It’s no secret: the better we know our customers, the easier it will be to identify the ideal profile we want to reach with our campaigns, qualify leads according to the objective defined by the business.
Having these two aspects very clear: Ideal profile + Business objective, we will be able to adequately qualify and prioritize the leads, which will help us obtain higher closing rates, greater efficiency and of course, sales teams that value the prospects sent by Marketing.
Here are the six steps to follow to start qualifying leads in service companies:
1. Establish the correct definition of what a lead is for your business
As we said, knowing and understanding the different profiles of our current clients will be the best starting point for identifying the characteristics and patterns that will allow us to accurately rate the leads.
We could initially consider the company’s size, industry and budget. What was the first channel through which our best customers contacted us? What were their main questions during the purchasing process?
Once we have identified one or more patterns, qualify leads we must ask ourselves: Which of these profiles have been our company’s clients the longest? Which ones have better purchase receipts? Which ones were easier to sell to and engage in productive conversations with?
With this information gathered, we can use the following checklist:
The lead matches the definition of the ideal buyer persona.
Your business challenge aligns with our solutions.
We will have access to decision makers.
Now, it is very important to note that the definition of the ideal lead must be agreed upon between Marketing and Sales. Both areas will have to agree on:
What are the characteristics of a sales-qualified lead?
How to recognize a junk lead and differentiate it from a cold prospect that can be nurtured with marketing actions.
Which sources and media recent mobile phone number data usually attract better leads (LinkedIn, Google Ads, Webinars, E-books…) and require immediate attention from Sales.
2. Make lead qualification an essential part of your process
To do this, you need to know known for its bustling cities and diverse exactly what motivates your prospects to continue to the next stage of the pipeline. This will help you predict how their journey will go through the purchasing process, uae phone number and it will be easier to measure the impact of each sales action at the different stages of the conversion funnel.
This undoubtedly represents a great benefit for the entire sales team, which will be able to focus on closing more deals in less time and at a lower cost, discarding unhelpful leads from the start.
3. Ask the right questions
It is necessary to know which questions are the right ones that will allow us to take our leads to the next stage of the pipeline. Only then will you be able to determine how serious each prospect is, and how close they are to making a purchase decision.
Being specific and focused is key. To do this, following the BANT model (budget, authority, need, timeline) usually works very well, as it allows us to steer the conversation in the right direction to identify, qualify, prioritize and derive.
4. Automate some steps of lead qualification
There are CRM and Marketing Automation platforms that allow us to automate some of the many tasks that sales representatives perform. Once we have a clear idea of the steps in the entire purchasing process and what commercial and relationship actions are carried out at each stage, we can visualize those that can be automated, such as sending certain emails, nurturing leads with content (inbound marketing), scheduling meetings and even posting on social networks.
5. Share relevant data
It is necessary to monitor the metrics of each stage of the purchasing process, identifying conversion rates between one and another, as well as closing rates and sales timing.
Once again, CRM can provide us with these figures and even allow us to customize the reports. We need to analyze what the numbers tell us! And make the appropriate adjustments when something is not working well.
6. Identify which customers could become leads for other products
By having a well-managed CRM, all customer data will be concentrated there, making it easier for sales teams to identify new business opportunities with existing customers ( cross selling and up selling ).