Review the Skillsoft Job Aid, “Preparing to Qualify a Prospect.”
Assignment
Choose one of the products or services your company offers, or think of an idea you had to sell a product. Then, follow the steps in the Skillsoft Job Aid: Preparing to Qualify a Prospect
Job Aid
Preparing to Qualify a Prospect
Purpose: Use this job aid to help you prepare to qualify a prospect.
The first step during a detailed analysis is to research the prospect and how your product or service can resolve the prospect’s business problem.
| Area of research | Question |
|---|---|
| Ideal customer profile | What is my ideal customer profile?
– Type of industry – Annual revenue – Number of employees – Customer base – Corporate values and culture |
| Prospect’s business situation | What is the current business situation of the prospect’s company?
Is the prospect in a buying position? |
| Prospect’s goals | What are the goals of the prospect? |
| Prospect’s needs | What is the prospect’s business need?
How great is that need? How can my product or service help address the need? |
| Prospect’s decision-making process | Who is the decision maker?
What functional area does the decision maker belong to? What should be the focus of my sales pitch? |
| Objections | What are some of the possible objections the prospect may raise?
What are two solutions that I can offer to each of these objections? |
| Claims | How can I back up my claims that my product or service will resolve a prospect’s business problem? |
| Competitive edge | Why would a prospect want to buy my product or service?
How will my product or service contribute toward the prospect’s competitiveness? |
| Commitments | What commitments do I want from the prospect? |
| Prospect’s success criteria | What success criteria will the prospect use to judge my product or service? |
A qualification meeting can provide further information about a prospect. To plan for this meeting, it’s useful to create a meeting worksheet.
Step 2: Planning a qualification meeting
| My objectives | My strategy | My agenda |
|---|---|---|
| What do I want to achieve from a qualification meeting? | What strategy can I employ to ensure a prospect is willing to meet me? | What questions do I need to ask to follow up on the results of my research? |
| What are my company’s and my prospect’s business objectives? | What value do I bring to the meeting? | How do these questions align to my objectives? |
| How do my objectives meet my company’s and my prospect’s business objectives? | What are the advantages of my product or service? | |
| How can my product or service help solve a prospect’s business problem? |
