Who is your perfect customer, and why is it essential to identify them?
Understanding your ideal customer helps you focus your prospecting efforts effectively—allowing you to identify who to pursue and, more importantly, who to avoid.
In this post, I’ll guide you through nine crucial questions to determine if a prospect is worth your time.
1. Do You Know the Industry?
Does this customer represent work in an industry that you’re familiar with? If you’re not familiar with the industry, what makes you think that suddenly working with them is going to get you up to speed?
Familiarity enables you to ask insightful questions and understand their specific needs, ultimately enhancing your ability to serve them effectively.
2. Do Their Needs Align with Your Best Customers?
During your initial conversations, evaluate if the prospect’s needs resemble those of your top customers. Reflect on the problems you’ve solved for your best clients; if this prospect shares similar challenges, they’re worth pursuing. If their needs are entirely foreign to you, consider redirecting your focus.
3. Are Their Job Titles Relevant?
Look at the job titles and roles within the prospect’s organization. I don’t have time to educate myself on all the nuances of a completely different type of operation, or business. I need to stay in my own lane.
4. Do You Understand Their Decision-Making Process?
It’s crucial to grasp how the prospect makes decisions. Do they have a bidding process? Are there specific criteria they follow? Do they just go out and do a test? What’s their approach?
Knowing this helps you avoid wasting time only to find out they operate on an annual bidding cycle.
5. What’s Their Timeline for Decision-Making?
Understanding the prospect’s timeline is vital. If their decision-making process stretches over several years, you may want to prioritize other prospects.
I’ve got to understand what their timeline is because this is going to help me in terms of managing my internal resources, other subject matter experts, and where I want to put my effort.
6. Do They Display Integrity?
Integrity is essential in any business relationship. Evaluate how the prospect treats their employees and customers. Working with clients who share your values ensures a more harmonious and successful partnership.
If integrity is your passion too, you’d love this book: A Mind for Sales
7. Do You Have a Viable Solution?
Confirm that you can provide a solution that meets their needs. Even if their challenges align with your best customers, if your solution doesn’t fit their operational process, it’s not a viable prospect and you can’t afford to spend time with them.
8. Is Their Problem Significant Enough?
Consider whether the prospect’s issue is substantial enough to warrant immediate attention. Many businesses focus only on their top priorities. If their problem isn’t urgent, it’s unlikely they’ll make a decision soon.
9. Do Their Price Sensitivities Align with Yours?
Finally, assess whether the prospect’s perception of value aligns with your pricing structure. Understanding how they’ve made purchasing decisions in the past can provide insights into their price expectations.
*If a prospect does not align with at least six of these nine criteria, reconsider your engagement. Ideally, aim for seven out of nine to ensure a higher probability of closing the deal.
Simplify Your Prospecting
How can you be sure you’re not just chasing numbers, but building meaningful connections that lead to success?
Find Ep. 243 on Apple Podcast or Spotify!
9 Steps to Target Your Best Customers with Integrity
Determine if a prospect is worth your time and efforts.
Episode 244 is out now! Find it here.
Copyright 2024, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of A Mind for Sales and High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results.
One Response
Great stuff! Thanks Mark!