Adding qualifying questions to assess the prospect’s fit is a simple way to make your sales script more powerful.

 

What’s Qualifying?

Qualifying is the process of determining whether a prospect is a good fit for what you offer and the likelihood they will move forward with a purchase.

When a prospect has a real need in the area where your products and services can help, as well as if they have the authority to make the decision and have the budget to purchase, they’re qualified.

 

Soft Qualify First

Use probing questions to determine need, authority, and available budget to qualify a prospect thoroughly. We may have only a few minutes with the prospect during our first conversation. It is helpful to conduct preliminary qualifying on the first call to ensure there’s sufficient fit to continue the discussion, with the option to meet another day.

To figure out the amount of qualifying to do in your sales script, focus your questions around the prospect’s possible needs in your area. When they have no needs, it doesn’t make sense to keep speaking with them. You can confirm the authority and budget details during your first real meeting.

 

Decrease the Prospect’s Guard

Qualifying questions shape a sales script by reducing the prospect’s guardedness. By asking questions to determine the prospect’s needs, you’re expressing interest in them as well as making sure that they’re a fit before you sell to them.

This creates a powerful effect that makes the prospect more open to hearing what you’re calling about and helps increase the rapport you have with them.

 

Make the Conversation More Engaging

No matter the circumstances, conversations in which both parties contribute will be healthier and more productive. With that in mind, it is important to create your phone sales script so that it makes two-way conversations in which the prospect is speaking as well as involved in the conversation.

That may be difficult to execute since everybody is different and some people talk more than others, but by adding qualifying questions to your sales script, you’ll force instances in the conversation where the prospect must contribute and interject into the conversation.

 

Uncover Valuable Information

Another obvious benefit to adding qualifying questions to your phone sales script is that it helps to uncover important and valuable information from the prospect. That information helps you determine if it makes sense to keep talking, and it can be used throughout the sales cycle.

SalesScripter provides a sales script tool that helps sales pros to develop a sales script.