Shifting From Prospect to Customer

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All art is process-oriented or procedural—a bold claim that many artists might take issue with. Still, painting with oil on canvas follows a process of building colors from bottom to top; watercolor on paper follows a different process. Learning a musical instrument follows a process, and building the skills to play music with others requires precise communication and a mastery of the song to be played. These are all procedural things.

Contrary to popular belief, selling is also more a process than a magic-filled art, and one part of the process that seems artful (but is actually procedural) is qualifying your prospect. Qualification answers this fundamental question: “Is this lead a good fit as a customer or not?”

The Process
Start with your business plan, a working business model, and a strategy. Know who you want to go after, and with what product or service. Now, how do you determine whether a prospect is right for you?

The old saw in sales is, "If you're going to get a ‘no’ from the customer, get it as soon as possible." Don't waste your time on someone whose mind is made up. This sounds reasonable, but successful salespeople will tell you to be persistent and that "no" means "not at this time." So, how do you tell the difference?

The Miller Heiman Strategic Selling method is one of the most authoritative sources on the concept of selling as a strategic partnership between the buyer and seller. In their book, The New Strategic Selling, Robert Miller and Stephen Heiman outline archetypes that help with qualifying.

The idea is not necessarily to disqualify a prospect but rather to learn what motivates the buyer so you can reach a mutually beneficial solution.

B2B transactions can be rather large and complex. The authors define it as having one or more of the following elements in place:

• The buying organization has multiple options
• The selling organization has multiple options
• In both organizations, numerous levels of responsibility are involved
• The buying organization’s decision-making process is complex, meaning that it is seldom self-evident to an outsider

The next set of categories zeroes in on the roles and motivations of the multiple decision-makers in your prospective customer’s organization.

Continue reading this article in the February 2024 issue of SMT007 Magazine.