I had a conversation with another training company last week. We discussed joint venturing into each other’s webinars. The gist of this discussion was that I would give their subscribers webinars, and they’ll do the same with my subscribers. Now that the basic things were clear, we took the conversation a step ahead.

I soon realized that the company and I weren’t as compatible, and I sent an email declining the idea webinar exchange. In reply, the reply I got was thought-provoking! The email said, ‘We always like to lose early.’

This reply was surprisingly from a company that knows the importance of qualifying. But, many sales representatives would have reacted in a very different way. This is how most sales reps react:

Many sales reps cling to those customers who they have exchanged information with. They satisfy themselves by bombarding the customers with calls and waste each other’s time. Every way is used to turn the chain of events with the customer. But, this exhausting process of negotiations eventually goes to waste. The majority of prospects end up not being a sale. In fact,

The closing average in the industry is only 1 or 2 out of ten prospects!

Please give it a thought! Imagine how the wasted time and energy on ‘prospect-less’ customers’ emails, calls, and voice messages could have been saved and invested in qualified prospects. You could’ve easily gotten a YES from potential prospects rather than a NO.

This is why responses like, ‘we always like to lose early’ are the best. Losing the sale earlier saves you a lot of time in follow-ups. The result then will never be a disappointing no. To close a deal, time and effort is your biggest asset. Thus, choose wisely!

These responses are a part of ‘disqualifying your leads.’ Yes! Qualifying prospects can be fascinating, but it can also waste your time and effort. Disqualifying those who don’t even slightly match your criteria should be disqualified.

To identify the non-buyers at your earliest convenience, ask these qualifying questions during the first call.

“I know we’re at the early stages of this, but give me an idea of the time you’ll require for making a decision.”

“If you like our sample, how do you think we should go ahead with this?”

“What would hold you back from deciding to move forward on something like this in the next two weeks?”

“Besides yourself, who else would be deciding on this?”

Then layer:

“And where do you think they are leaning right now?”

And finally,

“From what I’ve described, what are your thoughts on it?”

If these questions give you an idea that your prospect does not fulfill your criteria, you must skip past them and move on to the next prospect. Spend less time on bad leads and invest yourself in the real buyers.

So let’s start losing more sales at the earliest to spend more time closing good deals. It’s a challenge!