Tag: founders selling

Lead qualification across SMB vs. Enterprise

January 21st, 2023

In my last post I mentioned that I believed “intent to purchase” is the #1 criteria that makes any lead qualified.

I also mentioned that for the lead to stay truly qualified, they would need to purchase my product, or a product like mine at the conclusion of the sales cycle.

So what happens if they do neither? What happens if they make no decision on your product or a product like yours? Then I think its important to take into account what part of the market the lead came from so you can start to understand what is going on with your deals.

That is: was it an SMB lead or an enterprise lead?

If it was an enterprise lead that didn’t close for you or another vendor, then it was probably not qualified in the first place. Barring buyer force majeure, enterprise leads have to budget for purchases. Thus, my first question that I ask: was it ever budgeted in the first place for it to not close for anyone? Should it have even remained in the funnel? Should we have ever considered it for one of our myriad forecasts? Probably not.

If it was an SMB lead, it can get a little murkier in the event of a non- decision. Because attention spans in the SMB are so short, intent to purchase one day becomes intent to purchase something categorically different from your solution the next day. Their budgets are often not as clear cut (or large) as enterprise buyers. And this can take sellers for a loop. What seemed like a good product demo just a few days back might be the start of months of misleading behavior by the buyer and their organization.

For an enterprise lead to be truly qualified, budget must be set aside for this product or a product like it. Earmarked, appropriated, whatever.

And for SMB leads to be truly qualified: let me know what you have found a way to verify intent purchase at all stages of the deal cycle without being too needy for the buyer. You will have solved a major challenge all sellers have when going after the SMB category.
What makes a qualified lead “qualified” in the first place?

January 21st, 2023

To answer this, I like to ask the following question: did that lead eventually purchase our product or a product likes ours? Because if not, was it ever a truly qualified lead to begin with?

As you can see, the problem here is hindsight. We don’t have it. We can’t know if the prospect has purchased our product or a product like ours until they do or don’t. And that’s a problem.

In any case, let’s suppose that one defining trait of a qualified lead is the intent to purchase our product or a product like ours. That is probably #1 on my list (because without the intent to purchase, they become casual product-demo interlopers).

But what happens if they are a prototypical organization that fits our criteria for organizations who have purchased in the past, displayed initial intent to purchase, and yet they make no decision on the purchase. They ghost you.

Unfortunately, this is not that uncommon especially in the mid-market where resources, FTEs, and attention spans for purchasing products are always in short supply.

So was it ever a qualified lead to begin with?
The #1 thing I do when a [qualified] prospect goes dark

January 16th, 2023

Selling is complicated. Some deals close out of left field, while others you expected to win months back still haven’t pulled the trigger. Here’s what I do when it feels like a prospect is ghosting me along the selling journey:

I email them a concise story about a similar use case to theirs with no direct ask.

And I do it persistently. I will include pain points that the prospect has mentioned in the past, and how one of my other clients was able to alleviate them using our platform. Even more helpful is when I high-light just how costly those pains had become to their business.

And if the email hasn’t become too long, I will include the improvement stats that the other client witnessed as a result.

I refrain from spamming. Sure, I will sprinkle in a voicemail touch here and there. But I would rather show prospect that I care deeply about their use case with a concise but informative email on how we can help and let them respond when they are ready to. That is the best kind of buyer after all: someone who wants to work with you under their own volition!
My #1 qualifying question I ask on product demos

January 15th, 2023

An important question I like to get answered on the initial product demo: If you don’t solve the challenges you are having today with my product or a product like mine, what will be the cost/impact to your business?

Occasionally I get a really great answer from a prospect when I ask this after a bit of discovery. But at least 9 times out of 10 I get an answer that is telling.

Why do I ask this question: because if my prospect ever plans to purchase what I am pushing, they will have to change what they are doing currently, and adopt a new platform and process. And I need to confirm that there exists a good enough reason to do this. Afterall, for them to part with budget, they usually need a pretty good reason.

So when do I ask this question: once the prospect shares with me what their current process is, and after I ask what sorts of shortcomings exist in that status quo.

How this question helps my sales process: it helps me fight against the urge to broadly claim that I can help solve their challenges just because I THINK I know best. Example: after a prospect shares pains that you know you solve for, it is tempting to claim (broadly) that “I [you] can help them [prospect] with that [business challenges]”. The prospect shares something helpful to you about their daily work, and you bridge the conversation with something that is hard to believe at best, and condescending at worst. Instead, take the opportunity to dive even deeper and understand why it comes at such a cost to their business.

If nothing else, you will establish a bit more clarity.

Tag: founders selling

Lead qualification across SMB vs. Enterprise

What makes a qualified lead “qualified” in the first place?

The #1 thing I do when a [qualified] prospect goes dark

My #1 qualifying question I ask on product demos