Selling a product or service is like building a relationship, one must meet the appropriate person at the appropriate time. If the prospect is contacted too early, likely, one might never get the deal. If one waited too long, one might lose the sales opportunity to a competitor. So, the question here is, what qualifies a prospect (sales qualification) as the right opportunity? In this blog, let us try to understand- what is ‘Sales Qualification’, why it is important in the sales process, and explore a few important sales qualification frameworks.
In our previous blog about Lead Generation, we discussed what is a ‘Lead’ and what are different types of qualified leads. Also, we touched upon the process of converting a lead into a prospect in our blog on Prospecting. We know for the fact that a discovery call can make or break a deal, as it is at this point when one realizes whether the prospect is a good fit for the product/service or not. Thus, Sales Qualification becomes a crucial step as it sets the tone for further stages in the sales process.
What is Sales Qualification?
Sales Qualification is the process by which companies/ businesses determine whether a lead or a prospect is a good fit for their product and service. In other words, it is a process by which it’s determined whether the prospect or lead is worth the time and effort.
The precise method for qualifying a prospect varies from company to company depending on what industry they are in, but for a salesperson, it usually involves asking questions about products or services that will help determine how likely that the prospect could buy from them. Salespersons need to find out whether the prospect has an immediate need for the product/service or if any obstacles are preventing them from making a buy decision (e.g., budget constraints). If there are no objections, then they are ready to proceed with presenting more information and talking about pricing.
Why is Sales Qualification an important part of the sales process?
One might wonder why sales qualification is even necessary. Not every lead is a good fit, every prospective customer has wants and needs but they might not have the perfect knowledge about the product/services or solution that the company is providing and know if the company can fulfill those wants and needs, that where ‘sales qualification’ comes into the picture.
Sales qualification is important to both buyer and seller as it optimizes their time, provides an opportunity to define the problem and discuss pain points, ensures all the activities have an impact on the revenue, provides clarity on the next steps. Below are a few benefits of sales qualification:
- Streamlines Marketing: To increase engagement, marketers spend a lot of effort improving advertising campaigns and website content. Lead/Prospect may engage in a variety of ways, like filling out a form with their details, downloading case studies or whitepaper, requesting pricing, or simply signing up for newsletters. However, not every person who provides an email address is ready to purchase—or ever will. Sales qualification provides marketers essential feedback for understanding the types of campaigns and initiatives that deliver high-quality leads. Thus, sales qualification helps in streamlining marketing activities and increasing ROI.
- Streamlines Sales: A solid sales qualifying process employs lead scoring effectively. Lead scoring helps the sales reps usually SDRs to better understand the leads and identify prospective customers who are likely to convert. Sales qualification with Lead scoring winnows down the massive database of raw contacts to a manageable size and ensures that the sales reps are working with best-fit or the good fit. Thus, sales qualification streamlines the sales activity at the early stage of the sales process itself.
- Helps to provide better Customer Experience: Sales qualification makes the sales reps to step into the customer’s shoes, understand prospects/lead’s wants and needs, and effectively address the pain points by asking the right or meaningful questions during the initial call. Thus, sales qualification is a fair and prudent way to ensure a positive experience for everyone, especially for the customer.
- Helps to Scale Business: Processes help businesses to scale and grow. A sales process that qualifies prospects is therefore vital for attracting and converting the right customers even as the market share expands. Qualifying one prospect is easy but qualifying 10,000 prospects is not an easy task unless there is a well-defined sales qualification process.
Now that we discussed the importance of sales qualification and how vital it is to have a set process for qualifying, to increase the effectiveness of sales qualification one must follow a framework as it creates a structured approach and enables sales reps to ask right/relevant questions to qualify prospective customers.
Many sales qualification frameworks have been developed over time, but with the evolution of SaaS-based organizations, the traditional way of functioning has been replaced with various sales qualification frameworks like BANT, MEDDIC, CHAMP, GPCTBA/C&I, ANUM, and FAINT. Let us take look at these as below.
Sales Qualification Frameworks:
- BANT– This framework is formulated by IBM in the ’60s and is one of the oldest and the most used qualification frameworks in the business as its application is not limited to technology but also spans across various verticals of the industry. BANT stands for: Budget: How much can the prospects spend? Authority: If the prospects have decision-making authority? Need: What is the prospect’s business need? Time: In what time frame will the prospect be implementing a solution?
- MEDDIC– It is a B2B sales qualification framework coined by Jack Napoli at PTC in the ’90s. MEDDIC stands for Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Identify Pain, and Champion. This framework focuses on all the aspects of the purchase decision of the prospect and analyses down to whether they have an internal product evangelist who can sell your product internally. MEDDIC framework is used when a company sells a product that requires a transformation in behavior or the average sales price is incredibly high, as understanding exactly how a prospect buys, why they would buy, and who’s championing internally is crucial to maintaining an accurate pipeline.
- ANUM– This framework was developed by Ken Krogue as an alternative spin on the previously discussed BANT framework that prioritizes Authority over Budget. ANUM stands for Authority, Need, Urgency, and Money.
- CHAMP– This framework is much like ANUM. However, it places ‘Challenges’ ahead of ‘Authority’. CHAMP stands for CHallenges, Authority, Money, and Prioritization. Sales reps need to focus on the lead’s business problems (challenges) and see if he can solve and also focus on how urgent the lead’s need is (priority) while using this framework for qualifying.
- GPCTBA/C&I- This framework is coined by HubSpot and it stands for Goals, Plans, Challenges, Timeline, Budget, Authority/Negative Consequences, and Positive Implications. It is a sales qualification framework devised for having an effective response to changing buyer behavior. It makes sure salespeople not only sell products and services but also add value during sales by looking at each step of the process and understanding customers’ strategic goals, business model, and how the product/service can become part of the bigger things at play.
- FAINT: This framework is advocated by RAIN Group and it stands for Funds, Authority, Interest, Need, Timing. This framework is devised to reflect the fact that many purchase decisions are unplanned and thus won’t be associated with a set budget.
One must carefully choose a sales qualification framework based on their business requirements. Implementation of any of the above frameworks can be a daunting task for sales leaders but once the framework is in place, sales/lead qualification will be more accurate, capable and companies can ripe the above-discussed benefits of sales qualification. We at VAST Tec, imbibe the above-mentioned frameworks in our sales lead generation and lead qualification services, whichever blends well with our client’s requirements and their sales philosophy.
Do you qualify your Leads?