Sales Leads & Top 10 Qualifying Questions to Close Sales
What percent of sales leads are sales ready?
RainToday.com is a premier online source for service business rainmakers, marketers, and leaders. According to the most recent edition of their annual report "What's Working in Lead Generation", only 25% of leads generated for professional service firms are sales ready, meaning ready to buy. 50% of leads "need nurturing" and 25% are "disqualified."
What's the key takeaway here? Simply that if your company doesn't have a structured, ongoing lead nurturing program comprised of email, direct mail, phone call, or in-person follow-ups, then you're missing out on a majority of future sales.
Top 10 Qualifying Questions to Close Sales Faster
Many times, we're seated across from a hot prospect knowing we're just a hop, skip and a jump from a sale, yet we flounder. Why is this? Part of the reason might be that were not asking the right qualifying questions to bring the prospect to a sale.
Here are ten of the most powerful qualifying questions:
- Which specific need(s) do you have that our product/service addresses?
- How will our product or service make your life better?
- How much have you budgeted for this purchase?
- When do you plan to purchase a product or service like ours?
- Who all will be involved in the purchase decision?
- Which other products or services are you looking at?
- Which ones do you favor?
- Why do you favor them?
- Who has the budget or spending authority to implement the decision?
- Which decision makers have your salespeople called on?
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Jay Lipe is the president of Emerge Marketing LLC, a firm that helps growing companies focus their marketing. He is the author of the books The Marketing Toolkit for Growing Businesses (Chammerson Press, 2002) and Stand Out from the Crowd: Secrets to Crafting a Winning Company Identity (Kaplan Publishing, Fall 2006). He is also a sought after speaker and seminar leader, and can be reached at 612.824.4833, through his Smart Marketing blog or through his website. Hear a podcast interview with Jay discussing Small Business Marketing.
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