A Sales Qualification Matrix can make B2B sales “easy”.  Many have said “without the Sales Qualification Matrix, business to business sales was twice as hard”.

Before your team can perform with a higher closing rate, it is important to get started with better opportunities right up front.

Consider the number of sales that could be closed if your team didn't waste time pursuing prospects who are not going to make a purchase. While there is some value because of the potential of referrals, the primary objective is to easily identify buyers vs tire kickers.

With the right leadership and plan, improvements in sales closing rates can be seen as soon as 30 days after implementation.

There are several steps to improving closing rates but the first step involves starting with the right prospect.  Every product or service has an ideal buyer who:

Is someone who has a need (or want)

Is a ready buyer (the timing is right)

Has the funding (the means to make the purchase)

A prospect who believes in your team and company (they want to buy from you)

The first step is to identify these people and organizations who are the “hottest” prospects.

When passing out leads, a typical approach is to assign salespeople portions of a list of existing clients or old prospects; or buy a list of companies who have something going on and assign them. 

Recycling is good for the environment but not so great at finding Hot Prospects and increasing closing rates. 

Here's why:

Your existing clients are already buying from you and their account manager should be serving them well and a great relationship should exist.

Old prospects didn't buy anything from you the first time around – and little has changed to motivate them to buy from you now.

That list you bought may have good opportunities, but only guaranteed to have activity - not results.

Even with these obstacles, there is hope.  That large list of leads you bought or the great database you've amassed over recent years can be whittled down to a list of Hot Prospects with very little effort or investment.  Once you have a list of Hot Prospects, the team can focus on pursuing and closing those sales with and an increase in closing rates.

Here's my recommendation for what to do with the rest of the list

File it.

This can be controversial since you paid for the whole list.  It might have taken years to amass a database of previous leads and clients. 

Let it go.

Don't waste another minute thinking about it.  Focus on the Hot Prospects you've mined from the list.  They are diamonds in the rough.

"That sounds great. Let's do it!"   “What is the next step? How can we take advantage of these diamonds in the rough?”

The key is in the ideal client profile I referred to above. 

Develop the top five characteristics of your ideal client.

Compare each one of your potential prospects to your ideal client profile.

Rank the results from high to low.

Pursue the top ranking opportunities.

You can expect to see closing rates increase as they pursue better opportunities and revenues increase. Instead of chasing long shots, success breeds success, morale improves and company culture evolves.

You are welcome to use our Sales Qualification Matrix. It is the same tool my teams have used for years improve B2B closing rates.

Download the Sales Qualification Matrix here.