OWINGS MILLS, Md.  (Sept. 17, 2008) – The sales process usually starts by obtaining potential customer leads and qualifying them.  To “qualify” means to determine through a selection process that a prospect has proven capable of or fit to meet the requirements to buy from you.   In qualifying leads most organizations forget to ask one important question, are their salespeople qualified to qualify? Many salespeople rely on the underlying premise that a prospect will be able to accurately qualify themselves through a series of questions, but this is not always the case.    The premise is that a prospect can understand their problems sufficiently to not only recognize what created them, but also, when aided by a few "probing" questions from salespeople, are able to identify suitable solutions. 

  “That's almost like a patient going to the doctor with the ability to diagnose his own ailment and prescribe a treatment.  If the patient could do that, he wouldn't need the doctor,” says David Mattson, CEO of Sandler Training. “Likewise, if prospects could "diagnose" their problems and "prescribe" and implement their own solutions, they wouldn't need salespeople.  Price schedules and order forms would suffice,” Mattson also says.  In addition, Mattson offers these tips to help salespeople become more qualified to qualify:

Uncover the Problem’s Origin:   Salespeople can't solely rely on prospects’ description of  their own situations. When prospects are confronted with problems, what they experience are the results or manifestations of the underlying causes of the problems.  In other words, their attention and focus is on what has bubbled to the surface instead of the whole picture.  However, it's the identification of the underlying principal and contributing elements of the problems that are required to develop appropriate solutions. The more complex the problems are and the more pressing they seem to be, the less likely it is that prospects will have invested the time to look beyond the symptoms (even if they know what to look for) to identify the origins of the problems. 

Question Perceptions:  Relying completely on prospects to be knowledgeable enough to discuss their problems and likely solutions can lead to two unproductive situations.  First, the salespeople "buy in" to the prospects' perceptions about their problems, which rarely touch on the real causes for them. Second, the conversations quickly focus on solutions, which at best are premature and at worst are entirely inappropriate.  The prospects and the salespeople may have intellectually stimulating conversations about the perceived problems and their consequences, but in the end, neither of them knows any more about the origin and evolution of the problems than they did at the outset.  And, to make matters worse, those types of conversations usually end with the salespeople going off to develop presentations or proposals for possible solutions to ill-defined problems. Salespeople should look beyond perceptions to gauge an accurate picture.

Face the Facts:  The implication from these situations is clear: salespeople must not only be thoroughly knowledgeable about the products and services they sell, but they must also have a thorough understanding of the current and potential problems and challenges of the prospects they call on.  And, they must know how to diagnose prospects' perceived problems by looking beyond the symptoms and identifying the underlying causes-the real problems to be addressed.  By knowing their prospects almost better than the prospects know themselves, salespeople can not only ask "probing" questions, but ask questions that help prospects discover aspects of their situations which they were unaware of before the conversations.  When salespeople accomplish that, they not only bring value to the relationship, but they also establish their credibility.  Then salespeople are better qualified to qualify.