Edwin's sales department receives a request from a prospect: whether they can prepare a sales presentation and accompanying quotation within a week. Daring to ask customer qualification questions is essential here.
Edwin and his team study the briefing, make a phone call to obtain additional information, and conduct a hastily scheduled intake interview.
During that moment of contact, an uncertain feeling comes over him.
“Have they already chosen? Do we actually have a serious chance of winning the order?”
Yet Edwin and his people spend a lot of time developing a suitable proposal. Because what if it is actually serious? Deep down, Edwin feels that he is doing a pointless exercise... but hey, you never know...
After a few days, an email follows from the prospect: 'Unfortunately, you didn't make it, we will choose another party. Thank you for the time and effort invested.'
“See,” Edwin mutters.
Of course, rejection and sales go hand in hand. But when a party asks you to draft an RFP, quotation, or project description, it makes sense to make a business assessment. The client is asking you to invest time and money in them.
After all, sales activities are costly. Isn't it only natural, then, to look critically at that request? In other words: under what conditions do you participate or not?
By asking a number of good qualification questions you will gain faster and better insight into commercial opportunities and how you can use them.
Three practical examples of qualification questions:
1. On what basis will you decide?
The answer to this question gives you insight into the playing field where you and your competitors play. Try to isolate two or three points from the decision-making criteria on which you focus 'hard' and increase the importance of these aspects for the customer.
Naturally, you focus on the points that you are sure you are better at than your competitors. And if there are more criteria? It doesn't matter, you can't be the best at everything. Winning 10-0 is not always necessary, 6-4 is also fine.
2. Where am I in your decision-making process?
It sometimes happens that you are only brought on board very late in the process. Perhaps other competitors have already dropped out. Do not put everything aside to meet your prospect's deadline.
First, check if it makes sense to participate. This is not strange or odd; you know you joined late, and the client knows that too.
You might then ask, for example: “We both know that I am being involved in this application at a late stage. If you were me, would you consider giving it a try?”
Or: “If you feel that you have already made a decision or that you have already seen and heard what you are looking for, please feel free to let us know. Then we both know where we stand.”
During training sessions, I do hear that this question is risky. It could give the client the feeling that you don't really want the assignment. That depends on how you phrase the question.
You make it clear that you consider your own time, as well as your client's, too precious to waste on something pointless. And that, as a professional, you would rather spend that time differently. Nothing wrong with that, right?
And speaking of wanting a contract: you surely know them, those overenthusiastic, overly eager, and easily-defeated salespeople who often project just a little too much that they *really* want a contract. In practice, I often see that this groveling behavior actually breeds suspicion.
Most clients have nothing against ambition. But they do object to beggars and sycophants, especially when it comes to more complex services or products.
3. What is the 10 or 15% I need to focus on to avoid wasting each other's time?
One of my personal favorites. Let's be honest: in almost any business, your competitor can offer 85 or 90% the same as you.
But what are the most important aspects for the client that you should focus on to avoid wasting each other's time?
Some also find this question risky. You would reduce your distinctiveness. But openness and honesty actually strengthen one of the most important components of distinctiveness: trust.
Edwin and his people are no longer a 'you ask, we run quotation factory'. Good qualifying questions help him avoid predictable disappointments and increase his sales returns. And according to him, the biggest benefit: asking those questions feels good too!
You can find more background information on customer qualification dare to ask questions at customer qualification dare to ask (Wikipedia).