Want to know if a prospect is an ideal match for your brand or a product? dive in. This blog post covers what lead qualification is, how it works, where you should start with your lead qualification efforts, the framework that will help you get started, and understanding your leads so you know when they're qualified.
What is Lead Qualification?
Lead qualification is a process of determining whether a lead fits your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and is a good fit for your brand or product.
Lead Qualification helps determine if a prospect has a scope of becoming a long-term customer.
Qualifying prospects can help you optimize your marketing efforts and grow revenue for your business over time.
How to Qualify Leads?
Lead qualification is finding out more about who your prospects are, what their goals are and how you fit into that picture for them.
- This starts with identifying prospects that have a current need for your product or service but excludes those who won't be able to buy now or in the future.
- Next, you'll want to evaluate which product would best fits their needs so they can become customers for life.
- Then, qualify them as either qualified or disqualified based on these criteria:
- Do they meet your brand's ideal customer profile?
- Can they afford it?
- Do they understand what you're offering (does the lead know about it)?
- Will this solve their problem?
Where to Start?
Begin with the Top of your Funnel- This is where you'll want to start qualifying prospects that are qualified and disqualified, so they don't get through to the next stages in your marketing efforts of your sales cycle (which could mean wasted time).
The next stage will be to qualify them as qualified or disqualified. After this, lead qualification can turn into nurturing qualified leads.
Lead Qualification Frameworks
Before understanding different frameworks of Lead Qualification, let's study the reasons why you need a framework in the first place,
1) You want to be able to track the progress of lead qualification.
2) Allows for you and your team members or employees, to have a structure in which they can work within.
3) The framework will keep you from needing too many common questions when qualifying leads (so it doesn't take up time).
Following are some Lead Qualification Frameworks:
1. BANT
BANT stands for Budget, Authority, Need and Timeline:
- Budget - Does the lead have enough budget to own a product or service that you offer?
- Authority - Does the qualified lead have an authority level in their company such as CEO, CFO, Owner, Manager, etc.?
- Need - Do they need your offering?
- Timeline- When will the lead be ready to purchase?
2.MEDDIC
MEDDIC stands for Motivation, Economic buyer-factor, Decision Maker(s), Interest and Contact information:
- Motivation - Why do they need your offering?
- Economic Factor - What are their financial requirements/needs in order to buy from you?
- Decision Makers - Who makes the decisions to buy?
- Interest - What are their interests in your offering and how can you use that information to connect with them?
- Contact Information - Where do they live, email address, etc.
3. CHAMP
CHAMP stands for Challenges, Authority, Money and Prioritization.
- Challenges - What are their challenges?
- Authority - Who has the authority?
- Money - How much money do they have to spend? Do you know what type of budget this lead has?
- Prioritization - Where does your product stand in their priorities
4.ANUM
ANUM stands for Attention, Need, Urgency and Money
- Attention - How do you capture their attention?
- Need - What are they looking to get from your product or service?
- Urgency - When do they need it by? Do they have a deadline coming up soon that will make them more inclined to buy now rather than later?
- Money - What is their budget for spending on your product or service?
These frameworks are a great way to assess the leads you're generating to find out how much potential they have.
Understanding Your Leads
Having a better understanding of your leads will help you better understand what to do next. You can assess your leads in a variety of ways.
You can:
Ask the right questions to determine their needs and how much they are willing to spend,
Watch what triggers them to buy from you (is it when they're low on stock? Do they need a specific time frame for delivery?), or
Determine what type of product is best suited for your customer's budget by sampling different price points and seeing which products perform better than others. These will help you get an understanding of who your lead is and as a result make more sales in the future.
Tools for Lead Qualification
Lead Scoring: Helps you better understand the leads by scoring them according to their needs and how much they are willing to spend,
Sales Funnel Analysis: This tells you where your lead is in the sales cycle. You can also use this tool to determine what type of product would be best suited for a customer's budget depending on their stage in the sales cycle.
Leads Consolidation: this will help you find similar companies and see what they have been doing to better understand your leads.
Here is all you need to know about leads qualification. It can be hard to let go of any leads, even ones that are unlikely.
But in the end, by focusing on only qualified prospects you will save time and focus your efforts towards those who have a high likelihood of buying from you and closing a deal with their business.
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