How many times have you talked to a lead, had all the signs look good, and then you ask for the sale, and the lead’s jaw drops?

It happens.

And congratulations, you just wasted hours dancing with the client and writing a fancy proposal!

What went on?

Many things could be happening, but one stands out from all others as a time-saver: you didn’t do enough to qualify the lead.

With all the different marketing channels available to you these days, it’s hard to determine lead quality. You get some from LinkedIn, and most of those are probably awfully good.

You get some from e-mail outreach, and those work pretty well too.

Then, you have Adwords campaigns, organic SEO, and in-person networking all going on too.

So how do you figure out which leads work best? A few tips:

1. What’s Their Company Role?

The most successful sales processes begin right at the top with the CEO. Talking to the secretary? The company probably doesn’t value what you sell.

Find a way to get to a decision maker.

2. Find Out What Your Lead Already Has

Whatever your product or service is, figure out what your lead already has in place. If they have something similar, you have to learn everything you can about it.

If they don’t, you have to learn your lead’s current needs and whether what you have to offer makes any sense for them.

3. Focus on the Long-Term Value You Offer Your Lead

When you get a new lead in the door, it’s easy to get excited. And if they show an interest in some of your more profitable services, that gets you even more wound up.

For now, stay calm until you know more.

Try IBM’s BANT sales approach:

  • Budget
  • Authority
  • Need
  • Timeline

And if you find your product/service isn’t quite a good fit for your lead, turn them down. What happens otherwise is you make the sale, but then lose the commission/profit later on when they realize what they get from you doesn’t offer value.

4. Score Your Leads

This requires a little bit of extra work on your part. But once you have the system in place, you save a ton of time because you only follow up with the better quality leads.

You need to have demographic information about your leads and behavioral information. If you’re trying to track leads through your website, KISSmetrics is a good tool for the demographic info, while Google Analytics (free) works for tracking their behavior.

Crazy Egg also gives you a heat map for even more detailed behavior information.

If your leads come over the phone or in-person, find ways you can score those too.

Follow That and You’ll Do Just Fine!

Your business saves a ton of time and money when you figure out how to qualify your leads. And it gets more stable too because you won’t churn clients as much.

Whatever you can do to qualify your leads, take those steps right now. It’s one of the best long-term moves your company can make.