4 ms·

As someone that's done sales, it is very important to qualify even incoming leads. I can't count how many times I wasted my time because the person who thought

As someone that's done sales, it is very important to qualify even incoming leads. I can't count how many times I wasted my time because the person who thought they wanted the product actually wasn't a good fit. After I implemented a lead qualification pipeline, that number dropped dramatically and the leads that did qualify were, predictably, much more likely to buy.

CPLX 4y ago
Yeah but qualify them by showing them the fucking software. It's gotten so bad out there that I've gotten to the point where I just refuse to do qualifying calls. When I can smell one brewing I just email and say I'd like my first call to be one where I can see someone using the software via screen share, or be given the opportunity to log in or have a test account myself. I don't care if I'm talking to a high school intern feel free to screen your big swinging dick's sales guy's schedule but then get your intern show me the fucking thing, the features, the screens, what it does, the basics of how it works. If I start a call and it's happening I just ask if they're able to show me the software. If they say no, we'll schedule a future call for that I say great press the button in that CRM that qualifies me for that call and I'll log off now. If they don't want my business good for them, they can run things how they like, but my time is valuable too and I'm the customer so if you can't show me the product fuck off.
- mbesto 4y ago
  > Yeah but qualify them by showing them the fucking software. As a potential buyer, I immediately ask to get a pre-sales person on the call otherwise I'm not joining the call. Get's them to move pretty quickly.
  - fphhotchips 4y ago
    The fact that you know to say that is a good enough qualifier in my mind. Only people who know how to buy know what presales even is.
    - leviathant 4y ago
      After doing dev work for nearly two decades, I've been in presales for the last six years. I've definitely had a one or two intro calls with tech-savvy people who bullied their way past the BDR. These were smart people with good ideas, who had no idea what procurement at the enterprise company they just started working for even begins to look like, and it was 60-90 minutes none of us will ever get back, for a project that's never going to happen anyway. I worked at a company where we jumped at every opportunity that we got, it's real nice to be somewhere now where there's a little more of a vetting process.
- daniel-cussen 4y ago
- kinj28 4y ago
  As some one running growth for a low code/no code platform for internal tools - we would want a qualification call to help the demo team with info that can then allow demo team to prep a demo which can make the call really relevant. Given how crowded our space is most of the times customer would have seen atleast 2-3 tools before and learning what they liked or didn’t like is very important.
  - CPLX 4y ago
    If you insist on scheduling two calls with me where it’s a guarantee one of the two is completely fucking useless and irrelevant for me then you’ve maxed out your potential mean highest average relevance of a sales call to 50%. That’s your best case. Maybe just work on a couple common use cases and get your team able to pivot and share the more relevant examples on a demo in the first call and aim a little higher. Your software’s various applications are probably not each the special precious unique snowflakes you think they are. Just a guess.
seanherron 4y ago
Often BDR calls don’t even focus on if the product is a good fit - it’s “how much budget do you have?” “Are you the decision maker?” “When are you looking to make a purchase?”. That’s, frankly, a waste of time for me. It’s one thing to have an initial call to show off core functionality and see if there’s a good fit - but if the focus is just trying to determine how much money I have, then it’s going to leave me fairly annoyed that I spent time on the call.
- CallMeJim 4y ago
  These calls exist because companies have learnt from wasting their time talking to people who can't afford it, aren't the decision maker and aren't interested in purchasing any time soon. The conversion rate of the sales profession is really low, and it can easily get an order of magnitude worse without qualification.
  - CPLX 4y ago
    They’re still talking to them. They’re just wasting everyone’s time.
    - FredPret 4y ago
      A lower ranked salersperson does the qualifying. The more trained ones do the selling. They are optimizing their resources and for a big purchase, the buyer is expecting a more involved process than one-click checkout.
      - CPLX 4y ago
        Yeah I get it it’s just annoying. Train some entry level people to show some basic software features instead of training them to waste people’s time asking questions.
        cercatrova 4y ago
        That's a quick way to lose sales. It's like asking a backend dev to make a pretty frontend website to impress a visually oriented client. Roles are stratified for a reason.

CPLX 4y ago

Yeah but qualify them by showing them the fucking software. It's gotten so bad out there that I've gotten to the point where I just refuse to do qualifying calls. When I can smell one brewing I just email and say I'd like my first call to be one where I can see someone using the software via screen share, or be given the opportunity to log in or have a test account myself. I don't care if I'm talking to a high school intern feel free to screen your big swinging dick's sales guy's schedule but then get your intern show me the fucking thing, the features, the screens, what it does, the basics of how it works. If I start a call and it's happening I just ask if they're able to show me the software. If they say no, we'll schedule a future call for that I say great press the button in that CRM that qualifies me for that call and I'll log off now. If they don't want my business good for them, they can run things how they like, but my time is valuable too and I'm the customer so if you can't show me the product fuck off.

mbesto 4y ago
> Yeah but qualify them by showing them the fucking software. As a potential buyer, I immediately ask to get a pre-sales person on the call otherwise I'm not joining the call. Get's them to move pretty quickly.
- fphhotchips 4y ago
  The fact that you know to say that is a good enough qualifier in my mind. Only people who know how to buy know what presales even is.
  - leviathant 4y ago
    After doing dev work for nearly two decades, I've been in presales for the last six years. I've definitely had a one or two intro calls with tech-savvy people who bullied their way past the BDR. These were smart people with good ideas, who had no idea what procurement at the enterprise company they just started working for even begins to look like, and it was 60-90 minutes none of us will ever get back, for a project that's never going to happen anyway. I worked at a company where we jumped at every opportunity that we got, it's real nice to be somewhere now where there's a little more of a vetting process.
daniel-cussen 4y ago
kinj28 4y ago
As some one running growth for a low code/no code platform for internal tools - we would want a qualification call to help the demo team with info that can then allow demo team to prep a demo which can make the call really relevant. Given how crowded our space is most of the times customer would have seen atleast 2-3 tools before and learning what they liked or didn’t like is very important.
- CPLX 4y ago
  If you insist on scheduling two calls with me where it’s a guarantee one of the two is completely fucking useless and irrelevant for me then you’ve maxed out your potential mean highest average relevance of a sales call to 50%. That’s your best case. Maybe just work on a couple common use cases and get your team able to pivot and share the more relevant examples on a demo in the first call and aim a little higher. Your software’s various applications are probably not each the special precious unique snowflakes you think they are. Just a guess.

seanherron 4y ago

Often BDR calls don’t even focus on if the product is a good fit - it’s “how much budget do you have?” “Are you the decision maker?” “When are you looking to make a purchase?”. That’s, frankly, a waste of time for me. It’s one thing to have an initial call to show off core functionality and see if there’s a good fit - but if the focus is just trying to determine how much money I have, then it’s going to leave me fairly annoyed that I spent time on the call.

CallMeJim 4y ago
These calls exist because companies have learnt from wasting their time talking to people who can't afford it, aren't the decision maker and aren't interested in purchasing any time soon. The conversion rate of the sales profession is really low, and it can easily get an order of magnitude worse without qualification.
- CPLX 4y ago
  They’re still talking to them. They’re just wasting everyone’s time.
  - FredPret 4y ago
    A lower ranked salersperson does the qualifying. The more trained ones do the selling. They are optimizing their resources and for a big purchase, the buyer is expecting a more involved process than one-click checkout.
    - CPLX 4y ago
      Yeah I get it it’s just annoying. Train some entry level people to show some basic software features instead of training them to waste people’s time asking questions.
      - cercatrova 4y ago
        That's a quick way to lose sales. It's like asking a backend dev to make a pretty frontend website to impress a visually oriented client. Roles are stratified for a reason.