Are They a Qualified Prospect or Shiny Object?

What percent of your prospects actually wind up becoming customers?

Too often, those prospects turn out to just be shiny objects.

What really happens is you get these prospects and it’s two, three months later that you realize they’ll never become a customer. Why are we chasing these?

For some reason, we get caught up in the euphoria.

I don’t want a sales pipeline that is plugged up like a sewer pipe. What I want is a water tap.

This blog is brought to you by an episode of The Sales Hunter Podcast. Find it wherever you stream podcasts!

1. Qualify fast.

You don’t have time for shiny objects in your pipeline. This is how your pipeline winds up becoming a sewer pipe. I want to spend more time with fewer prospects.

If I can’t bring it to fruition, then why am I wasting my time? If they’re not sharing proprietary information with me early on—that means information not known publicly —they’re not a prospect.

Read more to follow these 4 Steps to Qualify Prospects Fast.

via ABC Network on GIPHY

2. Ensure they link up with your ICP.

If they don’t line up with your ICP, don’t think for a moment, “Hey, this would be a great new ICP for us to go into.” This is not the time for you to suddenly seek a new vertical.

via The Sales Hunter on GIPHY

3. Know their timeline.

If they haven’t given you some sense of a timeline of their decision-making and what their process is, then I don’t have time to dance with them. Just because it’s a big opportunity, has huge potential or it’s a logo you’d love to have, that does not make them a prospect.

You have to be incredibly judicious about who you allow in your pipeline.

Sales managers, please don’t look to your salespeople to have them stuffing the pipe—unfortunately that’s what many are already doing. They’re stuffing the pipeline and it winds up turning into a sewer pipe that nothing gets through. Instead, I want leads that are going in and turning out to be customers very, very fast.

via William Garratt on GIPHY

4. You can’t force the prospect along.

There has to be some sense of gravitational pull on the part of the prospect towards you. If they are not demonstrating some sort of interest in you and your solution, not your product, but your solution, then cut them loose. You don’t have time.