The Importance Of Qualifying A Sales Prospect | Sales Prospecting Skills

For years, sales managers and sales trainers have been saying that sales is a “numbers” game. I can recall my first sales manager telling me over thirty-five years ago, “If you see enough people, you will make enough sales.” First of all, what’s enough sales? Second of all, how many is enough people? Thirdly, is this the best approach to take when prospecting for new business?

If you see enough qualified people, you will make enough sales. It isn’t just the number, folks; it is focusing on prospects who qualify for your product or service. Now this doesn’t mean that you should see fewer prospects. I am only suggesting that focusing on the numbers alone will guarantee failure sooner or later. Why? The more people you see, the more you will tend to see poor prospects; thus, more rejection. The average salesperson can’t handle the amount of rejection that comes with this philosophy. This is why so many people become discouraged and fail or quit.

Think about it for just a minute. You see or call twenty-five prospects a week. You close one out of every five. That means you wasted time on twenty poor prospects.

But how do you know if they are poor prospects until you see or spend time with them? What if you took the time you spent with the twenty poor prospects and spent it with more good prospects—or even cultivating the five sales you made for repeat or referral business? Maybe your closing ratio could be one-third or even one-half.

Here is a real winner for success. Do both. See and call more prospects but—here’s the difference—make sure they are qualified before you give them too much of your time and energy.

Turn It Around

Prospecting is not about how many people you see, but about the quality of the prospect.