that you want to know more about their challenges than even their own spouse does. If you get to that point, you’re going to have a customer.

Create Value During Sales Qualification Step #3: Understand their commitment.

Is your prospect actually committed to solving their challenges? This is one of the foundational keys to a successful sales qualification conversation. Understanding the prospect’s personal commitment to solving their challenges is key.

This is a place where, particularly in the B2B space, a lot of salespeople tend to feel really uncomfortable. Even great salespeople can start to feel uneasy when digging to understand their prospect’s personal commitment to solving the problems at hand.

But you know what? Behind every professional objective is a personal objective. So you need to understand why they personally care about solving their challenges.

Remember, there’s always a personal motivation behind solving any challenges in life or business—so if there isn’t one, then the prospect simply isn’t going to do it. There must be a personal motivation behind why they want to solve any particular challenge.

It's absolutely critical that you understand their personal motivation by asking a question that sounds something like this: "Behind every professional objective is a personal objective. Help me understand what's driving you to want to solve this challenge."

By asking that question and getting them to say, "Oh, well, if I don't solve this, the company is going to be in trouble..." or whatever the answer is, you’re really getting them personally connected to solving that challenge. The more personally connected they are to solving that challenge, the more likely they are to do business with you. It’s not just professional anymore; it’s personal, too.

And of course, if you're selling to consumers, then they must have personal commitment in solving their challenges as well. They've got to be all in, and if they're not, then there's a good chance that they won’t ultimately be qualified to do business with you.

That's the key to making sure that you turn sales qualification conversations into disqualification conversations.